Dreyfus — Restaurant in Toronto

The restaurant is cozy. This goes for the esthetics, temperature, and service. Your experience will be elevated if you’re served by Keegan deWitt. It’s rare that I try to figure out who our server is, but this guy is AMAZING – Dreyfus, do whatever you need to keep him. Keegan exudes passion without being preachy, is attentive without being annoying, and his knowledge of wine puts most sommeliers to shame.

We answered a few questions and he comes back with four bottles. In a succinct two-minute presentation, he goes through each bottle explaining their flavour profiles and the wine’s region, ending off with the cost of each one. Prices vary from $85 to $250 and we decide on the Domaine Viret Mareotis ($125). The first sip confirmed that Keegan got us.

So, when he came back to ask what we wanted to order and provided us the option of letting him ‘bring us an experience’, how could we resist? Again, he asked a couple of questions about dietary restrictions and how hungry we were on a scale from 1-10 (a 7 seemed safe) and that’s all we had to do.

It helps as they tailor the size of the starting nibbles to the table. Normally, the first three dishes are $16 each (unclear how many come with each), but for our table of two it was trimmed down to a smaller portion of one or two each (the perfect amount) and the prices also lowered to $12.

The canapes de topinambours ($12 for 2) went so well with the wine. Roasted Jerusalem artichokes forms the base of the canapes, instead of bread, giving the dish a creamy finish and a warmth that’s so lovely for the winter months. Forget trying to hold this in your hand as the artichoke is smothered with light tangy cheese and a warmed sardine that adds a nice muskiness against the slice of ham on top.

There were spinach dip oysters ($12 for 2) topped with feathery parmesan cheese, a dish that sounds heavy but actually quite nicely balanced. Oysters aren’t normally something I enjoy, but the mollusk was covered with so many things that it didn’t have a prominent in taste.

You can’t go wrong with the pommes dauphine ($12 for 4). These lovely potato puffs are as light as air – like a savoury honey cruller for those who have been around a Tim Horton’s. They’re fluffy and aromatic, by itself a delicate and creamy choux pastry, but arrives with thick crème fraiche topped with micro cubes of shallots and a generous portion of caviar. It takes the dauphine to a whole other level of decadence that made us swoon.

A skewer arrives and we’re advised the white chunks in the brochette de lotte ($24) are monkfish. The dense meaty fish was tasty, but perhaps could be cooked a touch less. Yet, any mild protein that sits in such a tasty sauce could do no wrong. It’s described to us as curry, but so light that it reminds me of a thicker and richer bouillabaisse. We must have been looking at the remaining sauce longingly, as a staff member asked if we’d like some bread, which was met with a resounding yes.

While I don’t know a lot of French, one word I do remember is cheval - on account of religiously visiting the now defunct Toronto night club. So, when the tower of filet de cheval lyonnaise ($33) arrived, I pushed thoughts of My Little Pony out of my mind and decided to just enjoy the dish. To be honest, if you didn’t know what cheval means, you’d think its veal or a light beef that’s tender and lean. The silky red wine jus keeps any gaminess at bay.

Dreyfus knows their way around a spud as the lyonnaise potatoes sandwiched between the cheval and the egg are heavenly. Essentially, they are thinly sliced potatoes that’s pan fried in parsley butter (forming lovely toasted edges) and mixed with well-caramelized onions. Just imagine scalloped potatoes, but even better, in my opinion. Mixed with some egg yolk and au jus, I probably could have a plate of the potatoes with eggs and been a...

It’s rare that I give a review that’s below average but I feel people have to know about this one. It’s sad to say that this restaurant did not live up to expectations and also was not inviting. Starting with the service, upon arrival we were seated and presented menus. But a few minutes later, another table came and they got served first (non racialized customers). The whole menu elaborated for them even though we’ve been sitting looking confused because the menu had a mixture of French and English with no sub descriptions. Took at least 15minutes before another server attended to us. Food came fast but throughout, although dishes were cleared quickly, simple things like water failing to be topped up whilst we can observe that other tables had theirs refilled no problem without even asking. Overall, unfriendly staff with discriminating feeling in a semi chaotic environment (had to squeeze closer to another table due to lack of space - which is fine).

Now to food, mostly French entirely cuisine but lacking the depth, complexity and technique a French eatery would have. At the price point of the restaurant, flavour, texture, technique and impression is much more critical in my point of view. Dishes lacked the wow factor, overpowering in saltiness and sour, and also questionable seasoning / selection used. We had the two ways prawn - one sashimi style and another deep fried. Coming from Asian background, the deep fried prawn is exactly the same as Mr Bean eating raw shrimps whole in one of the episodes. These type of prawn with shell on aren’t pleasant to eat. At the minimum de shelled or using a soft shell type of prawn. The sashimi side had prawn that was not sweet and had I think lime cuts placed which overpowered the natural taste of the prawn and was repulsive to have them together. The tartare is not bad, standard but the pieces of beef are a little chonkier than what I am used to. The escargot and clam was interesting because I was not expecting that. Flavour wise, filled with mushrooms and had toppings almost like crispy flour with peppers and chili flakes. Was hoping more of an escargot mouthfeel instead but I guess that’s my bad for not asking about it more in depth before ordering. The last dish, flank steak bbq-ed style but lacked the bbq flavour and smokiness to it. Texture is good but the seasoning was confusing as cumin was used so it tasted almost like lamb pairing which I don’t enjoy out of my steaks. The fried fries on top was too salty and heavy. Nothing to balance it out or cut the greasiness and heaviness. Ultimately, for the price point and status, this place was a let down. When I feel hurt from a restaurant, it’s really not a good sign. But hope they do better for...

Given the hype around this new restaurant what with an alum from the renowned Joe Beef at the helm, I was really disappointed. Reservations have been difficult to get, but a block of seats opened up on Resy for either the “wall” or the “bar” right at the restaurant open. The wall is completely non-descript and there aren’t many photos of the restaurant interior up online (I’m guilty with adding to that now). I booked the wall and added I was hoping to sit at a seat near the window for natural light. The front of the restaurant is bright and naturally lit with comfortable looking booth type seating at the one end.

The request for a table near the front was completely shut down by the host who stuck to his seating plan, though I’m pretty sure not every table knew what the restaurant looked like going in and he could have accommodated the request. Thirty minutes in when we were half way done, the tables were still not seated. Only when we left (within an hour) had tables just been seated. Anyways, we were stuck in this dark, dank corner besides the fridge sitting on these high incredibly uncomfortable stools. On a beautiful summer night this was just claustrophobic, tiring and uncomfortable. We just felt relegated there.

The menu is completely in French so the server walks you through each dish. All in all, service was fine - they wiped down the table, filled up water often, and folded our serviettes when one of us would leave the table.

Food was certainly pricey for what you got. The croque cubano for example were these two amuse bouche sized sandwiches at a staggering price of $12. The ‘bite’ was overrun by pickles, you could barely taste any of the other ingredients. We did enjoy the pommes dauphin and the eggplant. The eggplant was especially lovely with the smokey underlying purée. The duck was okay. It had a nice crispy skin, but the portion of meat again was barely enough for two people to share considering most of the plate was the unattractive, unnecessary claw and a bitter oily dressed frisée, with these weirdly textured ‘croutons’. We really weren’t interested in dessert after that. It was just so expensive for what you got.

Funnily enough, we saw the chef from Brothers sitting across the restaurant, and wanted to whisper on the way out - your restaurant is so, so much better. Absolutely not worth the hype - much better...