Pure Spirits — Restaurant in Toronto

Located in the busy Distillery district, it is easy to walk by and miss Pure Spirits with their simple and understated facade, especially with the more eye-catching El Catrin, Cluny Bistro and Mill Street Brewpub. But if you give it a chance, you will find it to be a worthy restaurant to dine at.

The inside of the restaurant is cosy. There is a nice outdoor patio area as well.

Me and my dining companion started our meal with some oysters. There was a very good selection of oysters from both the east and west coast, but my favourite of the night was the Coromandel from New Zealand. The pricing was not cheap, even when accounting for the quality and size of these oysters, but this is to be expected given the restaurant is in a heavily touristy area. I was delighted to find out that they do buck-a-shuck here on Tuesday nights for good sized PEI malpaques, and am already looking forward to doing that for my next visit.

We also indulged in some Vermouth tasting and loved the presentation: The red Guerra vermouth was presented in a round bottomed glass flask. Orange slices were caramelized with a flame and placed into the glass with ice, and the red vermouth poured over. This was paired perfectly with a pork hock croquette, which was delicious!

We shared all the mains afterwards:

Ceviche of Pompano, with leche de tigre, sweet potato, corn nuts, cilantro, poblano pepper and shallots: This was a refreshing appetizer and I loved the fact the acidity of the leche de tigre was balanced out by the sweetness of the sweet potato. The corn nuts gave nice cripsy textures which is a nice contrast to the cured fish.

Calamari Tempura: An interesting take on the classic calamari, with a light tempura batter. It was quite enjoyable with the lightly sweet tamari dipping sauce.

Vietnamese style Florida snapper: The fish was perfectly cooked, and the Vietnamese satay sauce was great with it.

Yellowfin Tuna poke: A good sized poke served in a cast iron (?) pot. The presentation was lovely. However this dish was a slight miss for us as we thought the sauce given to mix in the poke was perhaps a bit too much, resulting in a poke that was just a tad too salty. We also thought the pricing for this dish could be a bit better ($31.95) especially since there are a ton of cheap poke places in Toronto, but we did noticed that the ingredients used were high quality.

We finished our meal with the white Guerra vermouth tasting, which was presented much the same way as the red vermouth. This was paired with a delicious orange almond cake.

Service was impeccable during our meal and we really enjoyed our experience here.

Overall, I would rate this restaurants 4-stars, and stop short of giving it 5 stars given that I think pricing could be improved just a bit (Cluny Bistro next door is a tad more competitive with their offerings in terms of pricing). I think Pure Spirits would be a fine place to dine with their...

Hello!

Malaysian here and I ate at Pure Spirits for the first time last night!

It was our wedding anniversary and we ordered the 'SEAFOOD EXPERIENCE FOR TWO'.

As a South East Asian, I have to say those razor clams were probably the best I have tasted so far in my life. Maybe even better than in Asia!

Razor clams are common in South East Asian fish markets but are still considered a rare delicacy to serve in a restaurant.

Shellfish is often sautéed in our region and so I tried raw mussels and razor clams for the first time at Pure Spirits!

Holy, I am impressed!

I loved how you guys made a dipping sauce for the shrimp, made out of a tropical fruit like papaya.

That was very, very clever and you added a fusion element there.

I love the tiny details (chopped pickled carrots, red onion, radish etc sprinkled on top of the raw seafood).

There was no fishy smell from everything we ate. All seafood come in fresh each morning.

The lady who attended to us Anna (blonde, medium height with perfect silver manicured nails) was amazing! Can't believe she's only been there for a month.

She made sure our food was ok, lifted all those heavy trays on her own, super friendly and chatty.

Such a lovely experience. I think our dinner was better thanks to her.

We saw her attending to other tables next to us too and she was very, very pleasant and welcoming to other customers. She's definitely as seasoned pro at what she does, I would hire her in a heartbeat.

My husband's fave was the clam chowder (not really for me). The tacos were ok. Salmon on a bed of veggies at the end was crispy and yummy too.

'SEAFOOD EXPERIENCE FOR TWO' is a lot for 2 person to eat, I think it can feed 3 people.

We initially came for the oysters. They oysters were yummy but not the best I have tried so far.

You won us with the mussels and razor clams. The crabs were super fresh. Shrimps were excellent.

I went to bed last night dreaming about the razor clams and papaya sauce.

My husband ordered the TAKE SOME THYME OFF mocktail (tasted wow-mazing) and I ordered the PEAR SOUR drink (it was so so).

I look forward to coming back and would love to try new dishes there.

Seafood goes so well with tropical ingredients like papaya, pineapple, tamarind, lemongrass, lime and mango. Thank you Pure Spirits!

You made our...

Our party of three arrived at 7 PM for dinner. The host was extremely friendly and offered us indoor seating for our reservation, but was quick to comment that they could arrange an outdoor patio table if we so desired!

Our servers Michelle and Kami Were amazing! So friendly and funny. They read our table perfectly. They explained the daily features, Gave some personal recommendations, and also gave us plenty of time to peruse the cocktail and food menu So that at no point would we feel rushed. They were prompt and on point!

Chef Jay came out of the kitchen and to our table to greet us and help us with some of his recommendations! As we travelled to Toronto from out of town, we definitely felt special with how we were treated in our experience!

Our shared dishes and appetizers were plated to perfection and tasted delicious! Every detail, including swapping of side plates and removing of any unnecessary glassware or utensils were made so that our table never felt congested. I highly recommend the classic margarita to drink, and the Cajun Okra Bites or Belgian Moule Frites (PEI mussels with hand cut fries - go Provencale style)

Our mains were timed and brought to our table after our apps were cleared. Again, so fresh and flavourful and made with love. The Yellowfish Tuna Poke bowl is visually appealing and simply delectable. Highly recommend. One member of our party had recently spent 6 weeks in Vancouver and basically lived on a fish diet while there. He exclaimed that his seafood experience at Pure Spirits topped his experiences dining on the west coast, and would put any of the dishes over and above what he ate on the west coast. Subjective of course, but the high praise is earned and well deserved for Chef Jay and his menu.

Overall, we had an amazing dining experience and can’t wait to return. MASSIVE thanks to Michelle and Kami for taking such great care of us and to Chef Jay for ensuring we went home full and blissed out! If I could give more than a five star...