General Public is now doing a Sunday Roast
Queen and Beaver has a few $10 snacks at Happy Hour Mon-Thu.
Dinner menu at Queen & Beaver, January 2025
The Queen & Beaver fish and chips is at that $29 ceiling.
We were running an errand in the west end and had the opportunity to try General Public for lunch. A little after 1:00, it was less than half-full. The interior is lovely, with lots of greens and wood. The menu is upscale British-ish and generally good, although there were some issues with execution.
The cocktails were fabulous:
- Eton Fizz was a riff on Eton mess and had gin, tonka bean, housemade Eton cordial, cream, lemon, egg white - great, fun, lots of fluff on top.
- Night School included cognac, fenugreek, coffee, sweet vermouth, chocolate, and a white chocolate smear on the outside - amazing, very oxidative caramel tones.
We started with the Curried Lamb Tartare - supple meat, kashmiri spice, curry mayo, mint dollops, and served with poppadom - great flavours.
Next up was Popcorn Clams And Mussels, which came with mayo infused with Colman’s mustard - the shellfish were fresh and sweet, but the batter was a bit oily.
Better was the Fried Pig’s Head Terrine, which came with grainy mustard and a baby kale salad - the headcheese was salty, porky, and fried without being extra oily.
We also tried the Breakfast Sandwich, which had ham, silky egg (kind of a patty), hashbrown patty, red leicester queso, and pickled onion - delicious overall, but also a bit oily from the hash brown.
We split the Banoffee Pie with a white chocolate ganache on top - remarkably not sweet, fresh banana inside, and super concentrated burnt sugar caramel, with a little chocolate. Worth having repeatedly.
And they had decaf Sam James to wash it down.
Overall, probably worth another try to have more cocktails and other dishes that aren’t deep fried.
I was there in September: we split the breakfast sandwich because it was… a lot ( had it with some other dishes: I do remember really liking the big salad). We both loved it though. I’m a big banoffee fan so now I definitely want to go back!
I had dinner there last month and really enjoyed the Trout Tartare - very much akin to a Grey Gardens crudo.
Nina’s in Kensington Market has a Full Irish breakfast for $24.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/drLn2wGBtYqRTgxp9?g_st=ac
https://goo.gl/maps/4s7k1Lr93FmNRg6H7?g_st=ac
Nina’s on Instagram
I haven’t tried it yet.
238 Augusta, closed Monday and Tuesday.
Nina’s Brunch Restaurant
(647) 766-6866
Donna’s seems to have added the Full English to its Friday and Saturday morning offerings each week.
We went back to General Public with relatives for dinner, which allowed us to sample more options. Overall quite good, although still some uneveness in the deep frying and occasional oversalting issues.
We tried two more cocktails, which were both great, with bitter and sour flavours to balance the sweet:
- ITALIA: Campari, hibiscus, sweet vermouth, raspberry soda.
- FOOL’S GOLD: vodka, rhubarb, custard liqueur, verjus, salt
We also had a bottle of Chateau Piganeau, 2021, St. Emilion, Grand Cru, Merlot - quite fruity, lots of cherry, with fairly soft tannins.
The bread basket was all good, with brioche, cheese straws, pull apart buns, crackers, and marmite honey butter.
Others wanted the shrimp cocktail, which had very large shrimp.
The ham plate featured sweet ham, shaved aged cheddar, crisp and overly salty rutabaga strips, remoulade, and fenugreek honey.
Kampachi crudo was delightful, with very fresh fish, jalapeño for a little kick, clementine for sweet and citrus, red onion, and nasturtium leaves. As good as the crudos at Grey Gardens.
Popcorn clams & mussels, this time not as oily.
The wedge salad was dressed with horseradish cream, green goddess, Shropshire blue (maybe a bit too much as it made the salad very salty), buckwheat, and picked onion.
Excellent chicken wings were brined with Guinness, cooked up very crisp, and served with Worcestershire honey butter.
Black cod was fresh, just done and served with a herb crust and parsley cream sauce - although many liked this, I feel that black cod is rich enough and a cream sauce just makes the overall dish cloying.
Pork chop had crisp edges, a moist interior, and was served with roasted turnips, turnip greens, and a housemade (but too salty) HP sauce. Overall great except the sauce.
English chips were too oily and came with malt vinegar and beef fat mayo.
Slightly mushy peas were mixed with little gem and topped with pecorino - quite tasty.
Banoffee pie remains great. Creme caramel was simple and well-executed.