Cocktails in [Toronto]

[DrJohn]

There some great places for cocktails in Toronto. Some are mainly bars that may or may not have food. Some are mainly restaurants and often also have a good wine selection, making the alcohol choices more difficult. Many make their own bitters, infusions, syrups, and other ingredients.

In terms of bars, we haven’t yet tried some of the obvious places like BarChef and Cocktail Bar because we’ve never been able to get in.

Shameful Tiki is silly and fun. We like the Scooby Ube Doo (essentially a piña colada with ube) and the Cobra’s Fang (orange, lime, falernum, fassionola). Bar Raval is always great. Love the Porcelina ( Dillon’s dry gin 7, Junmai sake, elderflower, honeydew, lime and miso), the Happy Medium (Amaro Lucano, Amontillado sherry, yuzu, toasted black sesame, lemon and palo santo), and the Palomita (Fino sherry, Cynar, spiced grapefruit, lime, soda). For local options, we also enjoy Pinkerton’s and Farside.

Many restaurants also serve great cocktails. Lapinou has the Solstice (charred pineapple infused rum, Bacardi 8-year rum, lime, pineapple, cardamom, cinnamon). Pompette has Aiguenoire (orange blossom, citrus, yellow chartreuse, egg white, fennel butter). Dova has Calice (bourbon, chartreuse green, amaro, dom benedictine and rosemary syrup, lemon juice). Bar Vendetta has the Gulf Stream (Jamaican rum, pineapple, peach, yuzu, gentian, cava, cucumber slices). Miku has the Oishii (Masumi shochu, Hayman’s sloe gin, strawberry, raspberry, saffron, strawberry basil foam).

What are some of your favourite places? Which specific cocktails would you recommend?

[PedroPero (PETER)]

Little Sister has excellent food and cocktails. I’ve had the Tropic Like It’s Hot, Ubud hangout and their version of a Caesar and a few others that aren’t listed on the menu cause they change regularly. I frequent the Yonge St location because it’s so close.

[DrJohn]

Yes, forgot to mention Little Sister. Great cocktails.

[Phoenikia]

While I don’t drink much these days, I can recommend Bar Pompette . I enjoyed 2 cocktails there this past summer, and 3 cocktails there in 2022.

I enjoyed a Scotch-based cocktail at the the Caledonian this past summer

The Emmet Ray jazz club has good classic cocktails, a large whisky selection and good food.

I want to try Mother on Queen W , which has innovative cocktails.

I like the Consort Bar at the King Eddy for classic cocktails.

[joshuaviegas]

Heavy cocktail drinker here. My top 2 in the city above any other are Mother at 1 and Bar Banane at 2. Both have excellent bartenders capable of freestyling from on base spirit and “mood”.

I’ve had some good-great cocktails at Paris Paris, Civil Liberties, Cry Baby Gallery, Project Gigglewater, Bar Pompette, Little Sister XXX, Library Bar, Alo (their bar).

Never been able to get into Gift Shop despite 4x attempts. I’ve heard good things about Bar Koukla and Simpl Things.

BarChef service and quality has slipped IMO. Past their glory days.

My base spirit of choice is Whisky or Bourbon.

[Phoenikia]

I’ve also enjoyed cocktails at Rhum Corner. The cocktails at Cocktail Bar look good. I haven’t tried any.

I tend to order Manhattans, Whisky Sours, Tom Collins and Daiquiris.
The daiquiri recipes in this article look interesting.

Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants, Bars and Chefs. - Three fresh takes on the...

[joshuaviegas]

The Pina Colada at Mother is fantastic. They seemed to set the riff on a PC trend in Toronto.

[DrJohn]

Haven’t been to Mother in a long time, but did really like the cocktails there. Will have to return.

[DrJohn]

We had our first visit to the Writers Room Bar at the top of the Park Hyatt since it was redone. This used to be a favourite of mine from decades ago, back when the hotel was still the Park Plaza. The space is a bit more open now, but still feels fairly cosy. The view remains excellent:

And they have upped their game in the cocktail department. You can get your traditional favourites, but they also have some fancier options. We tried:

Plot Twist - blanco tequila, sombra mezcal, sour cherry, chili, lime - pretty and pink but the cherry didn’t come through clearly.

Farewell to Shore - Empress gin, creme de fraise, sea buckthorn, lemon, egg white - lovely, balanced, with the strawberry coming through clearly. Plus they had a printer put the skyline on the egg white.

The drinks came with some tasty cheese popcorn and candied peanuts. they also have a short menu which seems to be dishes that are also at Joni on the main floor.

[Phoenikia]

I took a friend for his birthday in Nov 2021. That would have been one of the last times I dined inside a restaurant.

I was surprised how expensive it was. 2 appetizers and 2 cocktails came to $100ish before tip. With the inflation over the past 2 years, that wouldn’t come as that much of a surprise now. I would think 2 cocktails and 2 appetizers could run $130 before tax now.

It is a nice space, for sure.
It looks like they are opening for lunch on the Thu- Sun again, which is nice to see. When the Writers’ Room first re-opened, it was only open from 5 pm onwards.
Current prices, Dec 2023

[DrJohn]

Yes, it is pricey. Just two cocktails plus tax and tip set us back about $70.

[gborges]

That’s crazy!

[Phoenikia]

Those $13 fries.

[DrJohn]

We tried Library Bar on the weekend at the Fairmont Royal York. It wasn’t first on our list, but finding a cocktail bar with space on a Saturday night proved challenging.

The space is comfy enough. But music was very loud and pedestrian classic rock, making it feel like any other bar on a weekend. And the cocktails sounded impressive, but were a bit bland, especially given the prices are north of $20 (we skipped over the ones clocking in around $100).

Divine Comedy featured Dillon’s Melon Gin, melon, Amaro Lucano, habanero, eucalyptus, lime, prosciutto. We loved the idea of a cocktail riffing off of prosciutto and melon (and the crispy wafer of prosciutto was great), but the flavours really didn’t come through much.

Little Seeds included Botanist Gin, Lot 40 Whisky, spruce tip, Benedictine, fino sherry, cypress, soda, candied pine cone. Once again, the garnish was the most interesting thing. The rest of the drink was weak on the evergreen notes (compared to a much better cocktail at Botanist Bar in Vancouver, which had lots of tree flavours coming through).

Our friend had the Twist of Fate (Hendrick’s gin, Lillet Blanc, gentian, raspberry, verjus, prosecco rosé) and liked it. Our other friend had the Gunslinger Punch (Johnnie Walker Black Label, Calvados, port, raspberry, strawberry, rose, lime, Pernod, Burlesque Bitters, nutmeg) and also found it underwhelming.

[joshuaviegas]

I’ve had two visits to Grey Tiger. Fantastic spot. My only complaint…some cocktails served at room temperature…not my thing.

[Phoenikia]

I’ve heard good things about Mother. I hope to visit in the spring.

Mother Cocktail Bar

I have enjoyed the cocktails and Croque Monsieurs at Bar Pompette.

I like the cocktails at Little Sister.

For a classic cocktail bar, I like the Consort Bar in the King Eddy.

I liked AloBar at 150 Bay. It still has some of the the Drake 150 vibe. It might be better when it’s less busy, sounds like the DJ was ruining the experience on a Saturday night a few weeks ago.

[DrJohn]

@Phoenikia

I like the cocktails at Little Sister.

Yes, we love those too.

[joshuaviegas]

I’ll be returning to Mother tomorrow. If anyone’s there come say hi.

[DrJohn]

We were in the Parkdale area, so we decided to try Simpl Things for their cocktails.

First up was:

• Sup Wit Dat?! [right] - mezcal, dry vermouth, balsam fir liqueur, cucumber, lime - wonderful mix of smoke and evergreen.
• Melon Calling [left] - baijiu, dillon’s melon gin, manzanilla sherry, horchata, lime, matcha and spirulina (on the outside of the glass) - fruity, with multiple layers of complexity.
  
  

For the next round, we had:

• Podium Punch [no pic] - Patron Silver tequila, baijiu, pineapple, apricot, citruses, coconut, chai, nutmeg - very tropical and fun.
• Black Cat Alley [no pic] - Bowmore 12, sesame sweet vermouth, chestnut, demerara, ginger, lemon - nutty and lots of burnt sugar flavours.

We also sampled their snacks and small dishes. Betty Chia is no longer there and now the evening menu is overseen by Eva Chin and Trevor Lui of Fat Bao. While there were lots of good ideas, too many dishes suffered from excessive salt.

The Chef’s choice Asian pintxo were skewers with deep fried bao, fried chicken, pineapple - tasty and fun.

Three cup mushroom bao had lots of umami and some nice accents from Thai basil and some kind of pickle, but was overall too salty. Better was the BBQ pork smash bao with a char siu patty, ginger scallion, cucumber, “Fat Sauce” - redolent of 5-spice.

The best dish was the steamed long chicken dumplings, with a nicely balanced ginger soy dressing with scallions and Szechuan pepper.

Dan dan gnocchi sounded like a good idea, but ended up being rice cakes in a too salty peanut sauce, with sesame and Parmesan.

Chicken wings were stuffed with potato Macanese curry and mozzarella, on cucumber yogourt - a little all over the place, but still fun.

Shanghai noodles was too salty, with tobiko getting lost. The burnt scallion oil was the nicest part, providing a smokey boost.

Beef carpaccio was a cool idea, marred by too much salt - thin slices of beef over tons of fresh herbs, with fried garlic, and a zippy coconut dressing.

Brussels sprouts som tom was also too salty, with fried and steamed leaves in a fish sauce vinaigrette.

Crispy veggie dumplings with chili vinaigrette were pretty good, with lots of kick.

Deconstructed cheesecake was the lone dessert - vanilla wafer, poached pear, caramel sauce - lovely, in a coupe glass, cinnamony and not too sweet.

[DrJohn]

We tried Secrette, the bar above George. Our experience was a little mixed. One cocktail was great, another was fine, and another was a bit meh. The snacks, all coming from the George kitchen, were great. And the service needs a bit of work, with our server 1) not explaining that they had a reduced menu due to a large event downstairs, 2) forgetting about our second drink order, 3) not providing the complimentary snack that comes with being there during Happy Hour (don’t know what it was as we never got it).

The Picoso Compa [below right] included chili-infused Dejado Blanco, Los Siete Misterios mezcal, passionfruit purée, saffron, and lime - although the smokiness of the mezcal wasn’t prominent, the balance of tropical tartness and really nice chili kick was wonderful.
The Secrette G&T [below left] sounded interesting, with Whitley Neill rhubarb-ginger gin, Secrette tonic, elderflower foam. It also looked gorgeous, with beautiful rose petals along the side. But it was overly sweet and otherwise bland, with few of the flavours coming through.

Le Jardin Enchanté looked almost the same as the Picoso Compa, but was made with El Gobernador pisco, mango purée, lime, pistachio orgeat. The mango aspect was pleasant, but the pistachio couldn’t be detected and the overall drink was a bit sweet.

The snacks were all delicious and well executed, not surprising given the kitchen. First up were the coconut pancakes with red currants, chickpeas, and other delicious little chopped things we couldn’t identify.

Albacore tuna tartare included wasabi mousse, sweet/tart apple chunks, greens, and some toasts - fresh and light.

Champ (potato) cakes incorporated baked grapes and bacon - this should be a bar snack in regular bars.

Chicken satay came with chimichurri and oddly hollandaise - pleasant, if less interesting.

Caulflower samosa with yellow beet labneh and chilli - the samosas were a bit salty on the outside, but creamy and delicious inside.

Gnocchi with preserved temon, fresh tarragon, leeks, mushrooms, and cheese - excellent and more like a regular dish than a snack.

Chocolate beignets - these are often served at George and remain fabulous.