We were going to the Four Seasons Centre and needed a dinner close by. My wife wanted to try Daphne, a newish place by Ink Entertainment (Charles Khabouth and Danny Soberano) that Toronto Life and others liked when it opened. I looked over the menu and was underwhelmed, but deferred to her choice as it was conveniently located at least.
The space is big, fairly bright, and comfy, but the metal rims around the tables weren’t particularly clean. The food was uneven in execution. Service was good and they did comp us a dish for the problematic execution (though they comped a relatively inexpensive dessert instead of the more expensive dish we complained about).
We shared Cocktail 67 Shaken (Belvedere vodka, Campari, passionfruit purée, harissa jallab syrup, lime) - pleasant and passionfruity, but didn’t get any harissa flavour.
We also shared glasses of Chablis Dom. de Mauperthuis “Goutte de Lune” 2022 - green apple and floral - and Chianti Classico, Capone 2021 - pleasant, cherries and not too much tannin.
We started with the Waldorf (white endive, green apple, pickled celery, candied walnut, blue d’Elizabeth, and candied lemon peels) - this was very enjoyable, although the references to a Waldorf salad was quite a stretch.
Tempura squash, with yogurt, mint, honey, nora peppers - tasty, but oily and the yogurt sauce was not very well distributed.
They tout their wood-fired grill and list a number of steaks. So we ordered the 16 oz ribeye ($98) medium rare, with peppercorn sauce. It arrived quite rare, undersalted, and was a bit gristly as if it hadn’t been well trimmed.
The branzino with jalapeño salsa and lime was beautifully done by contrast - crispy skin, delicately cooked flesh.
Runner beans with pesto trapanese, and pine nut crumb were delicious, nice and crisp.
Sunchokes were nicely crisped and came with sunflower tahini, brown butter, and caramelized honey - not bad, but a bit one-note, needed another contrasting flavour or maybe a bit of acid.
We shared the coconut cream pie, which featured white chocolate, coconut cream, passionfruit, coconut crunch, and flowers. It wasn’t a pie (more a white chocolate shell around a layer of cake and lots of cream), it was a bit too sweet, and the passionfruit was subtle.
I ordered a decaf americano that was essentially brown water.
I think this is one to skip, although if you have the Waldorf, the branzino, and the runner beans you’ll probably be pretty happy.
