(Taverne) Bernhardts - a neighbourhood restaurant worth traveling to [Toronto]

[DrJohn]

One regret we had is not making it to Bernhardts this patio season. It’s a relaxing and quieter setting compared with the bustling interior. However, since the food is so great we decided to go for a Monday night booking at the bar. The food remains excellent and they have a nice selection of interesting natural wines.

Although rotisserie chicken remains its calling card, we think that some of the best dishes are the vegetable-based small plates. We decided to skip the chicken so we could order more of these.

A headache prevented me from partaking in alcohol. My wife enjoyed the All Inclusive - mezcal, tequila, pineapple, lime, coconut - a delicious blend of fruity, sour, sweet, and smoke. She then enjoyed a glass of the Garganega orange wine from 2019.

Chou habibti featured raw savoy and deep-fried red cabbage, tossed with sumac vinaigrette, tahini, golden raisins, and pine nuts - this was a great salad, rivalling the baby gem one they’ve had on the menu since the beginning.

Warm Conestogo egg was topped with jamon blanc bits, black truffle strips, and nestled into julienned celeriac with remoulade, sherry vinaigrette, and lemon juice. Almost perfect except for the unnecessary addition of clarified butter.

Brassica tartine - roasted broccoli and cauliflower, mixed with chili-garlic-anchovy, served on butter-soaked house-made focaccia, covered with shaved pecorino - echoes of a Caesar salad in a novel way.

Roasted matsutake with creamed spinach and kale, with some shaved nutmeg - simple and delicious (and again buttery).

Monkfish Francese - floured and perfectly pan-fried, with baby artichokes, carrots, cremini mushrooms, wine, pink peppercorns, tarragon, and butter, served with pilaf festooned with fried garlic and shallots - layers of flavours, with excellent execution.

On to dessert with a nicely bittersweet flourless chocolate cake, topped with creme fraiche toasted almonds, and poached pear in sherry vanilla.

The soft-serve de jour was excellent, featured a twist of cranberry sorbet with spiced (cinnamon and nutmeg) vanilla ice cream, topped with maple-candied orange peel and maple oat crumble.

[rstuart]

I love this place, and agree about the vegetable dishes… always excellent.

[elvisahmed]

Finally made it to this spot after a long wait and must visit recommendations. Loading pics review to follow

[elvisahmed]

I have parked on this street several times and walked by this place without paying much attention. I knew Bernhardt’s is around here somewhere but most of the attention goes the pizza spot nearby which has lines which are now hour+ long from what I heard.
Never mind after not being able to make it here on the past two attempts we finally arrived here.
While the dinning are in the patio and front seems nice the seating in the back is quite bad IMO. We are talking dark and narrow alleys you have trek to get to a dinning area (lighting level doesn’t improve here BTW) and the seating is very comfortable if you see with a back to the wall. We are not even talking a straight back here rather one has be slightly hunched over to even sit. I understand its an old house conversion to a restaurant but still not impressed at the rather uncomfortable seating if not up front.
We ordered the beet salad with labneh and whole chicken with half and half of fries and potato wedges.
The wine list is decent on a cursory look but being on the only person having a drink I found there selection of beers so limiting that stuck to sparkling water.
The food here is where they make up for the earlier follies.
The salad was good and nice mix of tart and sweet and labneh balancing out the rest. Good start.
The bird is not overly large (think smaller than the Costco version )
Its done well. Cooked well (read not overcooked) nice crisp on the skin and not salty which is what I have found elsewhere (Take notes Cafe Boulud you don’t have to give out a salt overload to make roasted chicken taste good). The sides are all decent. I didn’t try the pickle and found the slaw OK.
The gravy again isn’t salty or overtly rich which is just fine for chicken.
I saw some other items that are enticing like the lobster toast. Hanger steak as well could be good. One can combine the two to make a surf & turf. We were full otherwise would have tried the desserts. I will revisit especially if I get seating at front.

[Phoenikia]

I’ve wanted to stop in for take-out for ages. It’s always so crowded, when I walk by. I’m not even sure they offer take-out anymore.

Their website stopped offering online ordering online around 2 years ago.

[DrJohn]

Although the chicken is good, they really shine with their vegetable dishes. Hope you get to try those on a next visit. And the dessert to have is whatever soft serve they are doing at that time.

We didn’t mind the back patio and sat there a number of times. It is a little ramshackle, but we weren’t uncomfortable. It is not well covered for rain.

[elvisahmed]

Thanks for the tips I wouldn’t mind if we were seated outside it’s an old converted home so dim lights and small alleys are inevitable for this size/area. Just the room in the back was so tight and full of tables that it was almost unbearable. The seat I was given I had to be hunched over as it was like P shaped with no give in the cushion. They aren’t inexpensive by any means but having tables so close in a tight space could be better addressed.
One can’t pick the spot either where one wants to be seated either unless I missed it on the reservation page.
Oddly the space reminded me of Joe Beef (Montreal) and Aroma mezes (Ottawa also a converted house but much better imo)

[DrJohn]

We took a friend recently and sat on the front patio (the back patio is no longer available due to a laneway house). The vegetable dishes remain their strength.

We ordered a bottle of Basa Jantar 2019, Pinot Grigio, orange wine from Serbia - orange peel, tea, cherries, nutty; amazing coppery colour.

Richly flavoured beefsteak tomatoes came with generous black pepper, creamy ricotta, crunchy roasted kasha, shiso, celery leaves, and onions - a delightful left turn from a caprese salad.

One of the specials was a new potato salad with snap peas, Monsieur Emile cheese (aged goat), arugula, and Dijon vinaigrette - simple and fabulous.

The other special featured fioretta cauliflower, fennel, bomba vinaigrette, almonds, and sheep’s milk feta - nice garlic kick.

Caraflex cabbage à l’Egyptienne, with tahini, dukka, zhug, and pickled onion - juicy and tender, with a bit of chili kick.

Zucchini Ebreica-Romana, harissa sugo, roasted pine nuts, smoked labneh - very enjoyable, although the harissa was barely there.

Haricots beurre noisette & gribiche, with dill - gently cooked beans, with a slightly undersalted gribiche.

Delicate cod with beurre d’espelette, on a succotash of sweet corn and fresh chanterelles - one of the best dishes of the evening.

Fennel and strawberry soft serve with oatmeal crumble - another soft serve triumph.