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King Street Trio has recently moved back to King Street. It’s now right in uptown Waterloo at 40 King Street South, basically across the street from Rude Native. Recently, we had dinner there.

The new space is quite a bit smaller than their old location on University—it’s a very narrow restaurant. They’ve dressed it up nicely, though, with hardwood flooring, wood tabletops, black chairs, making for a modern look overall. And even as it filled up, we didn’t find it got too loud—though still perhaps not your ideal location for a romantic dinner.

Our waitress was professional and friendly. She seemed quite disappointed that we weren’t celebrating any special occasion (making me wonder what they would have done if we were). And she made a point of asking if we had any time limit, which we did. That resulted in the food arriving a little faster than expected, and in one case before the wine, and was the one “bump” in the otherwise great service. But we did get out on time, after having a full meal, and that was definitely the main goal.

The menu didn’t include any daily specials, which apparently will be added later, but we didn’t have much trouble selecting from the main menu. The appetizers included a fair number of seafood offerings, but I couldn’t resist the oysters. Here, unlike at sister restaurant King Crab and Oyster Bar, you get only one type of oyster, but they were delicious. They came with three dipping sauces. I wasn’t crazy about the mango one, but both the ginger and the cucumber were great.

The two gentlemen had the Angus beef flatbread with shitake, goat cheese, and roasted tomatoes. That was also very good (though both my gentlemen and I preferred the oysters). The fourth diner took a chance on the Suppli di Riso, which was a fried risotto balls stuffed with mozarella. The outside was quite crisp—a bit of challenge to cut through—and the inside, naturally, kind of starchy. Though not bad, she said she likely wouldn’t order it again.

As mains, I stuck with the seafood and had the jumbo sea scallops with green beans and risotto. The scallops were delicious, perfectly undercooked, and the beans also had a great snap and taste. The risotte was fine, but nothing special. The gentlemen continued with their paired ordering, each having the rack of lamb with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Both were impressed with the meat and spuds. Apparently the vegetables were a little less successful. And, now I can’t remember the fourth order–maybe the veal? [I was subsequently informed it was indeed the veal! And quite delicious.]

The wine list included quite a few offerings by the glass and half litter as well as by bottle, most at quite reasonable prices. Those having red meat mains shared a bottle of Chilean Merlot that was a hit all around. I started with a glass of delicious Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, then an Italian Pinot Grigio (fine but not exciting).

Though my items seemed fairly light and the portions were not huge, I was still too full for dessert. I just had a decaf mochaccino. But, a couple of us were able to fit in the vanilla creme brulee, and seemed pleased with that.

All told, it was a very pleasant evening out. I would certainly go there again.

The place we were asked to comment on for Where to Eat in Canada was Bhima’s Warung. (Coincidentally, the week we went there, the Record also reviewed them!)

Where to Eat doesn’t publish personal reviews, per se; instead, it compiles and considers all reports received to produce an overall assessment of the establishment. Therefore, when writing about Bhima’s Warung, I didn’t worry too much about massaging the language or whatever. Just said how it was:

As requested, we went to Bhima’s Warung this week, and have a bit of mixed response.

But no issues with the starters, which were both oysters, but done different ways. I had the item on the regular menu, which is freshly shucked oyster in a warm lemongrass, ginger, chili, and garlic sauce. The sauce was really nice (spicy!), and really covered up the taste of oyster (such as it is). On the second I deliberately took less sauce to assess the oyster itself better, and they were really nice, seemed very fresh. My husband had a special that day, which was oysters baked with coconut (medium spicy). Haven’t had good baked oyster experiences in the past, but we enjoyed these. The texture does get a little bit can tuna-like, but the coconut flavoring was very nice, and it had nice crispyness to it. In both cases, the price was $4 per oyster, and you could choose how many you wanted.

The restaurant had a good number of wines available by the glass, which we appreciated. I had a NZ Sauvigon Blanc with that, which worked well, and my husband had an ON Gerwurtz.

For the main course, I chose another regular menu item, tandoori-baked Cornish hen stuffed with sticky rice, with a side of pickled vegetables, naan bread, a yogurt and vegetable sauce, and a chutney ($28). My favorite part was actually the vegetables–beets, bok choy, and carrots, pickled. Surprising and nice. The naan bread was also excellent. The Cornish hen was perfectly cooked, but quite moderately seasoned. Perhaps the idea was to dip it in the flavorful chutney or white sauce; certainly it took well to doing that. The sticky rice had exactly the texture you’d expect, but was also not too flavorful.

My husband had a special entree that day, which was duck confit and a side of seared foie gras. The duck confit was really quite delicious. The foie gras was also good, but was seared to the point of having a bit of charcoal taste. It did not ruin the texture, but the charcoal flavor was a bit odd. This dish was a bit lacking in accompaniments; it came with some grilled potatoes.

So while my main was more than I could eat, my husband cleaned off his plate and helped me a bit with mine.

With those, my husband had a glass of a nice CA cabernet sauvignon and I had a German off-dry Riesling.

And, we both tried dessert. I had the baked banana with vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was very nice, freshly made (by someone, if not Bhima’s themselves). The bananas tasted fine but weren’t as crispy as other desserts of this type I’ve had, and which I would have preferred. My husband had the chocolate bread pudding with ice cream, and declared himself satisfied with that. Both desserts came with a really excellent peanut brittle.

We tried a couple teas with that. Mine was Indian spiced, and it was actually hot spicy! Not quite what I was expecting, and couldn’t finish. My husband had ginger and honey tea that was more mellow.

The service was adequate. There was quite a wait for food to arrive, and there wasn’t any refilling of water glasses. My tea arrived after my dessert (and after my husband had received his). It was friendly and reasonably attentive, but not superlative.

So it’s a bit tough to assess overall. I appreciate the creativity of the menu, and most things do turn out well. But it is pretty pricey, and I’m not sure the value proposition is quite there. (Total for the meal was $170 with tax but before tip.)

In yet another week where we seem to have something on every night, tonight’s event was a wine-paired dinner at Bloom, the newly named student-run restaurant at Conestoga College. But I just couldn’t resist the offer when it showed up in my mailbox.

It was a four-course dinner, with wine, for $36. The featured winery was Fielding Estates. The menu was as follows.

Amuse: Apple turnover, red pepper mousse, and spicy sausage of some type. Seems a weird mix, but every thing was quite nice.

Starter: Lobster Bisque scented with Vanilla and Basil
Wine: 2008 Fielding Chardonnay

I was very impressed with this wine, which turned out to be a small batch of 200 cases, so I may not get to have it again. The lobster bisque was also nicely done. I wasn’t so sure about vanilla scenting it, but it was a moderate flavoring, just giving the soup a touch of sweetness. The little spoon we were given to eat it with was kind of awkward, but it did look cute with the little bowl.

Second course: Salt Cured Foie Gras accompanied by Mango and Pineapple Salsa served on Toasted Brioche
Wine: 2008 Fielding Gerwurztraminer

They do a nice cold foie gras here. It’s not strongly foie gras flavored, but has a lovely texture. Mango isn’t totally in season and so the texture wasn’t ideal, but that’s a quibble. The taste was still fine. The Gerwurtz, which is available at LCBO, was less impressive than the Chardonnay but still a very nice wine.

Main: Navarin of Lamb, Mint and Celeriac Sauce, Sweet Potato Rosti and Harvard Beets.
Wine: 2008 Fielding Carbernet-Syrah

A “navarin” turns out to be a stew kind of thing, combined with peas and potatoes along with the celeriac. The whole thing had a slight sweetness that was quite appealing, and excellent texture. The rosti and beets were a little tougher than they should be, but tasted quite. The wine was quite delicious. Not big, but fruity enough and with the acidity necessary to make it food friendly. It’s a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah. Available from the winery.

Dessert: Chocolate and Caramel Baked Alaska
Wine: 2007 Select Later Harvest Gewurtztraminer

The wine was very nice, with an apple sweetness to it. It didn’t quite stand up to the dessert, but that’s OK. The dessert on its own was quite fine. The caramel was pretty subtle, with the slightly chocolatey meringue and ice cream predominating.

All in all, definitely a deal for $36.

The service had the slight awkwardness one might expect of students learning their craft, and generally lacking in downright funny moments of the now mythical “wine cupboard” night. But it was slightly amusing to be told that they had only one type of tea, “and I’m not sure what it is. It starts with O.”