A couple of nights ago, it was girls night. Where did we go after a long day of work and class? Spirit House Toronto for dinner & drinks. Spirit House is located right at the corner of Adelaide and Portland (487 Adelaide St. W). The place is actually really cute, the bar is beautiful, and the music was pretty dope.
Of course, seeing that it was me…and my girls…you know we got a lot more food than drink. Which is something I completely regret. No, not because I intended on getting plastered but because I’d much rather do drinks than dinner at SpiritHouse, if I ever decide to go back there. Let’s get into why, shall we?
Calamari
with peanut sauce, tamarind and sriracha
I was actually apprehensive because of the peanut sauce (I’m a fan of peanut butter but that’s as far as it had gone for me), until of course this dish. This dish was actually my favourite of the night. The thinly cut strips of carrots and radish along with the mix of flavours of the sauces and the fresh cilantro was beautiful. The calamari was seasoned very well and cooked to a wonderful texture. Let’s just talk about the sauces for a quick second. The tang from the tamarind, the spice from the sriracha and the savoury creaminess from the peanut sauce fused together so beautifully. I give this dish a 9/10.
Pulled Pork Carnitas
with tequila salsa & queso fresca
Pulled Pork Carnitas…sounds amazing,smelled amazing, looks amazing. Was not amazing. Well, the first bite was. The texture of the pork was incredible, the flavours all seemed just right except for the fact that it was just a little bit salty. And then, I kept eating it and it kept getting saltier and saltier. Highly disappointed. Maybe if they eased up on the salt I would have had all three to my face. I would suggest that they serve slices of avocado with this. It would have coated by tongue and the salt would have been less abrasive to my palate. No joke, my lips and tongue actually dried up so quick I had to down a couple of waters and my palate still wasn’t cleansed. If the salt factor did not exist I would have given this an 8/10. However, the issue of the salt was REAL, so real that I’m going to have to give this a 3.5/10. Sorry guys.
Deviled Eggs
four ways with fried nori, anchovy, caviar, & crispy sopressata
So our server was kind enough to hold this up for me to take picture (thanks doll)! Too bad the dish was an odd mix of sweet and salty. I was really hoping for savoury goodness to envelop my palate…it did not. I tried the caviar one and did not want to try the rest. Not my thing. Maybe I’ll go again and try this out again to see if I change my mind. The presentation is just so beautiful that it just broke my heart that I did not like how it tasted. And the texture of the eggs: the whites were cooked perfectly and the yolks were so sinfully creamy. There was a mixup with the flavour factor here. Sighs, woe is me. 2/10.
Whitefish Tacos
tempura whitefish, cabbage, chipotle aioili, radish, avocado
Looks can be deceiving, this was hella dry…homie. So I’m assuming they just ran out of chipotle aioli or something. Lawl. I would highly suggest serving an extra little side of the aioli or some other sort of sauce. And I would also seriously suggest not puréeing down the avocado. The kitchen should totes make a little salad/garnish that fuses the coleslaw thing going on with a salsa of some sorts. I foresee that being delish. Fish is really easy to overcook, so I would suggest keeping a closer eye on the fish as it is being made as well. 3/10.
Chorizo Medallions
crispy Spanish sausage with house chimichurri
Chorizo=overcooked. Chimichurri=one of the better things I tasted that night. I actually REALLY like chorizo so I would like to not talk about this as of…now. 3/10, because the chimicurri sauce did this dish some good.
Hot Fresh Churros
with reposado tequila caramel & canela cinnamon sugar
Let me just start off by saying that I actually LOVE churros. & I have to admit that these churros were on point. The were crispy and sugary on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside all the while being moist. I guess you can say that this kind of had a honey cruller effect (wuddup Tim Hortons!). Perfect churros.
Sauce…not so much. I never thought I would see the day when I say this, but there was waaaayyy too much tequila in the sauce. It tasted like tequila with caramel in it. I know that sounds like it would taste good, but it didn’t. So, after we had asked for another sauce they brought us out another batch of churros (which was super sweet of them) with sauce and then another sauce because we had complained. Here’s the thing, one of the sauces tasted like there was no tequila in it (quite possibly because we had said something) and the other one tasted the same: that is, over tequila-ed. And so, this leads me to believe that they just go in on the tequila unless you specifically ask for less tequila. If you’re big on flavour, I would recommend asking for less tequila because, quite frankly speaking, the alcohol really drowns any caramel flavour they would have had going on. Overall, I give this dessert a 7/10.
Drinks Of The Night
Cucumber Basil Smash: top shelf gin, english cucumber, fresh pressed lime, gomme syrup, fresh basil
Aperol Spritz: aperol & sparkling wine
Here’s where the sun came out and I saw rainbows. Spirit House actually has some wicked drinks. Their cocktail menu was poppin’ (for a lack of better words) and the drinks looked beautiful in and of themselves. The flavour of the drinks was pretty incredible actually. So herein lies the greatest part of my night (aside from seeing my ladies of course). The drinks at SpiritHouse make everything better. I would highly recommend checking out their drinks and drinks alone. Lawl. 10/10.
Overall Ratings
Food: 4.75/10.
I would not go back for food…unless I was just getting calamari. It’s sad because the presentation was so beautiful for their dishes. The flavours were just not working for me. I mean, the flavours were there…just not in the right proportions. Careless mistakes it seems, ruined my meals. Merp.
Drinks: 10/10
Would I go back to get drinks? Yessir, you don’t have to ask me twice.
Service: 10/10
The staff was very friendly and keen to attend to all of our needs. Management was very pleasant as well. They are such sweet people.
Ambience: 9/10
Everything from the lighting and the decor to the overall vibe and atmosphere of the place was awesome. It’s a great place to just kick it.
So although their food needs work, the rest of my experience was pretty good. If I ever go out for drinks in the future I would definitely consider Spirit House Toronto for their drink menu, the welcoming staff and chic ambience of the place.
