Summerlicious @ Bymark

My last Summerlicious meal this year took place at Bymark. I've always wanted to try Mark McEwan's restaurant, but most of them are too pricey for my budget! So I thought Summerlicious was a good opportunity to try one of them out.

Instead of the typical salt and pepper shakers, the two condiments were placed in little ramekins with a spoon. Cute, but it was harder to sprinkle evenly.

We got a choice of ciabatta, olive, or multigrain bread. This was the ciabatta, which was unfortunately served cold. I prefer my bread to be at least warm.

For my appetizer, I chose tuna tartare with avocado salsa, vegetable spring roll and spiced aioli. This was my first time trying tuna tartare, and I had imagined it to taste like tuna sashimi with seasoning. However, I thought my tartare was slightly under-seasoned. I also wanted the texture to be slimier and less firm, and I found that chewing on bits of congealed fat was rather unpleasant. The spring roll was also pretty ordinary. The only thing that I really enjoyed was the creamy avocado salsa, which was tangy with a little kick of heat. 

I ordered the B.C. halibut in banana leaf because it was the most expensive option on their regular menu (hence I would be maximizing the value of my meal). But I should've known better than to order an Asian-inspired dish at a non-Asian restaurant. The halibut sat on top of leek hearts, beets, fingerling potatoes and some light coconut broth. I never really enjoyed fish unless it was deep fried or steamed to tender perfection, and this was neither.

My boyfriend didn't like any of the Summerlicious features, so he ordered off the regular menu. He had a roasted prime rib sandwich with caramelized onion, roasted pepper and horseradish aioli. I liked his sandwich a lot more than my own course. The slices of prime rib were really tender and flavourful. After sampling his sandwich, I regretted not ordering the turkey sandwich instead for my main instead. Lesson of the day: don't just go for the most expensive item on a fixed price menu!

His sandwich also came with a size of fries. They were also really delicious! Interestingly, the paper cone container had stock listings all over it, a clever play on the restaurant's location in the financial district. 

For dessert, I opted for a more whimsical choice: house made ice cream sandwich with a white chocolate banana lollipop. The small dessert was a pleasant ending to the meal, and I particularly thought that the white chocolate banana lollipop was very cute, even though it was basically just a piece of banana with a white chocolate casing. All in all, the meal was satisfactory, but I wished I had come here for a regular lunch rather than for Summerlicious. Out of the four Summerlicious meals that I had this year, only Canoe wowed me. I'm starting to lose faith in the Toronto-licious events.