When they arrived on Saturday, G and I had already been busy bees visiting McEwan and buying a few goodies for their visit. We knew there would likely be a few hours before dinner (P had booked us in for dinner at a restaurant called Tati on Harbord Street), so we bought a few odds and ends...
P and M had brought some bubbly. We bought a few cheeses, had some chili biltong and french sausages, along with olive ciabatta, blueberries, and balsamic drizzled sliced tomatoes. Lovely! I had also bought some McEwan's pickled chili beans...
We chatted and ate our way through the spread and had a lovely time (if I do say so myself).
From there, we changed clothes and ventured out into the crazily hot Toronto evening to have dinner at Tati. I was excited about going, they had cassoulet on the menu online and I had read a few reviews that said it was amazing. Despite the hot night, I knew I would order it.
When we got there, we were seated on their upstairs patio. It's an absolutely lovely patio with a tree in the middle and we had a nice seat. I was a little on squirrel guard (long story but I hate squirrels), but I relaxed into it as it seemed that bees were the only really pest moving about.
The menu was interesting. A macaroni gratin of course caught my eye. Even though I knew with the cassoulet that it would be far too much food, I had to order it. The waitress suggested having it as a starter with a green salad. Which I did...
It was good, but (and I hear your collective groans) my macaroni gratin (or macaroni cheese as we say in good ol' Canada) was/is better. But it was good, and enough that both P and G had a good few spoonfuls!
Then came the cassoulet...
Meh. No bread crumbs, which was okay, but the broth was incredibly thin, the beans were not nearly cooked enough, and both the duck and ham were lacking in flavour. Granted, it was way too hot to eat this sort of food, and I was sweating like mad. I ate it a solid bit of it, it wasn't terrible, but it was no where near the cassoulet I had in Chinon, France, and (groans again) it wasn't as good as the "Gourmet" version that I made myself.
All in all, Tati was okay. I would definitely try something different the next time, and certainly try and eat a bit more weather appropriate...but in the end, the conversation was good, the wine was nice, and the meal certainly didn't suck. Happy Birthday to M! He's a good friend and amazing guy and we were very happy to spend the day with him and P.
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