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Food Food & Drink

Recently reviewed

Contemporary

Campagnolo

832 Dundas W, at Euclid, 416-364-4785, campagnolotoronto.com. Housed in an abandoned Coffee Time franchise, former Four chef du cuisine Craig Harding and partner Alexandra Hutchison’s way-casual 66-seat bistro brings Mediterranean glam to this otherwise charmingly dumpy strip. Don’t have a reservation for one of the hottest joints du jour? Since they only book half the room, your chances of scoring a walk-in are 50/50. Best: to start, baskets of epi baguette with whipped butter starters like delicately battered artichoke hearts fresh burrata with roasted olive-oil-soaked grapes brodo-braised rabbit with wilted kale and toasted pinenuts garlicky skewers of charcoal-grilled local lamb substantial mains like slow-cooked meaty cannelloni beans with smoked fall-from-the-hoof pork hock and pasta ends wild boar ragu with rubbery strips of tripe and mamma mia meatballs over buttery coarse polenta to finish, salty caramel sticky toffee. Complete dinners for $55 per person, including tax, tip and a cocktail. Average tapas $12. Open for dinner Saturday 6 pm to midnight. Licensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms on same floor. Rating: NNN

Gabardine

372 Bay, at Richmond W, 647-352-3211, thegabardine.com. The biggest thing to hit Bay Street since the black bloc, Alison Mackenna and Katherine Rodriques’s 50-seat self-styled gastropub has taken the stock market set by storm. An unusually raucous room, a regulation comfort food card and polished if hectic service guarantee repeat customers. Best: the Ploughman’s Lunch – pork ‘n’ sweetbread terrine wrapped in bacon, chicken liver pâté and rabbit rillettes, sided with house-made pickles, grilled baguette and hard-boiled eggs iceberg lettuce wedges doused with buttermilk-blue cheese dressing, crumbled bacon and fried onions macaroni and cheese with country ham 7-ounce naturally raised cheeseburgers garnished with roasted tomatoes and sided with frites burnt marshmallow ice cream sandwiches. Complete dinners for $50 per person (lunches $30), including tax, tip and a pint. Average main $20/$14. Open Monday to Friday 8 am to 10 pm (breakfast to 10:30 am, full menu from 11:30 am). Closed Saturday, Sunday, some holidays. Licensed. Access: one step at door, tight entrance, washrooms on same floor. Rating: NNN

Korean

Bi Bim Bap

950 Eglinton W, at Rostrevor, 416-787-7423, stonebowl.ca. Bibimbap can be found at most Seoul food restaurants, but only Sam Lee and Janet Yun’s casual Korean cantina is dedicated to this meal-in-one rice casserole. And while Seoul food isn’t generally very veggie-friendly, this often innovative kitchen has much for even vegans to enjoy. Best: seven different versions all told, the traditional a bowl of short-grain white rice garnished with seared sirloin, veggies – raw, wilted or slightly pickled spinach, carrot, cucumber, zucchini, burdock, daikon and seaweed – and a runny fried egg the Seed, a dairy-free take with black sesame, sunflower, pumpkin and poppy seeds and grilled portobello over mirin-marinated brown rice, both in sweet house-made red pepper ‘n’ apple gochujang hot sauce. Complete meals for $18 per person, including tax, tip and a mug of barley tea. Average main $11. Open Tuesday to Saturday 11 am to 10 pm, Sunday 11 am to 8 pm. Closed Monday, some holidays. Licensed. Access: barrier-free, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN

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