BarQue ✔✔✔✔
- Tyler Andrew
- Jul 22, 2016
- 4 min read
Chicken wings. Smoked things. Beer clings, for two kings. The journey to this weeks Beast and Feast adventure was accompanied by Michael Majewski. This legend was pressing me to find some good Q in the GTA, which lead us to BarQue! Featured on YGEH, this place serves up a rich BBQ experience in more ways than one! The place was very comfortable and diverse with its atmosphere. Everything from the coat hooks under tables to The Lorax playing on the TV in the bar. Not to mention the alluring wait-staff that kept us well gratified through-out the evening. The meat in the kitchen was not the only thing smoking in this place (If you no-wut-I-meen) Me and #KarnivoreKonni figured we would choose the Smoker's Choice option on the menu; which included a complete refined barbecue experience with all their specialties. The items included their house salad, smoked wings
, chicken, ribs, 12h brisket and pulled pork; all finished off with the daily special for dessert. The meal was 39$/person which seemed very reasonable to get such a wide variety of house specialties. We also included some Smoked Duck Tacos to our meal for 8$ to further our indulgence in their meaty menu. Before any of that tho our BarQue experience started with a complimentary bowl of popcorn. It was a pleasant appetizer and provided a perfect pairing to the powwow's exchanged as we waited for our food #PowwowPopcorn. It was salty sweet with a little heat. However was a little on the stale side as if it had been our for a couple hours already. Which seemed odd, since we were there as soon as they opened for dinner service. Perhaps a little to anxious for set up? Regardless, I am a big fan of finger food while talking and gave a good start to the dining experience. The salads came out first. Now I am not here to talk about salads. You don't make friends with salads anyhow. However, this salad had super crunchy tortilla chips in them that made it worth while mentioning. For most people, I could understand that the salad having no dressing could be disappointing, but not to fear, there is complimentary table BBQ sauce always at your disposal! The Duck Tacos came out next. Pretty tiny in size. Only two for 8$. The duck being smoked and it being served in a Hoisen sauce gave the taco's almost a fishiness. I would describe the taste like smoked eel. They were good, but also a little dry. I didn't mind the taste, but maybe that's also cause smoked eel is one of my favorite things to order when I go for AYCE sushi. The Smoked Chicken Wings came out next, served with a Chimichurri sauce. The wings were clucking phenomenal! These had to be the best wings i have ever had! They were perfectly salted and big on smoke flavor. The sauce alone was very uninteresting. But once you topped it onto a wing and took a bite.... BUK-CAW! It made the wings even better somehow! It was the pairing of the ages! I was taken by these wings, and not even Liam Nelson was going to find me. After that the main platter of the Brisket, pulled pork, ribs and chicken came out. To my surprise there was very little. Two chicken thighs. Half a rack of baby-back ribs. Probably 6oz of both pulled pork and Smoked Brisket. My favorite out of all the meats on that platter was the chicken, It was so flavorful and so juicy too! The pulled pork was also very good, one of the better pulled pork I have had. The ribs weren't as great as we'd hope. They tasted good, but were literally glued to the bone rather than that "fall off" ambition you'd expect. The Smoked Brisket was also a little dry. I could feel the meat splinter in my mouth as I chewed it. Still good flavor. But I have had way better brisket as Fanny Chadwicks. The veg that was served with the dinner was probably the most uninteresting. Dry, withered corn bits tethered to the cob, and broccoli that had the life sucked out of it in the oven that couldn't be saved by the sauce it was drizzled with. Not sure what it was...but it was orange...which is as about as descriptive as this sauce got. For dessert we had a chocolate peanut brownie with chocolate ganache and topped with caramel popcorn. The dessert was very one note. I mostly tasted the ganache and the rest of the brownie merely acted like a semi-sweet base. The only other flavor note I got was when I hit the part with the caramel popcorn which really amp'd it up. But it was short lived for the lone kernel that sat upon the sweet. The overall experience was a delight! Many fantastic menu items stood out as some of the best I've ever had and others just falling short. The portion sizes as individuals were dainty, but with everything that came out throughout the 4 courses it was a very satisfying meal. Too bad it was also one of the most expensive outings yet also!
Pros:
The Chicken! BEST THING
Pulled Pork
Complimentary Popcorn
Dining experience
Cons:
Brisket
Ribs
Corn and Broccoli (Dry)
Budget? - Experiance? ✔ Aesthetics ✔ Size ✔ Taste ✔
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