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Winterlicious Food: Horsing Around on the Cheap
Tucked away on College Street – just before you hit the cluster of restaurants in Toronto’s trendy Little Italy district – is Pony Bistro. While Pony would normally be outside of Torontoist’s budget (wait, do we even have a budget?), we recently took advantage of the City’s Winterlicious campaign, and found ourselves in this warm and romantic spot.
With its intimate atmosphere and Sade playing in the background, Torontoist made the splurge for the $20 dinner at Pony, which includes an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Pony offers a variety of tempting choices on its Winterlicious menu – even for a non-meat eater like TOist. We were quite happy with the flavourful and simple mushroom soup with white truffle oil, followed by a very fresh and generously proportioned seared BC halibut atop a bed of corn and potato chowder, with a side of vegetables. Our friendly server recommended the Californian R.H. Phillips Shiraz, and though the bottle almost resembled a “stubby” – it’s got a short neck – not to mention a screw cap, it’s what’s inside that counts, and inside was a delicious and robust wine, an excellent complement to our meal. For dessert, Torontoist had the best of both worlds, and tried each of Pony’s Winterlicious features: the light & dark chocolate cappuccino tiramisu and the lemon tart. As much of a chocolate lover as TOist is, our favourite was the simple sweet and sour lemon tart. Actually, the entire meal was simple, with not too many competing flavours or aromas, just fresh and flavourful ingredients. We would gladly try Pony again…when does Summerlicious start?
Pony Bistro is located at 488 College Street, west of Bathurst at Palmerston Blvd.
Telephone: (416) 923-7665
Winterlicious ends on February 10.
(Price does not include, tax, tip or wine)