Back in late July, I was fortunate to have won a gift card to dine at Chat Bar's Scarborough location.
There were restrictions on this gift card:
- I had to specify a date between July 22 and August 5 (Civic Holiday)
- I could only specify dropping by its Spadina or Scarborough location
- Once this gift card was configured for the date that I wanted, I couldn't change it.
I needed help. I asked two friends to join me. Sadly, one couldn't make it. Despite missing that person, we had a great time enjoying dinner here on a Wednesday night.
One friend is a colleague. The other one was our intern. She has since completed her work term and we all ended up being friends.
We left work at around 4 pm. Highway 401 was busy, but it was surprisingly not as horrible as it could have been.
This Chat Bar location is roughly a five-minute drive from my home. My friend also lives in Markham. It was nice to drive northwest to drop her home after we had stuffed ourselves silly with yummy food.
There was lots of parking in this plaza. It was fairly busy at around 5:30 pm. I backed into a spot and walked in.
We were greeted by two women. I indicated that I had a gift card. I had to show it to them on my phone. They nodded and got us a cozy table to sit down.
We liked the large chalkboard with art. This lighting provided a warm, cozy ambiance. It was nice hanging out with good company.
We got water to start. Ordering consisted of scanning a QR code and ordering online. You don't pay online.
Our rather long list of items consisted of these items:
- Black pepper kalbi beef
- Grilled sausage
- Pork belly
- Mini cuttlefish balls
- Honey wings with garlic
- Enoki mushrooms
- House special potato slices
- Grilled pineapple
- Lychee nigori
We originally wanted to try the Japanese peach sparking wine. Sadly, the LCBO strike had just been lifted, but this eatery didn't have a chance to replenish its stock. Instead, we got the lychee nigori. It worked out, as its price managed to get us over my gift card's value.
Staff were extremely attentive and helpful throughout our stay. They deserve top marks for making our experience memorable and great.
The table had warming tray for the skewers. There were two tea light candles that kept everything warm.
We loved everything that we had consumed.
Some highlights:
- The proteins on skewers were so tender and flavourful. We both felt that the black pepper kalbi beef and pork belly were exceptional out of the batch.
- The enoki mushrooms were delicious. They came in an aluminum foil packet. Anything in aluminum foil had lots of chopped garlic. Specifically, the house special potato slices were divine. They were so garlicky. Love!
- Get the wings. The honey wings with garlic were done well. We enjoyed them immensely.
- The grilled pineapple felt like dessert. If you love fruit that gets even sweeter grilled, get these skewers.
If you feel like splurging on booze, I highly recommend the lychee nigori. It was fantastic. It was saki with the perfect lychee flavour in each sip. The bottle looks large, but it's not. We had no problem downing it.
We polished everything off, except for the sliced potatoes. I asked my friend if she wanted them to take home. She let me take them instead. I got them boxed up and they were even better the following day!
My friend felt the need to grab the remaining $10 that we owned. She paid with a debit card through her phone. Done!
We got white rabbit candy before we left. I hadn't had some in years. It was a nice touch.
I highly recommend dropping by. We had fun and waddled out just fine afterwards. We still talk about this meal and the need to return.
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