Bistro 7 1/4

4/5 stars

725 Osbourne Street

Pre-visit
We were going to go to La Petite France for dinner as our last 'date night' before I leave for Thailand but since we were going out on Good Friday, they were closed.  In order to stick with the French cuisine theme, my partner chose Bistro 7 1/4.  I had heard mixed reviews of this restaurant because of the open kitchen concept but I liked it, and so did my partner - so you'll have to make that decision for yourself.  I can say that I would not choose to sit at the chef's table, which is modeled after a bar except instead of talking to the bartender, you're talking to the cooks.

The restaurant is not very large, so you definitely want a reservation.  Apparently they will be knocking down the wall to expand next door to it (currently an empty second hand clothing store), but I'm not sure about this so don't quote me.  The noise level is louder than some might like, especially at the front of the restaurant, but if you get a table closer to the back it is quite romantic and you can easily hear each other without straining yourselves.  This is where we were so I was happy with the experience.

As for the appearance of the restaurant, it was quite warm - less cafeteria like than the first floor of Inferno's Bistro.  The tables are a dark wood, as is the floor.  One wall is turquoise with mirrors that reflect the opposite wall - a chocolate brown with light-coloured paintings.  This has a neat effect in somewhat opening up the restaurant since it is narrow.

The Meal:
 NOTE: This restaurant is not one for people who are on low-sodium diets.

Appetizers:
We did not order the cheese platter that they are well known for, although we did see it and it looked fantastic.  It is a selection of cheese (you can choose from a long list of cheeses or let them pick for you - that's what we would have done I'm sure), served with various homemade crackers, french bread, and fruit.  Alternately, we both ordered the French Onion Soup - as it is probably in both of our top 5 favourite soups.  It was DELICIOUS.  The chefs did a great job of not having too much cheese on the outside of the bowl, instead it was all in the soup - so good.  The onions were browned much darker than you usually see at restaurants - making the flavour of the soup even stronger.  PS - this soup is made in house.

You are also provided bread before your meal (are you surprised?).  Instead of just being given butter, you have a number of options to try on the bread.  There is a citrus salt that you can put on it, a home-made tomato jam, or in-house whipped butter - or a combination of these.  The jam sounds crazy, but it was actually very good - I recommend it.

Entrees:
This was a difficult decision - especially since we were trying to choose well since this whole weekend we were going to be eating.  They have a section called 'small dishes' that consisted of salads and other meals that made me think of entree-sized appetizers.  They also have a section of gnudi - a food that is similar to gnocci, except that the main ingredient is ricotta cheese - and a section of muscles and fries with all sorts of sauces to have the muscles cooked in.  I ordered from the large dishes section - despite the desire to not eat a lot.

I had the goat, opting for something completely different since they had such a variety of unique items.  Again the meat was a little salty for my taste, and I probably wouldn't order goat again because it was tougher than I'd like, but it was well cooked to a medium rare - just as I asked.  This meat was served with figs and walnuts which complemented the flavour of the meat quite well.  Also, the goat was served on a bed of couscous, prepared with peppers and snow peas mixed in.  I have an affinity for couscous so it was nice to see it on a menu.  This also complemented the meat, but contrasted the flavour of the fig and walnut so I would not recommend having it all in your mouth at once.

My partner had the dinner special - beef tenderloin, served with a fried egg, sweet potato hash and a salsa butter.  The tenderloin cut was cooked perfectly again, and was very tender.  The butter enhanced the taste of the egg and hash.

Dessert:
By this point we were so full that I didn't even have the stomach to look at the dessert menu.  From what we saw being walked past our table, they clearly have a chocolate cake which is served with raspberries.  There was also a lemon tartlet (or at least that's what it looked like) that was topped with a variety of berries.

Wine:
I cannot say enough good things about the bottle of wine that we had.  It was the Alamos Seleccion Malbec and it was fanominal.  It had a strong aroma that smelled of oak and the flavour was full of different fruits.  It was very dry (just the way we like it) but still quite smooth.  I highly recommend it but if you don't like dry wine or reds, there are a number of other wines available by the glass or by the bottle.