Batifole

Batifole pitches itself as the best French restaurant in Toronto's Chinatown. It is that a much much more. Batifole is probably one of the best French bistros I've been to outside of France. I think it could compete with anything in Montreal and really soothe any homesickness a Frenchman might have. It is just that good. The Dark Queen made the booking for dinner with her work children on Monday. She had been raving about it for months. I had to give it a go. There are a few things that I think make a really great bistro and Batifole had them all in spades. A great bistro should be a casual place. It shouldn't be somewhere people dress up to go to. The food should be simple and hearty. There shouldn't be foam on the dishes. Molecular gastronomy it is not. It must be reasonable. It doesn't need to be cheap, but it shouldn't be expensive. Batifole was all these things. I wanted to order so many things on the menu, but unfortunately was limited by my stomach. There was escargot, horse tartare, beef cheeks, a steak that came with bone marrow. It all sounded so good. There was even cassoulet, but I resisted as I feared if I had it, I would be unable to eat anything else but the rich bean casserole that came with duck confit and a myriad of sausages.

My dinner began with the braised beef tripe. It was done with calvados and a few vegetables and cooked for hours before being served with a slice of toasted bread. Rich, hearty and delicious. If you've never had tripe, this might be the place to try it first. It was that good. I do wish I had another slice of bread to eat with it, but that is a minor point and had I really wanted one I should have asked for one.

Daphne had a chicken liver parfait with a green tomato chutney. She called it one of the best things she had ever had. It was rich and the chutney and cornichon that came with it were great foils for that richness. One really cool thing about the dish was the topping on the little ramekin. They did it like a creme brulee so it had a crunchy little topping. Very cool.

The Dark Queen and Hollie both had the fish soup, which DxQ proclaimed to be one of the best versions of the soup she has had. One of my fondest memories of working in Toronto was going for lunch with her and having the fish soup at Bouchon where they made a fantastic version. So the fish soup at Batifole must have been good.

For my main, I had the same as the Dark Queen. The confit of pork shank. I have difficulty describing just how rich this dish was. Think of pieces of pork shank that have been slowed cooked in duck fat. Then served with cheese melted on top of it. You may think you have a sense about how rich this dish is, but you have no idea. The meat maintained its shape, but became wonderfully tender. And at the bottom of the dish were this thin slices of potato that had just soaked up the liquid the pork sat in. I don't know how I finished the dish it was so rich. But I just couldn't stop eating it. Absolutely brilliant. This was a perfect winter dish. I want to come back on an ugly winter night and order it again.

Daphne had the whole snapper done in a salt crust and was raving about it the whole evening. It was a whole snapper that was mostly deboned, but with the head and tail still attached. Laid on a bed of vegetables, covered with a salt crust and roasted. A very cool presentation and even better tasting. The fish was so moist.
Hollie had the braised beef cheek. This is the kind of dish, at least to my way of thinking, that a bistro needs to served. A lesser cut of meat, prepared with lots of love. Delicious. The whole menu was filled with things like this. Dishes that perhaps other, more precious, restaurants might pass on. But at Batifole, they rise to the challenge of being a bistro and meet it head on and deliver. The sides at Batifole are ordered separately.

We had two orders of mustard greens and one of frites. I loved that a French restaurant in Chinatown serves mustard greens as their vegetable. They were simply stir fried and if it were not for the walnuts they came with would not have been out of place down the street in a Chinese restaurant. The slight bitterness was a great antidote to the richness of the pork confit. The frites were good, but the ones at Cote Mer remain the best I've had in recent memory. Those were incredible and I'm not sure they can get any better. That's not to say Batifole has poor ones, just not stunning. To drink we had a bottle of Madiran Torus. I probably have spelled this wrong. It was at the recommendation of our server after surveying our table. It was pretty light and pretty simple. I enjoyed it, but to be honest with the constant alternating assault on my tastebuds of the confit and the mustard greens, the flavours of the wine got a little lost.
For dessert we shared two among the four of us. Eager not to repeat the mistake of the night before at the Swan we picked just two instead of the shotgun approach of ordering them all. The first was the lemon crepes which DxQ said were a must to order. And now, having tasted the totally agree. Two simple crepes with a bit of sugar and a tart lemon sauce. So simple, but the strength of the lemon made the dish. Especially after such a rich meal.

The other dessert was a meringue flottant that came with a very floral orange flavoured creme anglaise. Good, but the floral nature of the orange flavour was almost overpowering. Making one think of a perfum than a dessert. The meringue was very good though. If I was to pick between the two though it is the lemon crepes and it isn't even close. Other desserts on the menu were a couple of different crepes, a chocolate mousse and a creme brulee.

Batifole is a restaurant I will try to go to over and over again when I am in Toronto. I hope my sister gives it a try as I would be curious to get her take on it. DxQ said the menu is very seasonal and completely different in the summer. I would be fascinated to give it a go and hopefully I will get a chance.

Batifole. 744 Gerrard East. Toronto. 416-462-9965.

Comments

[Momma]

Work Mother/Dark Queen is so proud of her son. Can't wait to see the pictures.

p.s. I am still full from the pork/duck fat/emmenthal/potato/rosemary extravaganza

[Destination Wedding]

Great review, but Batifole is located in Leslieville, not Chinatown.