One of the greatest things about living in Toronto is the variety of ethnic food. From Little Italy, Greek Town to Korea Town, there are plenty of authentic coves of food to be found. We have driven through Little Portugal many times but bewildered by the number of restaurants, never made the stop to indulge. On a whim, I looked up Portuguese food in the city tonight, and was surprised to find that there was a restaurant just off Yonge on Elm Street that seemed promising.There is a cute row of restaurants on Elm Street, including the famous Barbarian's steak house, mostly targeted to tourists. We must have walked by Adega many times and never noticed that it served Portuguese cuisine. As a seafood lover, the menu was heaven!
We started with a seafood bisque that perfectly hit the spot and an octopus carpaccio served with mild chili sauce. I was more interested in our neighbour's amazing looking squid appetizer...next time I suppose! For mains, we had a seafood saffron risotto, which was surprisingly light for a pasta. I was expecting a bit more flavour, but found it delicious nonetheless. I was pleasantly surprised by the Cataplana Fish Stew, a rich spicy tomato broth with a generous amount of fish, shell fish and other seafood and vegetables served in a brass pot. Yum! Although stuffed, I found some room for dessert, a unique lychee creme brulee with mango sorbet - the lychee was understated complimented by the flavourful mango sorbet.
Adega doesn't compare to some of our best Portuguese food experiences in other cities, but was sufficient to satisfy my craving for flavourful seafood. I think we still need to make our way to Little Portugal, but in the meantime, am happy to have something close to home. There are definitely some other items on the menu I'd like to try, and the specials, including lobster, tenderloin and grouper, were all tempting as well - overall, a solid restaurant, and a worthwhile try for something a little different.
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