I have always loved lobster, although since the discovery of curry crab at Saigon Star, my allegiance had slowly been diverting. We randomly treat ourselves to lobster, whether it's a full lobster served at Pier 4 down by the water, or lobster with e-fu noodles (yi mein) at Congee Wong. Not long ago, I came across an article about the long standing restaurant, The Lobster Trap, famous for the fresh shipments of lobsters from the East coast. With no dinner plan for Friday night, there was no better time to try out this Toronto favourite for the first time!
The Lobster Trap is a casual, friendly restaurant, complete with blue and white checkered table cloths, lobster nets adorning the walls and friendly live keyboard player for Friday night dinner (perhaps other nights as well?). We dined to the Entertainer, something from Phantom, Fur Elise and other "classics." It all added to the lovely, neighbourhood charm of The Lobster Trap. Despite the obviousness of what I would order, a moment of indecision came on deciding how BIG of a lobster I should have: The Lobster Trap serves by weight, starting at 1 lb. Our server recommended 1.5 lb dinner, which comes with soup, a side and a non-alcoholic drink. There was no doubt I was going to start with the lobster bisque (it's almost my life ambition to find the best in the world....Cannery I miss you!!), but I decided 1.5 lbs would be too ambitious and settled for 1 and a quarter :) Decision two was how the lobster would be prepared, steamed or broiled. Steamed was recommended by our server, broiled included bread crumbs in butter spread on the lobster halves and broiled. Naturally, we each chose one preparation so we could give the broiled a try.
I started with the lobster bisque, which was incredibly sweet and tasty.
Tony's clam chowder was stocked full of clams, every spoonful had plenty! Both were great but good clam chowder is easier had than good lobster bisque, so that I highly recommend. We had hot drawn butter with our lobster, which came whole but served in half. This was seriously some of the BEST lobster I have ever had - there was plenty of succulent meat (even in the legs and fin of the tail) and it was more flavourful than we expected, truly the definition of fresh, sweet lobster! And whether you like it or not, even the tamale had a deliciously sweet flavour. My steamed lobster (picture at top) was definitely preferred to Tony's broiled (pictured to the right), the bread crumbs were a bit greasy and took away from the delicious lobster meat on its own. We liked the fresh drawn butter, but really, the meat was sweet and flavourful on its own. We were in heaven!
The Lobster Trap is definitely an old neighbourhood gem, and a must-visit for family friendly service behind the delicious food. We were surrounded by other couples and families happily picking away at the lobster before them. Would anyone really order the 4 lb lobster available on the menu?? That just sounded insane!
The Lobster Trap
416-787-3211 (no reservations)
1962 Avenue Road
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