Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery

Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery

380 Lafayette Street

New York City, NY 10003

(212) 533-3000

As one of the most talked about restaurants this year, we made reservations to eat at Lafayette on our second day of vacation. This place was pretty grand for New York standards, the restaurant was large with ample seating on the main floor and up by the windows. The patio was open and filled with guests as it was such a lovely day.

There's a beautiful bar...

and a spacious dining room. No elbow to elbow sitting with the people at the next table! We were seated in the banquettes by the large windows.

I ordered the East Coast Halibut with sweet corn and sauce poivrée. I liked the corn, mushrooms, and tomatoes more than the fish itself, but can say that while the halibut was nicely cooked, there just wasn't a lot of flavours.

Howard tried the Dry-Aged Strip Steak Frites with béarnaise butter. I was more interested in his shoestring fries, yum! The steak was medium rare as ordered and satisfied his craving.

One of the main reasons I wanted to eat here was the accompanying bakery.

Right near the entrance of the restaurant, you can come grab-and-go or quickly eat at the limited seating in this area.

Have a look at those tarts! Fresh Fruit, Honey-Spiced Custard, Raspberry and Pistachio, Double Chocolate and Caramel Pear, and Passion Fruit Cheesecake.

As for the éclairs, they had Lemon Meringue, Chocolate, Butterscotch Coffee, and Peaches and Cream that day.

What about the petits gâteaux? Blond Desir, Accro du Caramel, Yoshi, Charlotte Noir, and Dauphine.

To start off our macaron tour this year, I knew we'd have to make the difficult choice of choosing which flavours to eat. They had Blueberry, Passion Fruit Caramel, Birthday Cake, Chocolat, Lafayette, Strawberry and Black Pepper, and Pistachio Cherry.

We went with Lafayette, Passion Fruit Caramel, and Birthday Cake. The Lafayette was chocolate and lemon, we liked the pairing of their namesake macaron. The Passion Fruit Caramel was also delicious, but we were not fans of the Birthday Cake macaron. I don't recall it tasting like confetti cake, it was just unpleasant. Some of the macaron shells were also hollow, so they lost some points for us.

Even though we were full from lunch, we couldn't resist trying the Yoshi since it reminded us of Super Mario. A Jasmine tea mousse with apricot compote and a petit beurre base, this was a very creamy cake, I don't think you could finish it alone in one sitting, so I'm glad we shared it.

We might return to try some of the other items on their lunch or dinner menu, but we wouldn't return for the macarons.

Summerlicious: Bymark

Bymark

66 Wellington Street West

Toronto, ON M5K 1J3

(416) 777-1144

Mark McEwan. Pretty much the reason why we picked Bymark to try during Summerlicious. He's the head judge for Top Chef Canada, so his grocery store and restaurants are pretty much featured for restaurant wars and shopping. Having tried Fabbrica, we thought we would take advantage of the prix fixe deal at one of his fancier restaurants.

Having walked by it in the underground PATH before, it was nice to finally go inside! Our party of four were greeted in the front and led to our table near the middle of the restaurant. I didn't realize how small the place was! The restaurant is dim and quiet before the dining room filled up - we felt like we had to whisper at first. =)

I felt really shy about taking my camera out during the appetizers. The room's ambiance was still hushed and I knew that the shutter sound would be unnerving to me. But regrets now, because the dishes were beautifully plated and delicious. I tried the Albacore Sashimi with shaved and pickled radish, snow peas, plums, and honey mustard yuzu (a citrus fruit). Howard tried the Beef Carpaccio with endive, Saint Agur (a type of blue cheese), herb croutons, and ranch dressing.

As the dining room filled up, our friends pointed out that lots of people had their cameras out. Sure enough, I look behind me and a group will serious camera gear were snapping away. At least my camera is still relatively small and I wasn't going to be out of my seat. . . .

I don't know, what's your take on this? I love taking photos of restaurants, dishes, and food products - but feel that some places, it doesn't seem proper to do so.

Above, Howard's main course was the BBQ Duck Confit and Seared Scallop with sweet peas, cauliflower, northwood mushrooms, passion fruit, and duck sauce. Howard was kind enough to give me a bite of the duck - it was very tasty! Sorry that the scallops are blocking the view in the photo!

I tried the Pan Seared White Fish with green curry lentils, prawns, and coriander scallion chutney. Comparing it to the duck confit, it just wasn't as good. We found the halibut a bit dry (more chutney would have helped) and bland. I should have ordered the duck!

For dessert, Howard's Tart Lemon Slice with honey lavender ice cream. I think he liked the ice cream more than the lemon tart!

I ended the night with a Double Chocolate Cake with minted white chocolate mousse. It looks like a fancy cupcake, doesn't it?