A friend and I had some time to kill last night between an early movie at Cinematheque and a concert at Reverb, so we ended up having an impromptu pub crawl around the Queen & Bathurst area.
We started at <a href="http://www.shanghaicowgirl.com"><b>Shanghai Cowgirl</b></a> where we had dinner. Those who have been there before would probably be surprised that a vegetarian like myself would eat there since the menu is unapologetically meat-heavy, but they actually have a great veggie burger, and I love their sweet potato fries with a side of wasabi mayo. As for the beer selection, it's not exactly stellar, with only four taps - Wellington Special Pale Ale, Grasshopper, Amsterdam Blonde, and "Shanghai Stout" (a renamed version of Amsterdam's Irish Stout) - and a boring selection of bottles (Stella, 50, etc...). I had the stout - it's definately not a favourite of mine, but it's decent enough to go with a burger and fries.
After dinner, we headed over the <a href="http://www.toronto.com/profile/147371/"><b>Epicure Cafe</b></a> with plans to have some Leffe Brune. We sadly found that the keg had run dry earlier in the evening, but we were also pleased to find that they'd recently added Fuller's London Pride to their selection. Other taps included Blanche de Chambly, Hoegaarten, Cameron's Cream Ale and a few others.
We finished our jaunt with a stop at <a href="http://www.toronto.com/profile/187850"><b>The Paddock</b></a>, which was quite packed and quite loud. I hadn't been there since just after they re-opened a couple of years back, so I wasn't sure what to expect beer-wise, but the selection of taps remains quite decent. We had a couple of pints of Ste. Andre, and other choices included something from Wellington (I saw the boot but didn't catch the name), Big Rock Trad Ale, Blanche de Chambly, and a few other micros and imports. I was also extremely happy to see a trendy hang-out that properly lists their fancy mixed drinks as "cocktails" rather than "martinis" - if it's not gin and vermouth, it's not a fucking martini!
Greg
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We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!