The Clarendon Tavern
11 George St.
The giveaway is in the name: although The Clarendon is really more of a pub, it does offer some good food, and you can escape the giant television above the bar into a very elegant room at the back.
If you’re hungry in the ByWard Market, this is one of the few new openings in the area that will send you away satisfied. With a menu of eclectic comfort food designed by executive chef David Godsoe — who also handles the kitchen at Restaurant Eighteen nearby — a meal in this elegant environment is a recipe for a pleasant experience.
At both lunch and dinner, there’s a good selection of artisanal pizzas, which are cooked in imported Italian ovens fired up to 775 degrees so that the pies come out hot, crispy, and thin-crusted with some creative toppings such as nduja, white anchovies, romesco sauce, and cured egg yolk.
The starters offer an edible world tour. From the Mediterranean, fried halloumi slices, crisply coated, robustly seasoned, and sprinkled with pine nuts, pinkgrapefruit segments, and blobs of za’atar mayo. The flavours work well together, with the grapefruit offering a good contrast of fresh acidity to the squeaky saltiness of the cheese. From North America, K.F. cauliflower: crisp and spicy, it’s served on a large smear of cashew cheese with fresh raita dip. From Italy comes tuna crudo, good-quality fish with crunchy puffed quinoa bringing a lovely texture to the dish. Also notable is the classic French onion soup — the broth deeply rich and satisfying, with plenty of soft onions floating about in the liquid. Croutons coated with melted cheese are crispy, and the whole dish packs a peppery punch.
Main courses include gastropub staples such as cod and chips, steak frites, a burger, and a good trout fillet served with potato latkes and crème fraîche. A Buddha bowl arrives looking small, but it turns out to be just right, loaded with layers of secret goodies, including cubes of roasted sweet potato, lentils, quinoa, crispy chick peas, beetroot, avocado slices, pea shoots, and colourful pickled vegetables.
Desserts are limited, with just three offerings. Cheesecake with lemon curd and blueberry arrives on top of a pile of crumbs, deeply creamy and slightly lemony, with generous dots of lemon curd and blueberry compote on top. It’s a good finish to an eclectic meal.
There’s a wide selection of local beer and cider, and wine is well priced. Cocktails are creative, and there are even a couple of non-alcoholic ones, such as The English Rose with Split Tree grapefruit cordial, rose water, and soda. It arrives looking like a work of art with the palest pink liquid hanging at the bottom of the glass and a yellow pansy floating at the top, and it tastes like a breath of summer air.