WHAT’S FOR LUNCH?
A seafood version of a Vietnamese sandwich at the Beverley Hotel,
First the good news: Eric Wood makes better ketchup than Heinz.
Wood, executive chef at the boutique Beverley Hotel and recent Chopped Canada contestant, is one of those chefs who eschew shortcuts. So he concocts a darker than usual ketchup that hints of tamarind and sugar, exotic and familiar at the same time.
The ketchup goes well with the long, pale, skin-on fries dished out in the ground-floor dining room of the Queen West hotel.
The bad news is the lobster banh mi ($16), a disappointing lunch choice.
Banh miare Vietnamese sandwiches built around pâté and other pork products.
This seafood version isn’t so much Vietnamese as confusing, as if a Maritime lobster roll took a stroll through the Asian section of the grocery store, collecting bits and bobs.
Mayonnaise stained by black garlic — the menu describes it as ginger aioli — binds the pieces of lobster meat.
Instead of the usual banh mi toppings of pickled carrots and daikon, there are wisps of crunchy fried shallots and pinkish bits of tangy apple kimchi, representing Korea. Coriander and snow pea shoots add green. At least the bun rings true, long and crusty. It takes fortitude to fit the bread into one’s mouth. So much easier to dip the accompanying fries into the ketchup.
The Beverley Hotel, 335 Queen St. W. (at Beverley St.), thebeverleyhotel.ca. Open Monday to Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. to midnight; Thursday and Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to midnight. apataki@thestar.ca, @amypataki