Address: 936 Queen W.
Phone: 416-534-5244
Dinner for two: $100 including three courses, taxes and tip
Hours: Mon-7-10pm, Tue-Sat 6pm-midnight, Sun 11am-3pm
Reservations: Yes
Wheelchair access: No
Communal dining has often been a trendy option in hip eateries. But if you didn’t relish the idea of eating at the same table as strangers, other seating was usually available for bitter anti-socials like yourself. Not so at OddFellows.
Like a Bruegel painting, minus the bonnets and the benches, one table of 26 sits friends and strangers together — so close you might mistakenly pick up someone else’s utensil or be tempted to interrupt a private conversation.
But that’s all part of the fun in this eat-drink-and-be-merry Queen West resto-studio, where not only does chef get to exhibit his flair for food, but so too does a furniture designer. Whether its the soft, easy glow cast from a clustered chandelier, a dangling set of antlered headphones, or an erect phallus–shaped salt shaker (its shocking bawdiness eased by Delftware-inspired colours) — at OddFellows, a side of quirkiness is served with every bite. It’s precisely the social atmo that partners Kei Ng and design firm Castor had in mind for this joint venture.
An eclectic range of pop-rock oldies and techno-Goth tunes plays slightly too loud, reducing social interaction to its primal roots: a shouted word here, a too-close-for-comfort leer there. But it’s also what’s happening inside the cramped, brightly lit kitchen that generates the buzz about this ultra-cool dining hall.
Heavily tattooed chef Matthew James Matheson gregariously spins out dishes ordered from a small, seasonal menu. The compact carte includes a veritable tub of velvety duck-liver pate ($12) paired beautifully with blackcurrant jelly, toasted pecans and a ramekin of pollen-infused buckwheat honey. (The menu reads “for two,” but there’s plenty for four — hell, just pass it down the table for all to taste.) A belly rib duo ($16) includes candied morsels of fun ’n’ chewy braised pork belly combined with the meaty tenderness of a sweet, texture-rich short rib; its buttery parsnip purée adding a faint hint of bitterness to bridge the two.
For the price, a veggie lentil burger ($12) underwhelms with a texture somewhere between mush and goo, while simultaneously overwhelming with too much cumin. But the meal deals here are the very popular wild boar burger and the leaner venison burger ($18 each). Topped with a mess of gooey gruyere and pickled mushrooms and peppers, the size of these moist, thick patties have us wondering if we’ve mistakenly ordered meatloaf on a bun. One bite from each and you can see what all the fuss is about — frickin’ outstanding they are, even if the bun screams six-to-a-bag grocery-store mediocrity.
Perfect for the season, a traditional lamb stew ($30 for two) is lovingly prepared a la bourguignon, rife with red wine and meltingly tender meat that warms the cockles of these foodies’ hearts. But it’s waterlogged from too much liquid in the cooker.
You could do worse than a banana split ($9) for dessert, especially when the house-made strawberry and chocolate ice cream is pure delight; alas, the vanilla is too bland to be associated with any discernible flavour. And though dense chunks of decadent brownie add the requisite richness to this retro classic, an underripe banana removes any hope for some added sweet satisfaction.
It’s been noted that the wine list is inexcusably short — and it is. So what? With a nice beer selection and a B.Y.O.B. policy ($15 corkage fee), this is a minor misfire. Besides, where would they put the bottles?
OddFellows is a collaboration where good food and de rigueur design meet. It’s the atmosphere that draws you in, a comfortable blend of romantic, bohemian-revolutionary charm mixed with the inter-class camaraderie of an English pub. And there’s nothing odd about liking that.
