Amy's Food Adventures

Although I’ve passed by Bannock on Queen & Bay numerous times before, I never felt the urge to dine there due to its location. I’ve always thought of it as more of a place for tourists. Well, this was until I heard about their Roast Duck Poutine Pizza at least ;)

So Bannock is the newest addition to the Oliver & Bonacini group of restaurants, offering Canadian comfort food to sooth your soul and warm your tummy. Banock actually refers to “a round flatbread traditionally cooked on a griddle or stone; brought to Canada through Scottish explorers and traders, adapted by indigenous people and settlers”. So after learning about that from reading their menu, I knew I had to try their specialty bannock. The restaurant is divided into a grab-and-go section and a dining room with warm lighting, wooden furniture, and a wall lined up with jars of pickled vegetables.

Min and I had lunch there a few weeks ago so she could examine my DSLR (I was so depressed that my camera wasn’t working properly for a week). The photos in this post were taken by her, so I thank her for that :)

I was actually on the fence as I didn’t know if I should stick with the roast duck poutine pizza or the lobster roll (I’m a sucker for lobster rolls! They’re hard to find in Toronto and very tasty). The waiter told us this pizza is their most popular dish and only 13 people were able to finish it all in one sitting. Wow, I knew I wouldn’t make it onto the list, but I wanted to at least attempt to! So here it is, the famous Roast Duck Poutine Pizza ($16). When it arrived at the table, my immediate reaction was to chuckle at how ginormous this pizza was. I’ve seen photos of it on my friends’ reviews prior, but this was colossal! I’m pretty sure they gave me double the amount of fries, lol. Anyway, what did this pizza taste like? The first couple bites were amazing and it was comforting alright. But as you dig in, the saltiness of the gravy gets to you. I wasn’t happy with the fact that I had to search for pieces of duck since they weren’t noticeable. They were very small and stuck to the flatbread. I was also a little confused as how to tackle this pizza because it was too big and heavy to eat with my hands, but the flatbread was too hard and crispy to use a fork and knife. Anyway, we did manage to finish half of it. I know, what a fail right? Even though we found an execution problem here, many people seem to enjoy this so it’s more of a preference thing. In their defense, this pizza was overall very flavourful and different.

Min ordered something that was the complete opposite of mine; Vegetable Cobb ($14) with avocado, barley, deviled egg, thunder oat gouda & living sprouts. Min was enjoying her light, nutritious plate while I was ripping my meaty pizza apart (rawr!). Yes, it was quite the interesting scene. I had some of the vegetables and it was such a breathe of fresh air and a palate cleanser. I loved the creamy deviled egg but we both found the gouda cubes difficult to eat; very firm.

I might come back to Bannock and explore their other items under meat & poultry, but just not any time soon. Check out Bannock’s menu here if you’re in the mood for something hearty and comforting! I should add that the service was excellent that afternoon and our server was very friendly and funny!

PS. Please check out Min’s fashion blog (Birds of a Feather) because I think her outfits are cool!

Address

401 Bay Street
Toronto, ON M5H 2Y4
(416) 861-6996