Best New Restaurants 2015: #5, Boralia
Best New Restaurants 2015: #5, Boralia
By Mark Pupo | March 19, 2015
By Mark Pupo | 03/19/2015
By Mark Pupo | Photography by Dave Gillespie
I wasn’t sure what to make of Boralia—yet another trendy restaurant on Ossington. The place, named after a moniker floated for our country during Confederation, appeared targeted at a breed of earnest CBC listeners who own cars only to transport canoes—so I wasn’t entirely surprised to enter one night and spot MP Adam Vaughan presiding over a table. Then Boralia won me over. It’s run by a young couple who recently moved from B.C.: Evelyn Wu Morris, who manages the front of house with plucky charm, and Wayne Morris, her chef husband. Instead of the naked Edison bulbs and subway tile of so many new restaurants, there’s a moody forest mural and a cedar trellis that runs across the ceiling, evoking a Vancouver Island boathouse. The room has personality, as does Morris’s cooking. He’s inspired by historical Canadian recipes, like pigeon pie, with a crust more buttery than any pioneer ever imagined, three precisely balanced micro-sorrel leaves for decoration and a side of fashionable roasted parsnip. He toys with Anglo-Indian kedgeree, adding fresh-popped rice cracker and curry mayo to candy-pink smoked whitefish. The highlight one night was a casserole of dense salt cod quenelles, their marine flavour ratcheted up by a bisque-like velouté and tender lobes of lobster. A history lesson has never left me so happy.
309673 Boralia chef Wayne Morris is inspired by historical Canadian recipes. His spin on pemmican is a bison bresaola with wild blueberry–juniper vinaigrette. https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-01-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-01.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-01.jpg 1200 800 [] https://torontolife.com/food/best-new-restaurants-2015-boralia/slide/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-01/ best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-01 0 0
309674 Morris toys with Anglo-Indian kedgeree, topping the lightly smoked white fish with a fresh-popped rice cracker and dabs of curry mayo. https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-02-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-02.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-02.jpg 1200 800 [] https://torontolife.com/food/best-new-restaurants-2015-boralia/slide/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-02/ best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-02 0 0
309675 Pigeon pie gets a crust more buttery than any pioneer every imagined, and a fan of meltingly tender squab breast. https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-03-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-03.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-03.jpg 1200 800 [] https://torontolife.com/food/best-new-restaurants-2015-boralia/slide/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-03/ best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-03 0 0
309676 The showstopper is a plate of B.C. mussels infused with pine-needle smoke. https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-04-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-04.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-04.jpg 800 1200 [] https://torontolife.com/food/best-new-restaurants-2015-boralia/slide/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-04/ best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-04 0 0
309679 Braised whelk is smothered in rich beurre blanc, offset by a briny salad of burdock root and seaweed. https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-07-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-07.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-07.jpg 800 1200 [] https://torontolife.com/food/best-new-restaurants-2015-boralia/slide/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-07/ best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-07 0 0
309677 The moody forest mural, a cedar trellis running the across the ceiling and the shimmering northern-lights-like light fixture all evoke Canadiana without veering into cliché. https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-05-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-05.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-05.jpg 800 1200 [] https://torontolife.com/food/best-new-restaurants-2015-boralia/slide/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-05/ best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-05 0 0
309678 Boralia appeals to a varied crowd despite its location on remorselessly trendy Ossington. https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-06-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-06.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-06.jpg 1200 800 [] https://torontolife.com/food/best-new-restaurants-2015-boralia/slide/best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-06/ best-new-restaurants-2015-borealia-06 0 0
West: 60
East: 4
Since this article was published Borealia changed the spelling of its name to Boralia.