What’s on the menu at Bar Reyna, a new Mediterranean lounge with a year-round patio
Name: Bar Reyna
Neighbourhood: Yorkville
Contact: 158 Cumberland St., 647-748-4464, barreyna.com, @BarReynaTO
Previously: Carens Wine and Cheese Bar
Owner: Nicki Laborie
Chef: Omar Ma (THR & Co., Cava, Buca Yorkville)
The food
Greek, Spanish, Turkish snacks and sharing plates—and a burger, of course. There are lighter vegan options like zucchini crudo spiked with piquillo pepper, as well as heartier (and meatier) stuff: the cataplana, a stew for two, is chock full of shrimp, clams, lobster, mussels, monkfish and comes with hunks of sourdough.
Reyna Salad: tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, beets, Napa cabbage, quinoa and red kale, topped with crispy chickpeas and shallots. Served with a Serrano-chili dressing. $16.
The burger (a mix of brisket and 32-day aged rib-eye) is piled onto a house-baked sweet potato bun and topped with Muenster cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato and chipotle aïoli. $18.
The drinks
Specialty cocktails, like Her Royal Highness (the crown jewel of them all), a $30 citrusy vodka-and-rum concoction served in a copper pineapple; and a list of international wines that includes a $42 bottle of Greek sauvignon blanc, a $63 bottle of Kiwi pinot noir and, for the high rollers, a $650 bottle of Dom Pérignon.
Her Royal Highness: Elyx vodka, Mount Gay XO, saffron, cardamom, rosewater, orgeat and citrus. $30.
The space
Solid Design and Build (the team behind La Carnita and Valdez) transformed this two-storey Victorian row house in Yorkville. Both the main and second-floor dining rooms have their own bar, and out back there’s a 48-seat enclosed patio with a retractable roof—one of the city’s few year-round patios.
More New Restaurants
Caroline Aksich, a National Magazine Award recipient, is an ex-Montrealer who writes about Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, real estate and culture for Toronto Life, Fodor’s, Designlines, Canadian Business, Glory Media and Post City. Her work ranges from features on octopus-hunting in the Adriatic to celebrity profiles.
