What’s on the menu at Her Father’s, the city’s first all-cider bar
Name: Her Father’s Cider
Neighbourhood: University
Contact: 119 Harbord St., 647-347-7747, herfathers.ca
Previously: Loire
Owners: Joshua Mott
Chefs: Ryan Barclay (Splendido, The Grove)
The drinks
Over 80 kinds of cider, all from small-batch brewers. The focus here is on local and hard-to-find international ciders. “Ontario is making some of the most interesting and innovative cider in the world,” says Mott, who’s made sure to stock a few bottles from his parents’ Thornbury orchard, Beaver Valley. Ice and fruit ciders, like a French pear version and a dry cherry number from Hamilton’s West Avenue, are also available. Even the cocktails are apple-obsessed: the Ello Sweetpea combines County Citrus cider with gin, black currant port and lemon bitters.
The food
Chef Barclay dug deep into the history of cider. “The first thing I did was research cider’s origins, which are both English and French,” he says. The resulting dishes are based on Old World recipes (Barclay even referenced some vintage cookbooks like The Cook’s Oracle, circa 1822), but feature seasonal Canadian ingredients such as fiddleheads, ramps and chanterelles. Cider shows up throughout the menu, of course—the cod, for example, is glazed with it.
The space
The 60-seat space is divided into two rooms: the front with a bar and epic cider fridge, and the back with a cool country vibe thanks to age-weathered tables, farmhouse chairs and strings of exposed bulbs.
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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.
