Name: Marked
Contact: 132 John St., 647-660-7948, markedrestaurant.com, @markedrestaurant
Neighbourhood: Entertainment District
Previously: Zebu
Owners: Forth Space Hospitality (Coffee Oysters Champagne and À Toi)
Chef: Mark Cheng (George, Patria, NAO Steakhouse)
Outdoor seating: A streetside patio with up to 40 seats
Covid-19 safety measures: No walk-ins; temperature and contact information are taken from all patrons upon entry. All tables—indoor and outdoor—are six feet apart or more.
Accessibility: There’s a five-inch city sidewalk curb at the main entrance, for which a ramp request to StopGap Foundation has been made.
The food
A loosely South American sharing menu with nods to Brazil, Argentina and Peru, with European influences. Everything is divided into small-, medium- and large-format plates.
These porcini coxinhas are more like Spanish croquetas than traditional Brazilian coxinhas. $12.
The dates in this classed-up version of devils on horseback are stuffed with manchego cheese and wrapped in house-made bacon. $12.
This hamachi plate is one of the menu’s four ceviches, which come dressed in malagueta hot sauce, calamansi mayo and jalapenos. Just squeeze the grilled clementine over top for a bit of sweet acidity. $17.
The fish in the Marked ceviche changes daily, but the accoutrements (avocado, sweet potato, Peruvian corn and leche de tigre) remain constant. $21.
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Here’s the octopus tostada. $18.
This braised oxtail empanada is studded with castelvetrano olives, and demands a fork and knife. $15.
The rosemary-seasoned “lambchetta” is fire-roasted lamb belly prepared porchetta style—it’s fat-marbled and fantastic. $35.
Picanha—the national steak of Brazil—is served with jus and a trio of sauces: chimichurri, barbecue and piri piri. All that’s missing is the farofa. $35.
This black bean–studded take on Brazilian biro-biro rice uses Iberian chorizo. Yuca crisps add crunch to each bite. $14.
The Latin Mess (Marked’s version of an Eton mess) is a tart-yet-sweet disarray of sponge cake, passionfruit curd, coconut foam, passionfruit ice cream and almond brittle tuilles. $16.
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It’s most certainly not the Argentinean dulce de leche sandwich cookie with which it shares its name, but this “Alfajores”cake most certainly is decadent, with caramel chocolate mousse and hazelnut. $16.
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The drinks
At 68 pages, the drink list is longer than some Gabriel García Márquez novellas. There are over 60 cocktails on offer, some of which are only available at Corsair—the broody semi-secret bar tucked at the back of the restaurant.
The Mula Mula is a milk-clarified punch made with Johnnie Walker, Smith and Cross Traditional Jamaican Rum, Amaro 33, lemon and coconut water. Pandan leaves, toasted corn and Lem-Marrakech Bitters add a smoky, herbaceous sweetness to every sip. $16.
Marked’s caipirinha is made with Leblon Cachaça, white vermouth, muddled limes and some pandan simple syrup. $16.
The Bandolero! is a tropical take on a Long Island iced tea. This potent potion combines Leblon Cachaça, El Gobernador Pisco, Don Julio Blanco Tequila and Plantation 3 Star Rum. Instead of ice cubes, they’ve used frozen compressed melon. A can of Guaraná Antarctica (a Brazilian soft drink) comes on the side. $16.
The space
“The pandemic required us to rethink customer and employee flow,” says Sanjay Singhal, Marked’s co-founder. “We worked closely with Toronto Health to develop safety measures and regulations.” And at 10,000 square feet, there should be plenty of space for social distancing.
Here’s the patio. (Photo by Sarjoun Faour)
Navigate Design (the firm behind Mira) put their stamp on the space with moody lighting and tropical flourishes in the form of banana trees, floral fabrics and toucan wallpaper. The space is divided into four distinct areas.
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Here’s the Pan Am Lounge, which is decked with flat screens and black-and-white photos from Pan Am Games long past. (Photo by Sarjoun Faour)
This dining room, called Comedor, is defined by the giant 1950s South American travel art posters. (Photo by Sarjoun Faour)
Tucano is a glass-enclosed private dining area. (Photo by Sarjoun Faour)
Corsair has its own drink menu. Back here the mixologists use portholes, forced carbonation and liquid nitrogen to create an array of creative cocktails. (Photo by Sarjoun Faour)
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.
