Restaurant Review: WVRST
WVRST
609 King Street West ~ wvrst.com Instagram: @wvrst ~ Twitter: @WVRSTbeerhall Co-Diner: Tim Golem
Looking for a German beer hall or bierhalle in Toronto? Look no further than WVRST. Anthony Bourdain visited them on his Toronto episode of The Layover. Day of Gluttony visited them on their 24 Toronto Restaurants in 24 Hours episode. And of course blogTO named them the #1 Best Fries and #1 Best Hot Dogs. I'm a fan of a good dawg and this place was calling my name so I popped in on a Sunday evening. You head up some stairs and find yourself in a beer hall dressed up with a modern touch. All of the seating is communal, with massive and long tables that stretch across the length of the room. You know, like a beer hall. I loved the shiny red subway tiles, hundreds of twinkling string lights, and the incredible row of beer taps behind the bar. The vibe is casual, laid-back, but decidedly hip. If there isn't a wait you can sit wherever you want. I favour the high-tops by the windows and we got ourselves settled in while a friendly staff member handed us menus. Most of the dining experience at WVRST is do-it-yourself, in the sense that you go up to the counter to make your order and are given a number. You'll also need to pick up your own glasses of water and cutlery. Of course one of the main features of this place is the beer. They have a lot of beer. They also serve an array of ciders as well as wine. The idea of a beer hall is to offer a jovial and gregarious experience and celebrating over steins of beer is certainly an important piece to this puzzle. However, as I'm not much of a beer drinker myself, I just stuck to water. (I'm completely aware that this is doing it wrong.) Next time I'll opt for one of their great-sounding ciders but it would be nice if there were more non-alcoholic options available. Time to eat! We created a game plan that ensured a great sampling of everything that WVRST has to offer and after a reasonable wait, our parade of food began to arrive. Belgian-style fries are the accompaniment of choice with duck fat and plain varieties available. It's gotta be the duck fat though!! And let's get dirty while we're at it. Dirty Duck Fat Fries ($7.50 for regular size) with Smoked Gouda Cheese ($4.75) added.
Belgian style fries topped with peppers, jalapeños, onions and curryWVRST sauce.
You've gotta go big or go home. This tray of oozy mess is exactly what I like to see. They also have an impressive list of dipping sauces, we're talking eleven different house-made dips to choose from. We were sure to grab a dip from the Specialty section; Truffle Mushroom Mayo ($2.50). The entire thing was bursting with flavours and textures, salt and heat. I really just loved the fries themselves and probably didn't even require all of the extra bells and whistles. Perfectly crisp and fried to a deep golden, there is nothing as decadently good as a duck fat fry. The other toppings were very good and I enjoyed the bright freshness from the peppers. It's healthy, right? 'Cause there are vegetables in it? When it comes to the cheese on top, you can choose from Swiss raclette or smoked gouda. Once on a previous visit they offered to do a mix of both cheeses, but not this time. If a giant melty cheese pile is wrong, I don't want to be right. The truffle mushroom mayo was crazy-good too. I think that next time I'll simply opt for plain duck fat fries and get a couple of good dips going. You came to WVRST for the sausages, didn't you? Of course you did! You won't be disappointed because there are 32 different artisan types to choose from. It's almost too difficult to make up your mind! They break it down into sections of game, traditional, Perth Farms heritage pork, plant based/vegetarian, poultry, and specialty. There are some really interesting options! Such as; wild boar, rabbit, kangaroo and crocodile among others. I had to go with the Merguez ($10.00), my favourite type of sausage.
Lamb/harissa.
Once you've selected a sausage you get to choose your style; eat it on a toasted fresh bun or you can curryWVRST that mofo. (More on curryWVRST later.) I had them slap that merguez into a bun, at which point you can add a choice of two toppings; jalapeño, sweet peppers, onions, or warm or cold sauerkraut. I went with sweet peppers and warm sauerkraut. A staff member will drop off an array of three mustards (classic yellow, dijon, grainy) and a ketchup should you require additional toppings. I liked their warm and soft bun a lot, with its crusty outside. This is not your typical hot dog bun. In fact, there aren't really any "hot dogs" on their menu at all. The merguez was beautiful. A perfect example of everything that I love about merguez, boasting a big flavourful gaminess. The lamb flavour comes through in a big way with a punchy heat from the harissa hot chili pepper paste. Very delicious. Another sausage that I couldn't ignore is the Duck ($11.00). I mean, do you know me at all? Duck is my favourite bird to eat by far.
Maple/foie gras.
Plus it's made with foie gras, which basically ticks all of my boxes. I had this one served on a bun with sweet peppers and cold sauerkraut. The decadent duck and foie gras flavour is definitely there but I found this sausage to be a little bit on the dry side. I'm not sure if I was able to detect much maple either. For one of the more "luxurious" (and most expensive) sausages on the menu, I was hoping for something a little bit more impressive and refined. Lastly, we needed to have something done curryWVRST style (sliced sausage with country bread and tomato curry sauce). The Oktoberfest ($9.75) sausage seemed like just right the thing.
Pork/beef/sage.
So what is currywurst? It's a German fast food dish that consists of steamed then fried sausage, cut into bite-sized chunks, and served with curry ketchup on top. It is typically served with fries covered in mayo. I had this dish in Berlin and loved it! I haven't been able to find it anywhere in Canada, so I was very excited to see it on this menu. However, WVRST's preparation wasn't exactly the same as a traditional currywurst, which was a bit disappointing. Instead of steaming and frying the sausage, this one was just grilled like all of the rest. Really the only component of the dish that was present was the curry ketchup. I liked the flavourful Oktoberfest sausage and the curry ketchup was tangy and good. While it wasn't the currywurst that I know and love, it is a good way to taste their sausages without drowning out the flavour too much with a bun and other condiments. The menu happens to involve more than just sausages and fries. Do you need some vegetables for your arteries? You can do that. They've got one salad (which actually looks pretty good) and an entire section of "Pickled Vegetables from Our Pantry." (They also have pretzels, if you want to stray back into the carb zone.) I was into this pickled veg idea and loved the fact that all items are seasonal and prepared from local Ontario produce. There are eight different pickled vegetables to choose from and we grabbed a set of Three ($13.50).
From the Naturally Fermented-Probiotic section (fermented simply by using salt and spices) we tried the Kimchi (napa cabbage/chili/garlic/fish sauce). I loved this excellent kimchi! Extremely flavour-packed and bursting with a strong and spicy funk, this kimchi is serious business and not for the faint of heart. From the Quick Pickle/Preserves section (prepared with a vinegar brine) we selected the Green Beans (chili/coriander/wine vinegar) and the Cauliflower (spicy curry powder/tumeric). These were both very nice. The beans were bright, crunchy and fresh. The cauliflower was quite aromatic and I enjoyed the interesting flavour combo. I liked all of these pickled items because they were pretty strong (which I like), added heat and zing, and acted as a powerful palate cleanser. After all of this, there's always room for ice cream. It fills in the cracks! Soft Serve "The Twist" ($6.50).
Red velvet & toasted marshmallow swirl.
I loves me a soft serve! I really liked these fun and unique flavours. The red velvet mostly tasted like chocolate (because isn't that what red velvet actually is?) and the toasted marshmallow really did offer a toasty-like sweetness. My husband commented that there were a lot of water crystals in the ice cream, which I didn't actually mind too much. It created a crunchiness that I didn't dislike. But water crystals in ice cream tend not to be a great thing and takes away from the creaminess. WVRST was a big adventure!! Now that I've tried a little bit of everything my future visits will be much more simplified. There are lots more sausages that I'd love to try (guinea hen, wild boar, rabbit, kangaroo, crocodile, chorizo, and the danger dog!) and I'll definitely make sure to have a cider in hand too. And duck fat fries. Always duck fat fries.