Adelaide & John : Parlour's New Menu

Last night, Parlour, the entertainment district's vintage bar/lounge, held an invite-only soft opening to test out their new food menu. Their decently sized menu features far more than your average bar snacks, and everything is delicious to boot!

vintage sofas and chandeliers

For ease of ordering, the menu is divided into three sections: snacks, boards, and flatbreads; and we were just hungry enough to sample some of each:

For starters we had a grilled zucchini crostini with mascarpone: a perfect balance of savoury, salty, and just a little sweet.

Along side it came a cheesy artichoke dip with fresh bread and focaccia (all made in house!) and crudites. I secretly love the so-bad-its-good cheesy artichoke dips you get at low-end chain restaurants, but you can't go wrong with this fresh, higher quality version made all in house.

I always forget to take pictures before we start eating...

Next we shared a charcuterie board and a cheese board. (Not yet on the menu, but coming soon will be a mixed board with both meats and cheeses) The charcuterie features a spicy keilbasa, truffle salami, cured ham, picked vegetables, and grainy mustard. The cheeses could be a little more varied with two similar hard cheeses (a parmesan and an aged gouda from Thunder Bay), only one soft cheese, and all three coming from cow's milk. They were all very good, I was just expecting a little more variety. The cheeses came with cooked pears, more pickled veggies, grapes, and an out-of-this-world truffle honey, so I couldn't possibly be disappointed. Both boards feature that same soft bread I couldn't get enough of.

Finally (after a break we filled with a nice house pinot grigio), we came to the flatbread course. We went with the grilled vegetable and goat cheese which was, unsurprisingly, very tasty. The flatbreads are a good size, enough for one to eat alone, or two to share with other dishes.

Although in a district that I think of more for dancing and cocktail drinking than for its culinary offerings, Parlour's new menu rivals any of the traditional tapas spots. I fully anticipate this cozy lounge to become the new hot spot for a light, pre-dancing dinner, or a fabulous late-night snack.

For more information on Parlour, visit their website.
The menu is still not available online, but it's all coming very soon!