Who knew the number '4' could be good... Bloke and 4th resto lounge does

In the Asian culture, the number 'four' is not lucky but I took my chances to eat at Bloke and 4th and it was well worth the risk.  This resto lounge opened recently in the King and Spadina space that was formerly mBurger and is more of a club during the nights but with the guys from the Food Dudes catering services in the kitchen, the food was fresh, innovative and delicious.


Here the number 4 is the name of the game.  Most of the 'sharing appetizers' are portioned in fours and even the drink cocktail has the drink du jour which is lucky number 4.

We were immediately impressed with the service with a warm welcome from the house manager, Adam who made a point to check in during the evening to our attentive service Monica, full of great recommends on the dishes and drinks and of course our bar master - eye candy man - Jeremy.  He kinda became our own 'dirt digger' at the bar, watching him in action mixing and shaking bespoke cocktails.

Our first cocktails were the no. 1 - which had freshly squeezed pomegranate juice and frozen watermelon ice made in front of us with liquid nitrogen.  The presentation was amazing, smoky from the nitrogen and red from the pom juice.  The drinks were very refreshing and sweet.

The menu is all about their social appetizers which are their sharing plates and mains.
We decided to share a ton of their social appetizers and go from there and almost immediately are treated to cajun rubbed popcorn as our 'bread course' - we love the hints of smokiness with this.
Our selections included their charcuterie board which included the house-cured duck prosciutto and maple bacon and balsamic gelee (which is packs a really intense flavour wow!) and a second round of drinks of dirty martinis that have jalepeno stuffed olives which i am now addicted to. They are so great - salty and spicy!  I needed to order more olives just to munch on.

Then came the smoked squash soup which we ordered on the recommendation of Adam.  They came in small shot glasses with house made pakoras on top.  They were so comforting for our winter weather!  Well executed and would recommend this dish to anybody!

We also ordered the set of chicken drumettes which came with a tub of liquid nitrogen that gets poured over the blue cheese causing them to freeze into blue cheese sprinkles.  It was a bold hit of flavour!

Adam insisted we try the main yellow fin tuna dish that came with fried calamari rings over a Bangkok slaw of fresh slivers of veggies tossed in a citrus sesame slaw.  This was a huge hit with the table and we are thankful that we were able to try this.  The mixes of flavours and textures were so delicious.

At this point - we decided to order the 'Number 4' specialty drink.  This drink was light with gin and  cucumber ice cubes,  creamy from frothed eggs whites with a hint of a flash frozen serrano pepper which gave the drink some heat!

We then tried our final 'sharing plate' - the  tuna tartar served as ice cream scoops in seaweed sugar cones as which was my favourite dish of the evening.  It was light and delicate with a sweetness from the sugar cones.

We are so stuffed at this point but are convinced (no arm twisting involved) to try their ice cream cone of the day which is chocolate chip lavender served with strawberries.  This was such an impressive flavour because it is so subtle similar to the way green tea ice cream starts but has a really delicate and fragrant after taste.  Yum!

By the time dinner was done, the club scene was starting to form.  What a kicking night it was!
**** star
Bloke and 4th 
401 King St. W. (East of Spadina)
416-477-1490, 
blokeand4th.com