It sounds like I eat here a lot, but I really don’t! I joined some folks from work for lunch at The Guild because it was on their wishlist. With a reservation for 12:30 on a weekday, the restaurant was packed. It’s such a large space and it’s amazing to see how full the restaurant gets over lunch!
Since I’m trying to focus on vegetarian dishes with a backup of fish/seafood or chicken, I was a little concerned about being able to find something to eat at a place whose philosophy is entirely meat-based. But, since I’m not a die-hard vegetarian, eating a little red meat really isn’t the end of the world for me yet!
I knew that I wanted the smoky devilled eggs – they are smooth and creamy and heaven in the mouth, with crunchy little bits sprinkled on top. YUM. There were 4 of us and we shared the 6 eggs (thankfully I got 2 all to myself!). You can never go wrong with these babies… if I were on my own I would have got the eggs all to myself and probably the beet or tuna salad.
I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on my lunch since someone else was footing the bill (yes, I’m nice like that), so I went for the house-cured king salmon sandwich for $19 with the soup of the day – a yam veloute. The sandwich is served on a whole wheat bagel with herb cream cheese, avocado, bacon and watercress with a big hard-boiled egg stabbed into the top of it. Honestly, I didn’t really notice the bacon in the list of ingredients when I read the menu, so I was a tad surprised when I saw the 3 huge pieces of bacon sticking out of the sandwich. I guess they really go for the rustic look at The Guild, but poking a stick through a hard-boiled egg on top of a bagel and sprinkling it with sunflower seeds did nothing to make the sandwich more appealing, and in fact I didn’t even think the egg added anything to the dish in terms of flavour – it’s just a hard boiled egg with something coating it. There was too much going on in the sandwich – the herby cream cheese, the sweetness and saltiness of the bacon, the zippy red onion and the strong cured fish was just too much for my mouth and mind to process. I really didn’t think the flavours went together and it’s the first time in a long time that I can say I didn’t enjoy a sandwich….
Even the soup was off. The flavours were good for a yam veloute, but there was something odd in the bottom of my bowl. Perhaps a bit of the roux that wasn’t blended? I’m not sure, but I ate a couple globs of something…
I’m still really torn about The Guild… I want to love it, but…
Comments