Bar Modern is a new restaurant on Stephen Ave, associated with Modern Steak. It’s in the old Catch seafood restaurant location, with Modern Steak upstairs and the more casual Bar Modern on the main floor. The decor is fresh, bright, and modern, and it would be great for after work drinks or a light meal before a show.
We ordered the Duck on Toast to share, with duck rillee, herbs, grainy dijon served with pickled celery and served on a grilled in-house baguette for $17. We asked for more slices of bread, which they kindly brought. The photo doesn’t do the duck rillee justice because all you can see is the layer of fat on top, but the pulled duck underneath was tender and very tasty. Their homemade bread is awesome.
I ordered the sandwich of the day and truffle fries for $19 (plus $2 for the upgrade to truffle fries). I was told the sandwich was a chicken focaccia but I was served a Korean beef rib sandwich. It turned out that the board at the front wasn’t changed to reflect the days specials, so the kitchen and front staff weren’t aligned. The staff were super apologetic and I was comped my main course. I would have eaten the beef sandwich because it did look tasty, but since I don’t eat beef very often anymore I wasn’t in the mood for it. They left the truffle fries for us to munch on, and damn, they were good! I would definitely get those again!
As a replacement meal I chose the Prawn Spaghetti with selva prawns, lobster velouté, cherry tomatoes, fresh tarragon, and lemon for $21. The prawns were perfectly cooked and the lobster velouté was creamy and smooth. If you’re in the mood for a nice and light seafood pasta, this hit the spot.
L ordered the Modern Smash Burger with two 100% Alberta beef patties, 2 slices of cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and Modern burger sauce for $19. She ordered the soup of the day instead of fries, and I believe it was roasted red pepper (I could be wrong though!). She really liked the soup and said the texture was perfect – not too thin and not too chunky. L enjoyed her burger but was disappointed in the type of cheese they used – with all the effort to grind their own local, high quality beef the cheese should be real, tasty cheddar rather than processed cheese. Even though the menu makes it sound like a huge burger with 2 patties, it’s really not that excessive.
The restaurant has a relatively small menu but everything looks pretty good. I’ll definitely be back to try more!
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