Love for the Locals: Belgravia Hub

After 5 long and expensive years of post-secondary education, I finally got my fancy piece of paper! Following the ceremony, P took me to Belgravia Hub to celebrate over a nice dinner.

Only less than a month old, Belgravia Hub is located just a 2 minute walk west from the McKernan/Belgravia LRT station. It's a small contemporary fixture with locally created flavours, somewhat on the fine dining end, without the fine dining prices. Although the menu (at least for now) is a bit limited, there is enough diversity in the menu for a lovely dinner. An ideal atmosphere for a nice date with your significant other *wink wink nudge nudge*

P and I arrived around 8:00pm, and the place was still pretty packed! Luckily, we had a reservation. Belgravia Hub is only open for dinner (at least for now?) from 4:30 until 10 or 11 on most days, but is closed on Mondays.

Note: You are going to get a variation in the quality of photos because P took pictures of the food with his fancy shmancy camera, and the others, as usual, were taken with the camera on my Samsung Galaxy SII.

I really love the layout and the colour scheme of the restaurant. It gives it such a lovely ambience with the raindrop shaped lights hanging from the ceiling, and the natural light coming in from the windows.

I know this isn't a great picture, but here is a view of the bar. This was the best I could do as the place is quite small, so the table right next to us was looking at me strangely already. :/ Ah, so is the life of an amateur food blogger.

I found it intriguing how instead of your typical lemon wedge in a glass of water, they placed a thin slice of cucumber in it. Have you ever heard the saying, "as cool as a cucumber"? Well, cucumbers have a similar cooling effect like mint does.  I thought it was clever, and quite refreshing.

For our appetizer, we opted for their Flatbread with Veggie, Pesto, and Goat Cheese, and it was delicious. The crust was tender on the inside, but crispy on the outside. The cheese was only slightly melted, so you could get a good flavour. I found it interesting how they basically placed a salad with a light vinaigrette on top of the flatbread, but it you know what? It worked rather well!

P chose the Blackened chicken with Buttered Leek Mash and Fennel Slaw.  The slaw was quite colourful and interesting. The chicken had a nice slight char on the outside, while tender and not overseasoned on the inside. The mash...well, I'm a sucker for mash. What can I say? I looove me some potatoes! :D

I opted for the Mushroom Risotto with Roasted Mushrooms, Asiago, and Balsamic Glaze. I was a little curious about the balsamic glaze and the rich, creamy cheese, but it worked together amazingly. Before this, I had never eaten a risotto, but now my standards might be a bit high.

With the sun in the right place, P managed to capture this beauty as I was about two thirds of the way through my risotto. Boy, was that yummy...

For dessert, we chose what was called the "Chocolate Pot" consisting of a dark chocolate torte-like pudding topped with whipped cream and strawberries, with an almond biscotti on the side. 

So, if you're interested in a slightly fancy date with your significant other or even with friends, I'd encourage you to try out Belgravia Hub! Quite a nice addition to the area surrounding the University :)

-M