Valentine's Day Dinner at East Thirty-Six

Right in time for Valentine's Day, my boyfriend and I had a chance to spend a very romantic evening having dinner and sampling cocktails at East Thirty-Six, the Wellington and Church cocktail bar and bistro, which also happens to be our favourite splurge in the city.

E36 held a social media contest for its fans a few weeks ago. A dinner for two was the prize, which I handily won last weekend. Obviously, I was more than glad to use this opportunity to take Matt out to celebrate the V-Day. It was not our first time at the restaurant, so we came determined and prepared to be adventurous with the menu.

East Thirty-Six specializes in small plates made for sharing. The portion sizes are fairly generous, though, and the prices vary significantly across the menu. You really cannot go wrong with anything on offer.

During our dinner, we shared kimchi fries, beets with smoked goat yogurt, sword fish in coconut broth and bok choi, bone marrow with chicken liver parfait, and shortrib with pecorino semolina. I couldn't take pictures of all the plates because I was really hungry! (Also, it was a bit dark, so what photos I have are not the best quality, sorry.)

Kimchi fries

Bone marrow

Shortrib

The dinner finished with the perfect bite-size chocolate delight with caramel and olive oil. It was probably the tastiest chocolate dessert I have ever had. Definitely ordering that the next time we come in.

We also had two cocktails each. Tasty and imaginative as usual! As my first one, I ordered the Valentine's Day special (Cupid's Bow).

Apothecary and Cupid's Bow

Coco Lochness

I love East Thirty-Six for three reasons:

• First and foremost, the food is excellent. It really is.
• Second, their cocktail list is sizeable and offers a lot of choices for lovers of all kinds of libations, not just a run-of-the-mill selection of the classics common to most bars.
• Third, the atmosphere is usually very quiet, with unintrusive but varied music at the backdrop. The noise does not carry much across the restaurant, so even with several tables having lively conversations, it is a welcome respite from the bustle and long work days.

The prices do bite a little, but what can ya do? The quality and the service more than make up for it. It's definitely not an everyday visit kind of place, but it's perfect for special occasions, romantic dates and nights out.

Also, hot tip: all wine bottles are half-price on Sundays. Plan a Sunday date and eat twice the bone marrow!

Like East Thirty-Six on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and Instagram. The team is very friendly and happy to take your reservation on any of the channels.

Bon appétit!