A Funkaoshi Production

Bloom

   14 November 2004, late at night

I’ve walked past Bloom, a restaurant in the Bloor West Village, several times. The place isn’t hard to notice as it stands out next to the sea of Ukrainian delis and bakeries. The place always looks like it’s closed. Friday I called them up and asked for reservations for two. The plan was to take Shima out for dinner.

We arrived at Bloom a bit past 7:30. The place was fairly empty, just a few other tables were full. The waiter was quite friendly, and showed us to our table. The interior of the restaurant is quite nice. A handful of tables line the wall along the left side of the restaurant and end at the bar. White brick walls contrast the smooth red ceiling nicely. On the right are a few larger tables and a booth of sorts. The place is dimly lit, which is what makes it look closed from the outside when you peer in through tinted glass. I wanted to steal the chair I was sitting on, but didn’t think I’d be able to sneak it out of the store.

Shima is actually not a big fan of food. She is a very picky eater. So, actually going to nice places to eat is a bit of a problem. Bloom had a very small and simple menu. If I recall correctly, there were 6 mains, 6 appetizers. There were no vegetarian dishes, which may be an issue for some. I ended up getting a Tuna dish; Shima, after some serious thought, ended up getting the Salmon. The appetizers looked good, but neither of us were that hungry.

We munched on some very good bread while waiting for our food to arrive. I drank a red wine from California that was quite enjoyable. Our food arived in a reasonable time, and looked amazing. My Tuna dish was served on a small rectangular plate. My dish was sushi-grade tuna, seared on the outside, raw on the inside, served on top of red cabbage of some sort, with these shoots-come-celery sort of thing lighted fried so they were like spring rolls almost. Shima’s salmon was served on a large circular dish, the salmon resting on top of some risoto.

Shima liked the food—a lot. I thought my food was amazing as well. Everything tasted great. The portions are probably small for your average person, but were good for Shima and I. I think getting an appetizer would be a good idea for your average person to feel more full. I imagine the meals are made to had with an appetizer and a dessert.

For dessert Shima and I split a chocolate almond torte on top of a blueberry comport. Basically, a sort of brownie on top of blueberries. I think it may well have been the greatest brownie I’ve ever had in my entire life.

I’d definitely go back to Bloom. I was very impressed with the place. The meal for Shima and I was 76 dollars after taxes. The mains were on average about 24-30 dollars each, appetizers were about 7-14 dollars each, and dessert were about 7-12 dollars each. Many times you go to nice restaurants and wonder what it is you are paying for. I didn’t feel this way with Bloom, it was definitely worth the money.

Restaurants and Bars | Life