King Taps, the massive beer-focussed restaurant and bar in the financial district is finally open.
The sleek space has 450 seats with 150 of them on a sprawling two-storey patio. The interior design is urban and fitting for the downtown digs. The décor uses marble, inspired by the office tower above them, First Canadian Place. All the brick used in the space has been reclaimed, and there are lots of cozy nooks and crannies to make the space feel welcome.
The restaurant is scattered with art from local and international artists. Upstairs, visitors can see the neon glow of “Mysterious Date,” by Anser, a Toronto graffiti artist. Downstairs, “Second Kiss” by Daniel Mazzone hangs on a wall. The local artist uses historical artifacts (think letters and magazine covers) in his colleges to create pop inspired portraits.
(IMAGE: AMANDA NUNES)
Of course, there’s a major focus on craft beer given that there are 72 of them on tap. All of the tap handles are handmade out of walnut by a craftsman in Portland.
To make deciding easier, they offer flights of beer that change every two weeks. One flight includes a dry cider from Duxbury Cider Co, created just for King Taps. Next up is a collaboration house beer with Rainhard Brewing Co. in the Junction. The French blonde wheat beer uses French yeast and has bright citrus flavours. Then there’s a Blood Brothers Brewing guava sour, a popular brew that they can barely keep in stock. This sour beer is very tart and uses fresh guava juice. Lastly, there’s a Burdock APA that uses mostly American hops. All beers are unfiltered to showcase the true flavours of the barley and the yeast.
King Taps also has a large selection of ciders, wines and cocktails for the non-beer drinker.
Food plays an important role at King Taps. The owners wanted to ensure that the food is as good as the beer. The goal was to create approachable, casual food. One of the dishes that they are most proud of is their pizza. “We went through about 30 different recipes before we settled on this pizza,” Mike Jacobsen (Cactus Club), the man behind the concept of King Taps says. “The pizza isn’t representative of one particular style of pizza, but represents what we think is just really good pizza.”
The pizza comes in a variety of toppings and is cooked in the pizza oven within their open kitchen.
(IMAGE: AMANDA NUNES)
The Stinging Bee pizza ($17) features Soppressata and olives, then drizzled with honey for a spicy and sweet flavour. The pizza is reminiscent of Neapolitan style pizza, but where that pizza tends to get soggy, this pizza has a crisp crust and chewy soft interior when you bite in.
(IMAGE: AMANDA NUNES)
The Burrata & Tomato salad ($18) is perfect for hot summer days. Heirloom tomato, basil, local burrata cheese from Vaughan and arugula are topped with domenica fiore extra virgin olive and Parmesan crisps.
The Roasted Mushroom New York 12oz steak ($42) comes with a roasted mushroom peppercorn sauce, hand cut frites and a caesar salad. The beef is PEI certified and comes from pasture raised cows.
For dessert, classic sundaes with a twist are featured. The soft serve comes from a family run creamery in Alberta called Foot Hills. They couldn’t find an equivalent in Ontario that they loved as much, so they have it shipped in.
Published on: Aug 10, 2017
