Sound the whistle, time to enjoy!
Three fired guys, a dream, beer passion and willpower. There are the things that motivated Steam Whistle Brewery to be what they are today.
In the past 20 years, this brewery is one of the notorious in Toronto and respected throughout Canada, but the begin was tough: Greg Taylor, Cam Heaps and Greg Cromwell were friends and used to work in a microbrewery, all of them were fired, but they couldn’t leave the dream and the beer passion behind. So, struggling they decided to open their own brewery in an old factory in front of CN Tower. What came next is a legendary story. You can check in their website and be in love for what they became.
In a normal day, the Canadians work from 9am to 5pm and at this point, a whistle blow from the factory when they leave their jobs, to announce that is a BEER TIME! Interesting, Eh?
My experience in this place was because I was waiting to go to CN Tower observatory and I was really hungry, but I didn’t want just a simple meal: I wanted something cheap, tasty and good for a review, so I decided to have a good time at Steam Whistle patio, looking forward to some meal that surprised me. And I had.
From begin to the end I had a good experience, what I consider more important than only have a good meal. Because of the COVID-19 (c’mon man, get out. You had been annoying) when you arrive to the place they sanitize your hands and in every table there’s a bottle of alcohol to self sanitizing. Their menu comes with a QR Code and you scan with your phone to check food and drinks, to keep social distance controlled.
The focus of the place are the beers, but the food menu made my day. There’s not to many options but what they have is enough, because you don’t spend a long time to decide. For me, the beer was the goddess and the food just complement and both, made a perfect match. At first, I ordered an unfiltered pilsner - to late: They sold out. Good because proves that’s a great choice, bad because I was mouth watering to that one haha.
Anyways, the waiter gave me another choice - a good one: Steam Whistle Pale Ale. In a stein ($14). HOLY BEER. I loved. The taste was perfect and one stein was enough for the whole meal and the time I spent there.Thanks for the waiter, your decision made me a little bit drunk and happy haha. Look at this this beauty on the bottom!
Now, the part that you guys are looking for: FOOD!
As I said, there are enough options to eat and I picked one that look simple, but wasn’t. BURGER.
I’m a huge fan of burger, but not all of them are good enough and this one, was. Because of the details: It came with one patty, cheese, pickles, lettuce, mayo in a potato bun and on the side, coleslaw salad and the crispiest onion rings that I've ever tried. Like I said, details made the difference.
The meat was juicy and from medium to medium well, that in my point of view is the perfect way to a burger patty.
Last but not least, I ordered some fries, that they call German Fries to be an extra side of my meal. It came with smoked bacon, mayo, caramelized onions and scallions - This for me was audacious, because I never tried like this, and being honest, everyone should try this combination. Totally 10/10.
Obviously I will return soon, to try more beer options and a different kind of meal, but for now, they exceeded my expectations for every detail, since the greeting until I leave the place. I’ll be back to “EatJoy” again.
Cheers!
