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PIANO PIANO - Bloor
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Pretty much every Torontonian has, at this point, had a meal at PIANO PIANO. Victor Barry’s handful of restaurants under that moniker have found homes across the city, from its original Harbord Street location to a Colborne Street outpost. He’s now looking west, opening yet another Instagram-worthy restaurant on Bloor Street West. With this opening, he said, he has a strong message in mind.
“PIANO PIANO is not just pizza and pasta anymore. Maybe that's what we were known for at first. I came from Splendido and cooking crazy tasting menus, and over time, I just kind of slowly gravitated back a little bit more to - I don't want to call PIANO PIANO fine dining. Premium casual is the category that we put ourselves in. But I think what we have to offer now is pretty spectacular.”
The Bloor Street building has a special connection to PIANO PIANO as well: It’s owner, Moray Tawse, also owns the winery that makes the PIANO PIANO house wine. There’s a wine shop next door, and the building is a historic one, perfect for a distinct interior that’s become synonymous with a Victor Barry restaurant. This one, in particular, pulls inspiration from the Orient Express, complete with luxurious fabrics, bold colours, and stunning outdoor space. It all lends itself to the new PIANO PIANO, a larger-than-life eatery with luxurious decor, a place where lobster and caviar meet pizza and pasta classics.
“There’s nothing plain about our Caesar salad,” Barry says. “I mean, there’s pork belly on it, beautiful tranches of smoked Canadian pork belly.” The dish has become a PIANO PIANO staple, made with baby gem lettuce, crisp pork belly, focaccia croutons, boquerones, chives and parmigiano.
“In 2003, I was at The Fat Duck in England, and they served caviar with white chocolate,” Barry says. “I always thought that was an interesting combination. It's not new. something salty and sweet. But I tried to think of something that's really Canadiana, like donuts, and put it together with something that's a little bit more bougie.”
“If there’s a word to describe PIANO PIANO, it’s abundant,” Barry says. From the portion sizes to the decor to the flavours, that’s certainly true. And it’s evident in dishes like the rigatoni carbonara, which is elevated with ingredients like organic eggs, guanciale, pecorino romano and black pepper.
“The new shrimp cocktail comes because we're always trying to make everything just one step better, and never resting on what we're doing,” Barry says. “We got the pebbled ice in because we went to Chicago and there's a restaurant there that serves all of their Cokes on crushed ice. I thought it was awesome. So I went and bought crushed ice machines for all the restaurants.” It’s served with a cocktail sauce unique to the restaurant.
The glazed Mediterranean octopus is made to be shared. It stands proud on a plate, served with piquillo almond romesco, Japanese eggplant, fermented garlic honey, chili and mint.
The Bounceback is the PIANO PIANO version of an espresso martini. “I'm starting to feel like moving away from, like, the signature cocktails and moving just more into classics,” Barry explains. But, of course, it gets its own PIANO PIANO twist.
A traditional spritz gets a chic facelift at PIANO PIANO. It’s made with Dillon’s peach schnapps, Select aperitivo, prosecco, St. Germain, and Brio Limonata.
“A lot of the cocktails are built on the relationships that we have with vendors and what they have,” Barry explains. “And if I’m going to have a cocktail, I want it to be good and carry value.” The Rosemary Negroni represents a testament to that, made with rosemary-infused Dillon’s Dry Gin, No. 7, Campari, Dolin’s Rouge and orange zest.
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