@movernie
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| Welcome to 747 Wine Bar, located at 747 Queen Street East (Leslieville) |
Last Thursday was 747 Wine Bar Grand Opening. A few days before that, I was privately invited to attend an exclusive wine and food tasting by the owner, just for MoVernie and his crew to check out this new place located in the Queen Street East area which many local residents referred it as “Leslieville“.
Let me mention about the store front “747” sign. It’s a green colour and the sign was so bright that when I was driving around to find a parking spot, I could tell where the 747 Wine Bar was located, so that was helpful. Owner Lawrence later informed me that he used the same font style as the famous Boeing 747 airplane not only the Wine Bar is located at 747 Queen Street East, but he also wanted to relate “747” with his wine flight. That was very thoughtful and cleverly executed. (By the way, weeknights after 6pm, street parking is FREE, now that’s a major plus, as we all know how expensive downtown parking could be. Do check the parking meter when you park just to double check).
The moment we walked into the wine bar, we were greeted by the friendly staff. She guided us into a very nice comfy table. Ian, the manager at the wine bar greeted us as well. The wine bar isn’t a super huge place but it was definitely a good sized wine bar, the setup of the tables and chairs were very spaced out, so it didn’t give us any tight space feeling. I, in particular, do not like confined tight space, especially, I wanted to sit comfortably to enjoy a nice glass of wine and delicious food. There were various seating setup at this wine bar. There were high stools along the bar area. Regular dining table and chairs for peeps to have a meal and wine. There were also 2 high tables and tall chairs near the glass windows for couples to enjoy the view of the street.
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| Long bar counter with high stools to enjoy the wide selections of red and white wine or cocktails |
The overall vibe at the wine bar was cozy and romantic. It had nice candle lights being lit throughout the entire wine bar. It was nice and quiet, great ambiance and definitely a great place to bring a date or a special some one to relax, get cozy and enjoy a romantic evening.
Lawrence, the owner ordered a number of shareable food items for us to share. At this place, they encouraged the patrons to order a few dishes just to share, so everyone has a chance to taste the various delicious shareable. He ordered grilled giant prawns, lobster spoon, seared scallops with caviar, grilled pork belly, grilled roasted chicken drum sticks, lollipop lamb chops and mini cheese burger sliders.
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| Lobster spoon |
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| Pan seared scallops with caviar |
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| Grilled giant prawns |
To pair with these delicious shareable, Lawrence served us different glass of red and white wine to pair with the various food items we were having. Lawrence mentioned to us that he loves wine. During his free time, he would travel to different places around the world, to sight see, to enjoy the culture and most importantly, to enjoy life. Along the different places that he visited, he loves to taste the wine each country and its regions had to offer. It was these type of travel experiences and his passion for high quality of lifestyle which allowed him to bring in high quality of wine to be served at 747 Wine Bar. The selections of wine available at 747 Wine Bar was impressive. Furthermore, Lawrence would go to selective LCBO to handpick certain wine that aren’t available by most LCBO places. It’s always awesome to have owners and managers who know what a great bottle of wine is. Mind you, most of the bottle of wine that Lawrence recommended wouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg, he looks for wine that are reasonably priced, more like the “bang for the buck” type of wine.
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| Romantic dining area with nice candle lights. Good vibe! |
The shareable of food were prepared by Chef Alex. The moment we met him, he gave us the high energy and positive vibe. He brought in creativity to the dish. He first began his culinary career in the West Coast, Vancouver, BC and bringing along his expertise in seafood and other food dishes, bringing delicious recipes to 747 Wine Bar.
First, we were served with the seafood shareable food items such as the grilled giant prawns, pan seared scallops with caviar and served with white wine. The white wine was top notch. The giant prawns were nicely done and it was indeed GIANT! A lot of places will serve pan seared scallops but how many places provided caviar on top of them? Not many, I assure you that because I eat out often. Chef Alex added caviar to enhance the freshness of the scallops. Do you know what’s the best part? All these shareable range from $10-12. These are very reasonable prices. At other restaurant, you are looking at $15-$18 for scallops, same goes to prawns. At 747 Wine Bar, I can order 2 orders for almost the same price as one ordered at other restaurants. More importantly, not only the prices were great but the food were tasty! What I like about Chef Alex’s culinary skills was that the food he created were very well-balanced, the sauce were never overpowering & it was never too salty or saucy, it’s just perfect, allowing the main ingredient to shine and letting it’s natural taste reached to the patrons’ taste buds. That’s what I like!
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| Roasted chicken drum sticks |
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| Cheeseburgers mini sliders (each slider has a difference cheese) |
When the lollipop lamb chops, grilled pork belly, grilled chicken drumsticks & cheese burgers sliders arrived, we were served with red wine. It was a great food and wine pairing. All of these shareable also came with either mixed greens or mash potatoes, which were perfect tandem with the main meat that you ordered. Again, these shareable ranged from $10-$12. The lollipop lamb chops was my favourite dish, the lamb had great rose mary smell and taste to it (which I love!), lamb was juicy, tender and excellent taste. Lots of restaurants would use pork chop as ingredient, but at 747 Wine Bar, Chef Alex opted to use pork belly. I love pork belly, the fat part gave it more flavour and more importantly, the overall texture of the pork belly were much better than many pork chops. Also, each cheese burger mini sliders came with a different type of cheese, giving each slider it’s own unique taste.
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| Grilled lollipop lamb chops |
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| Grilled pork belly |
My crew and I were so full that we didn’t have room to try it’s famous charcuterie board that consists of deli meat, cheese and garnish. So, that means I will come again next time to try it’s charcuterie and see how it pairs with various wine.
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| A good list of Charcuterie platter |
All-in-all, it was a great evening. There weren’t many wine bar located in the Queen Street East area right now. With the continued development of the 2015 Pan Am Games and more condos being built around the area, I am sure 747 Wine Bar will be a stable and hot spot for many peeps who live around the area and wanted to have a relaxing evening of delicious food and great wine!
MoVernie MUST TRY Items:
– charcuterie deli/cheese/garnish board. Lots of great selections, ask their staff for their recommendation if you aren’t sure what to choose
– lollipop lamb chops (you must order this! I repeat, you MUST order this!)
– lobster spoon
– grilled pork belly
– grilled giant prawns
– pan seared scallops with caviar
– amazing selection of white and red wine (ask for their cocktails or even tequila if you aren’t into wine)
MoVernie Fun Fact:
For many cake and dessert lovers or even the famous hit TV Show series “Gossip Girls”, lots of peeps would have heard of the “Lady M Cake“. Lady M Cake is a famous cake shop that is famous for it’s multi-layered cake made in New York. At 747 Wine Bar, it’s a secret food item not seen on the food menu, but through social media, it’s buzzing and peeps who are active in the social media world would call, came in to order a slice and eat it with a nice glass of wine. That night, I seen a girl ordered a slice. Many of them would call first, reserve the cake and come in to taste the cake.
Tell them MoVernie told you about it’s secret Lady M Cake! ð
This is MoVernie highly recommended new hot spot for it’s great decor and ambiance, along with great selections of wine and also the reasonably priced shareable delicious food.
I would go in with another lovely person, grab a bottle of wine and order 4 shareable dishes, and you will go home feeling very happy and knowing the price was very reasonable and is very well-spent.
747 Wine Bar is definitely my go-to place, it’s the new hot spot in the downtown east area.
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| (left): Manager Ian, (centre) Chef Alex & (right) Owner Lawrence |
