Victory Cafe: Mixing It Up in Mirvish Village
581 Markham Street 
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Phone: 416.516.5787
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Much like its eclectic Mirvish Village neighbours, Victory Cafe likes to wear a lot of different hats. Cafe, pub, art bar, restaurant, you name it, Victory seems to morph into whatever you'd like it to be.
Most days, I'd stop in with beer-lovin' friends for the latest microbrew offerings or head upstairs for an art opening or live performance. This time around, I've got a couple hours before work in the area, so it's time to give the dinner menu a proper trial.
Enjoying the breeze by a patio window, myself and three friends each pick out an entree and a couple appetizers to start things off...
Sweet potato fries ($5.75) are an instant favourite. I usually get my fix of these at Fresh, but Victory's prove much nicer as they aren't fried to the dark, crumbly (though tasty) extent that Fresh does 'em.
Along with the fries we share another vegetarian-friendly dish: Veggie Samosas (5 pieces for $5.75). Again, we've picked out a great starter. These crispy mini samosas are filled with wonderfully fresh potatoes, peas, etc and are spiced just hot enough to offer some kick without burning out your tastebuds before the entrees arrive. I will definitely be having them again soon.
The entrees arrive soon after and are good looking though a tad more hit-and-miss than our appetizers.
The Vegetarian Pasta Special ($9.95) on this evening is linguini in a rose sauce with tomato, onion and zucchini. Pictured at the top, it looked great but the looks didn't translate into flavour. Overall, it was nice, but lacked punch - which was only emphasized by soft, overcooked linguini that made chewing quite optional.
A separate side of garlic bread and salad was a nice touch.
On the flip side, the Salmon Burger ($9.95) turns out to be a great choice. Seasoned well and topped with a mango chutney, the sweet and savoury combo was as unique as it was tasty.
The Victory Cheese Burger ($8.75) is also a winner (all puns intended). A thick ground meat patty is dense and juicy though I'd encourage a little more generosity with the cheddar (ah-hem!), please.
Despite some great vegetarian choices, Victory's Veggie Burger ($7.50) didn't impress. My co-diner described it as, "moyen", the patty just boring and dry. Condiments to the rescue...
The fries were good, but nothing beats these three creamy words: herbed mashed potatoes. Delicious.
Overall, there is good food to be had at Victory... you may just have to try a few things til you find the winner.
Comments (9)
I love Victory! It has such a great little patio on one of my favourite little streets in Toronto.
Also worthy of note: all the music events at the Victory. It used to host a Irish music session but has sadly shut down (I kept meaning to attend but looks like I missed my chance). Now it hosts a jazz string quartet every Wednesday.
If you like veggie burgers you should try one at the central just up the street from the vic. it's amazing... a friend of mine that is an avid meat eater was impressed with it! and it's made in house. actually, all of their veggie food is delicious, pastas, salads, etc. also, i think the people there are more inviting, overall food quality is higher and the bands are better but that's just my 2 cents.
I'm so happy that more people are checking out this area! Mirvish Village is great- along with the Vic. I agree with Joe though, Central's veggie burgers rock!
I can't figure out why the Vic is always packed and the Central is so inconsistently populated. There is no comparison with the food - hands down the Central. Same goes with the service and the cleanliness... I guess people are becoming a custom with mediocrity - and this needn't be the case if they took a few steps North!!
Finally got a chance to check out the Central last night. While the beer selection certainly wasn't bad, I've seen much, MUCH better in Toronto - the fact that it is mentioned before Cafe Volo, The Rhino and others is truly unfair (although this may not be in order, I don't know). The service was annoying slow, and I'm about as patient as they come. Overall, not impressed. The location and patio however made the rough parts a little easy to take. I'll join the few above me by saying that if I'm on Markham St., I'm going to stick to the Central.
I'm with Jackson - service was painfully slow & the place was a pretty run down (the washrooms were particularly bad). I really can't see why it's number 1 on the list... beer selection was pretty small (only 1 cask) and the servers were pretty unhelpful with describing or suggesting anything on tap and the food was merely passable - I far prefer Cafe Volo or Ces't What to Victory. I won't be going back.
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