Bar Sybanne – 229 Ossington Ave, Toronto, ON M6J 2Z8
Country: Mediterranean Region
Seating: Indoor dining with a Cafe TO street side patio
Must-try dish: Grilled Octopus
Dinner guests: Dancing Dan, Garebear, The Honorable Mitchell, Young Matt
The high: The perfect spot to get numerous sharing plates and the portions are a good size for a tapas style restaurant.
The low: That they ran out of Za’Atar steak tartare because all things tartare are Mandrea Bike’s fave. 

At last, the COVID regulations have eased off and we’re excited to continue to branch out with new dinner guests for our eating adventures. We decided to shake things up from our usual structure and dined at Bar Sybanne – a chic Mediterranean restaurant that takes a wide approach to the region and includes dishes with inspiration from the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe. 

It was a Saturday night, so it’s no surprise that the drinks were flowing between creative cocktails, Slovenian orange wine and espresso martinis. There was a vibrant energy in the place that continued for the rest of the night with our crew, even after going to the next destination. 

The Stekar Rebula, is an excellent choice for orange wine enthusiasts. It has a complex depth of fruit and mineral that sits on the tongue with a particular weighted freshness. The reaction after the initial sip was “wow, that’s interesting, in a totally amazing way”. 

As Mandrea Bike was too concentrated on discussing the orange wine and our thoughts on the flavour profiles, The Honorable Mitchell took charge in ordering for the table. The first few interactions with our server were stiff,but over the course of the night, other waitstaff on the team were significantly more helpful and enthusiastic. 

The dishes arrived as they were ready, which gave us time to better reflect each dish individually. The Dip Sampler started off the night. From a list, you get to choose three dips and we opted for the hummus, the tzatziki and a maple eggplant dip that resembled a babaganoush. Although Bar Sybanne’s rendition with maple isn’t traditional to the Mediterranean, it was the favourite of the bunch. 

The Seared Halloumi was next to come out. Let’s be serious, you can’t go wrong with this squeaky cheese in any way, shape or form. Next out were the Grilled Chicken Skewers, which were moist and flavourful.  

Mat’s recommendation that’s native to Madrid in Spain, Patatas Bravas, followed. It’s essentially fried potato cubes served in this case with kalamata olives, creme fraiche and roasted red peppers. Just delicious. 

The Beef and Lamb Kibbeh Sliders may not necessarily be authentic, but they took this Levantine dish and adapted it for the Canadian pallet. Although Kibbeh’s need no adaptation, this take on the traditional snack was delicious.

At the stage, the group was starting to fill up but there were a few more items on order that were totally worth the wait. The Hibiscus Rice was topped with fried herbs and toasted hazelnuts, both of which elevated the texture.  

The Grilled Octopus was a much anticipated dish, it was served with five grilled tentacles so hopefully another table wasn’t short one tentacle, as we all know an octopus has eight tentacles and ours were served attached at the top. Harissa honey, confit garlic and a parsley oil were all included with the dish. Mat was taking some notes on how he could possibly include confit garlic in his own Octopus Recipe. 

The final dish of the night was the Vegetable Tagine. For those who aren’t familiar with tagine, it’s actually cookware and not a dish or recipe. The tagine is native to Morocco and other Northern African countries and is traditionally built out of clay. The idea is that as the dish cooks, the evaporation rises and then falls back down into the food, creating a self-basting, flavour-enhancing cycle of deliciousness. Bar Sybanne’s tagine included chickpeas, seasonal vegetables, and abricots that was topped with pomegranate seeds. 

Gather a group of friends and make a reservation at Bar Sybanne. This Mediterranean tapas style restaurant should be added to your list of go-to eateries. The restaurant industry struggled during the pandemic, so we urge everyone to go out for meals on a patio, indoors or with takeout at a picnic. 

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)