Spoon & Fork is located at 130 Park Place Blvd. in Barrie. It’s about a 20 min. bike ride from Barrie South GO station, so is debatable whether it’s transit-accessible. As with all other Spoon & Fork locations reusable chopsticks are used, and the diner is also given a spoon and fork with the place setting. We got there just as it opened so there was no one else there yet; It is quite large inside, several times the size of the small hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Toronto. Weekend lunch has sashimi included on the menu including salmon butterfish, kani aka crab/surimi, tamago aka egg and assorted! Soy at table was very rich and flavorful and fresh with a winy flavour, and yet was not salty so it was excellent. AYCD pop is available for $3.50.
We were both blown away by the miso soup which was just fantastic... fresh, super-flavourful and not watered down at all. Hot and sour soup had heat, but no sour, so was missing some flavour. Mishy absolutely loved the pumpkin soup and said it was fantastic. I agree it was very good, although it was a bit too sweet for my taste. Unfortunately she said that the seaweed salad aka wakami salad was not enjoyable as it lacked flavour and tasted too much of seaweed, although I wondered what it's supposed to taste like if not that. Wonton soup was also missing a little savour and saltiness but had an interesting citrus note.
Basil beef was very good with plenty of flavour and the sauce wasn't too hot and was well seasoned. Deep fried dumplings were quite good in their sauce and were not oily. Thai dumpings Mishy did not like, but I did as they had a good sauce and it had peanuts in it and as was fresh, which considering the place just opened was as it should have been. Chicken teriyaki was quite good in a flavourful sauce but the beef teriyaki was much better as I think as a different seasoning was added to it and it worked very well; Mishy also noticed this. Fries on the menu had barbecue sauce, mayonnaise and garlic listed, but when when served were just plain with a little ketchup on the side.
Another nice thing on the menu was salmon rose which is Mishy's favourite and quite possibly one of mine by now; it was excellent and very fresh, as well the flavours balanced well. Salmon nigiri was also very fresh and was excellent; the soy sauce paired very well with it. Tomago/egg and butterfish (probably escolar) sashimi was excellent very fresh however the crab (probably surimi) sashimi was a bit off and had an aroma. Thankfully the star of the show, salmon sashimi, was absolutely fresh and just about perfect. Spicy salmon sushi was very good, and thankfully not overly spicy with annoying heat as many other places do.
Note that desserts do not appear on the main menu, but when asked they will provide a dessert menu which has eight items on it. Red bean ice had some of that lovely flavor that only the best have although it was very mild, but at least it was there. Mishy loved the chocolate ice cream saying it was very rich, and also the crème brûlée which I also enjoyed. Vanilla ice cream was quite good and fresh with a little French style and no freezer burn. Strawberry ice cream was excellent with fantastic flavour, and also extremely fresh with no freezer burn. Mango's flavour was somewhat muted, but rather honey-like, more so than any other I've ever had. Green tea ice cream’s flavour was a little muted, but it was also quite fresh. Chocolate ice cream was very rich in flavour, and also very fresh and not freezer burnt; all of the ice creams were excellent. Mango cake is the same type of small cake served in almost every AYCE in the GTA, which we have encountered dozens of times.
Weekend lunch is $30.99. On a re-read I was surprised how many, albeit minor, shortcomings had been noted, as we both had noted to each other that we enjoyed our lunch there so much. Certainly the presence of sashimi and the excellence of many of the items was more memorable. Even with them, I think we’d happily return (if we ever can given how many others remain to visit!)
Rating: 8.5 – 9 / 10
