"What's the name of this place," Dad questioned as we walked down King street, toward our destination.
I pointed at the sign ahead of us. "That's the place."
"Frixing? Frigs? What does it say?"
"Fring's"
"Oh, let me guess, they serve frogs legs and wings, right? Frings!"
"Ummm... possibly. But, probably not."
Fring's, the latest offering by Toronto celebrity chef, Susur Lee, is a trendy, dimly lit, globally inspired, and Drake-vetted establishment.
Contrary to my Dad's ruminations, their name, which was chosen by Drake himself, means "just something you pull from your own emotions, from a happy time.”
The restaurant is dimly lit, and has an intriguing ambiance with industrial flair, unique light fixtures, and crosses hung up on the brick walls.
Dad and I were seated at a table for two, with big fluffy armchairs, "are these things alive?' Dad joked as he shimmied into one.
The menu is largely composed of tapas-style sharing platters. We ordered three dishes to share amongst the two of us.
First up, drinks! I ordered their sangria, which is made with rose wine, and garnished with some beautiful fruits and flower petals.
The plates came one by one.
First off - the organic salmon crudo, with ponzu, cilantro, jalepeno, and green apple. The apples were pickled and added a nice bite to the dish. It was tasty, and very interesting to the palette.
Next up, our vegetables for the evening, the vietnamese salad, with sesame chicken, julienne vegetable, egg, mango salsa, and seasoned with a miso dressing. The salad was delicious and came in a fairly big portion.
And our final meal of the evening, the braised short ribs with garlic mash potatoes. These ribs were cooked for 18 hours ("someone was up late last night!" - Dad), and was so wonderfully soft that it fell off the bone.
Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Fring's. It's not a cheap establishment, but the ambiance and quality of the food definitely creates a great eating experience.
A couple things I've realized about food photography:
1. Depth of Field. When shooting concerts, I'm so used to shooting with my lenses wide open, as I'm capturing fast movement in low light conditions. However, when shooting food, you are often shooting close up, and want to capture the details of the different ingredients - as such, I need to remind myself to switch to a higher f/stop.
2. Macro. Close up shots of the detail and texture of the food would be great. However, with my 50mm, I can only get so close while keeping the image in focus. It would be nice to invest in a macro lens for food!
3. Timing. When shooting concerts, you need to be quick because the action is happening so fast. When shooting food at restaurants, you need to be quick because people are hungry!