5th Element.

WRITTEN and EATEN by Kendrew Leung

Finding a cheap place for a date night in these hard times is tough, but thankfully 5th element is currently holding a bail out special. $31.99/2 persons + tax and tip (added on already at 20%). In total it came up to around a bit above $40/ 2 persons.

Less about the price, and more about the food- What we had for appetizers was Bacon Wrapped Scallops and Butterfly Shrimp Skewer. The bacon wrapped scallops were pretty good, although I’m not sure if the scallops really went that well with the bacon. However, the butterfly shrimp skewers were even better. They were made to be just juicy enough, and full of flavour.For the main course we had Bacon wrapped veal medallion (just 2 pieces of veal wrapped in bacon) and an 8 oz. baseball steak. I don’t know what is was with me that night, but I ended up getting a lot of bacon wrapped food, the veal was definitely a lot better than the scallops (in bacon wrapped food terms). As for the steak, although a tad small, it was flavorful and juicy, and most of all it was cooked the way we wanted, medium rare.
As for dessert, there was the mango kulfi, and the vanilla mousse. The vanilla mousse was made sweet, and good. But if you’re stuck on deciding, get the mango kulfi, it was made with fresh mangoes, sweet and tasted perfect. It was definitely the highlight of my night.
For a bit above $40 for a dinner for two at a nice restaurant it’s a deal that is hard to beat. However the biggest deal breaker for me was that there was no bread. I’m an avid eater of bread in vast quantities at nice restaurants (since portions are small, it’s my way to fill up), I was actually saddened by the lack of bread. If that’s not a problem, then this is one deal to be had.
They’ve changed the menu a bit, and no longer offer the bacon wrapped veal medallion for main course, it’s been replaced with a Tandoori chicken dish and a rack of venison dish.

5th element is located on the east side of Bay Street, between Bloor and Wellesley St. (1033 Bay Street). Website: http://www.5thelementt.com

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Kendrew Leung is my brother and is the newest Guest Star/ Guest Writer for Good Food Toronto. He shares the same love that I have for both Food and Deals. He is a student at the University of Ottawa and enjoys going out to eat often when he is in Toronto.