Nestled at the base of the Holiday Inn just off Ellerslie Road, Evario Kitchen & Bar puts out a steady performance with a diverse menu that deviates from the standard fare of hotel steakhouses and all-day restaurants.
The room is aromatic, modern, and open, like a hotel lounge. Even from our seats, we could see guests bustling through the doors on their way to check in. The atmosphere remained quiet, aside from the light conversation of the two or three other occupied tables, and throughout the place was the typical hum of generic pop music.
The menu comes from Chef Sonny Sung, and it shows as it’s culturally pluralistic of this award-winning chef’s background. My curiosity peaked when I saw Duck Leg Confit, Teriyaki Chicken and a Roasted Lamb Shank under the same roof. As much as my Irish blood craved the lamb, I opted to dodge it due to the walnuts (I’m deathly allergic) and embrace the Kobe beef of the Evario Burger. I ordered its signature Smoky Old Fashioned to pair with the famously rich beef. Our group also decided to sample an appetizer of calamari.
The best thing we ate was a complimentary one-bite paneer dish in the Guru Butter Chicken sauce. It was the perfect texture and fell apart in my mouth, marrying with the fragrant spices of the butter chicken sauce.
The burger came out well and proved to be a solid choice. Along with the Kobe beef were truffle mayo and maple apple bacon. The typical burger fixings of lettuce and tomato worked well with the rich and heavy flavours of the beef, bacon and truffle, and none of the flavours stood out or overpowered each other. I sipped the Old Fashioned (which came with actual smoke) gingerly, and, while it was sweeter than most styles of this cocktail, it came through as advertised, with that desirable peated smoke flavour.
If you are in the Ellerslie area, whether for a hotel stay, a convention, or that’s your part of town, Evario is a decent choice, especially when seeking something a bit different and overall consistent.
Evario Kitchen & Bar
Ellerslie Industrial | 950 Parsons Rd SW, Edmonton | 780.784.8515.| evariokitchen.ca
