The Boil Bar [EVENT]

Name: The Boil Bar
Location: 633 Silver Star Boulevard, Scarborough
Cuisine: Cajun Seafood Boil
Website: www.theboilbar.com
Rating: 4/5

It's been a long time coming for seafood boils to pop up around the GTA, especially since it's big in the South. A seafood boil consists of a variety of different shellfish that is cooked with corn/potatoes and select sauces, including the popular Cajun sauce, and served in a plastic bag for a fun finger-licking experience. Many people have been doing their own seafood boils in the comfort of their home but it wasn't until recently that seafood boil restaurants had finally made their way to Toronto.

The first seafood boil that opened it's doors in Toronto is Captains Boil, which has gained a widespread popularity with long wait times. It was only a matter of time that another seafood boil appeared which happened to be The Boil Bar located in Scarborough.

Being Toronto's second seafood boil, The Boil Bar takes pride in providing the freshest seafood which they bring in every day to ensure that their customers have the best dining experience with great quality seafood. The Boil Bar offers eight kinds of shellfish and five tasty sauces to choose from with different levels of spiciness. Not only do they serve seafood boil, they have a wide variety of other delicious items including fresh oysters, baked seafood, sizzling hot plates and more.

Recently, I had the opportunity to taste many of the popular items at The Boil Bar's media event hosted by Sweven Media. I was excited to try it out since the last time I had a seafood boil was in New York City at The Boil, which I absolutely loved! The entire restaurant was booked for food bloggers and other social media influencers to showcase their Louisiana-inspired Cajun seafood boil.

Passion Fruit Lime Aloe Vera Basil Seed

Upon entering, we were seated at our designated table which had our names and Instagram handles on cute handmade name cards. We were told we could order any drink, including their house made bubble teas. I ordered the Passion Fruit bbt which was delicious, but I wasn't too fond of the passion fruit seeds because it was quite hard. If you order this drink, it's best to ask them to not include the seeds.

Fanny Bay Oysters

We started off with Fanny Bay oysters which came out with two sauces and lemon wedges. I only tried one and it was pretty good, but it had a bit of a fishy aftertaste. For the price they're selling it at ($1.50 each), I would say it's worth trying.

Crawfish with Sweet Corn and Sausage

Cajun Sauce + Mild Spicy

The crawfish was cooked in a delicious Cajun sauce that everyone at my table loved. The spiciness was very mild and the flavours from the seasonings went perfectly with the crawfish. We didn't have any difficulties cracking the shells because luckily someone from our table taught us how to get straight to the meat! Since the sauce was quite fresh, the crawfish tasted a bit bland but all was well after we decided to dip the meat into the sauce. When we ordered a second batch, the crawfish soaked up all the sauce and was perfect!

Mussel with Sweet Corn and Sausage

Garlic Sauce + A Bit Spicy

The mussels were huge and the garlic sauce was perfection - one of my favourite sauces. I loved how the garlic wasn't overpowering because it was light and the flavours blended nicely with the mussels.

King Crab Leg with Sweet Corn and Sausage

Lemon Pepper Sauce + A Bit Spicy

It was a bit difficult to crack open the shell and it would have been nice to have scissors, but once we got passed that we were able to enjoy the huge piece of crab meat! The meat was succulent and tasted great with the lemon pepper sauce.

Clams with Sweet Corn and Sausage

House Sauce + Mild Spicy

These were very easy to eat and the sauce was bolder than the other three we tried, probably from the Asian spices. I preferred the other sauces because I personally like Cajun and garlic flavours with my seafood.

Baked Lobster

The lobster was baked with a creamy mayo sauce and cheese. I loved it! The lobster meat tasted very fresh and went really well with the toppings. 

Sizzling Chicken Plate

Served with steamed rice

This dish was really hot so be sure to let it cool before eating. I liked the chicken because it has a crispy coating and the rice was delicious as well because it had some melted cheese on top. One thing I would suggest is to ask for more sauce if it tastes a little bland.

Grilled Sweet Corn

The corn was crunchy with sweetness from the sugar on top. If you're a fan of corn, you may like this!

The Boil Bar also displayed some of their other menu items to show the different variations of seafood and cooking methods (these were not a part of the media tasting, only for reference).

Lobster Boil

Baked Mussel (4 pc.)

Snow Crab Boil

Shrimp Boil

After speaking to Yvonne from Sweven Media, she told me that initially The Boil Bar had received low reviews but after many suggestions and constructive criticism, they worked hard to implement changes and greatly improve their menu items to serve the best quality food they can offer. These are the kinds of restaurants that flourish because they can accept constructive criticism well in order to have the best possible outcome.

Overall, I had a great experience trying a seafood boil at The Boil Bar and I personally felt that it exceeded my expectations. Compared to the South, The Boil Bar has more of an Asian flare with some of the spices that they use and certain menu items such as the sizzling plates. I would highly recommend this restaurant to those looking to try a seafood boil because you're guaranteed the freshest seafood daily and they have a wide variety of different menu items to choose from. Be on the lookout because The Boil Bar will soon be opening two new locations downtown near Yonge & Bloor and Bloor & Bathurst.

A special thanks goes out to Sweven Media for inviting me to this media tasting event and being gracious hosts to everyone! I had a wonderful time tasting the delicious food and getting to know other foodies!

Related Items Cajun Event Scarborough Seafood Seafood Boil The Boil Bar