This week was one of the longest I've had in a while.
I texted my friend Jane halfway through the week because I needed to spend some time with her, just casual and low-key. Nothing fancy, nothing adventurous. Just a nice, calm, and quiet time. Turns out she had a similar idea as well.
"Something relaxing?", she suggested.
She asked around and her friends suggested we try out Cibo, which neither of us had been to before. It's located right on the river, with a gorgeous view outside. Apparently in the Summer, you can sit outside on their patio, but since it was -10 C today, we settled for a nice warm table inside.
By the time I had arrived, Jane was seated and thoroughly engrossed in their menu, which claims to be Mediterranean, but mirrors more of what you'd find in an Italian restaurant. I guess it's a mix of both.
Completely famished, we quickly put in our orders and settled into our chairs, musing over our week and catching each other up on our Christmas shenanigans. Somewhere in between discussing my technology woes and her plan to bake cheesecake later that day, our first plate arrived!
I honestly can't tell you the names of half of what was on there, but it was absolutely delicious. Initially attempting to use our forks and knives (like civilized people), we abandoned that idea because we quickly realized that struggling to cut a bean in half did not fit into our idea of a "relaxing" day.
I'm pretty sure this plate was supposed to feed a family of four, judging by the sheer amount of food that came on it. No worries though, we brought our appetite.
Our conversation ceased after our first few bites, with muffled mmmhmms and smiles interlacing each mouthful. My fave were the meats, while hers were the cheese, but we both agreed that the star of the antipasto plate was the normally overlooked applesauce.
Just as we were about to polish off the last few pieces, our main courses arrived, piping hot and practically begging to be eaten.
We decided to split the two plates, because sharing is caring, and because we wanted to both try different items off the menu. Deciding to go with one panino and one pasta, we ended up getting the Spanish Chicken and the Carbonara, which our lovely server claimed was a hit.
The Carbonara was honestly quite underwhelming, but the Spanish Chicken was stuffed with flavors and texture, and dripping with oils from the melted cheese. Definitely something you want to be sharing, but so satisfying.
They give you the option of substituting the fries with a soup or the healthier salad, which is something you should probably at least contemplate before sticking with the fries. They're light, crispy and perfectly salted. So amazing that I think it might top the ones from Stooley's in Kingston, which were my all time fave.
Slowly pacing ourselves, we managed to finish off most of it... or all of it.
Feeling substantially better after a stressful week, our smiles came back, and of course we had to capture it in a us-ie before parting ways with promises of more relaxing days soon.
naomi
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