Julie and I used to live near Bathust & Lawrence. We spent many an evening at the Safari on Avenue Rd., occasionally going upstairs and playing a few rounds.
We’ve noticed “The Safari Bar And Grill” in Ajax a couple of times coming back from outings on our motor bikes and reminiscing about the good times we had at the Avenue Rd. Safari.
The other night we were coming back on Kingston Rd. from some other outing and since we had an occasion to celebrate (my successfully passing the exam of the initial course on the way to becoming an accredited Sommelier), we decided to drop by the Safari and have dinner on the patio.
First of all, let me congratulate Kevin Harper of the Ajax Safari and extend a warm “Welcome to the Durham Region”.
We really liked the interior decor and just loved the patio!
The staff was courteous, attentive and competent. The minor complaint we had (some dubious bits floating in the glasses of wine we ordered) were immediately remedied to our satisfaction.
We started with an appetizer of “Calamari fritti” which was, even shared, nearly a meal in itself. Quite nicely done, perfectly cooked. I do an “accordion calamari” which has a similar theme, i.e.. it’s the whole thing and only partially sliced, sautéed in a tomato and herb sauce.
For the main course, Julie ordered the Phylo Wrapped Salmon while I ordered the Steak Neptune.
We trusted the establishments choice of wine pairing and decided to stick with the menu suggestions of the Pelham Pinot and a Ravenswood Zin. While I agreed with the Pinot as a suitable pairing for the salmon, I had some reservations about the Zin simply because of the crab, the asparagus, the hollandaise and the polenta components of my Steak Neptune. But the actual meal would tell and it turned out to be a good choice since that is one tough dish to pair to everybody’s satisfaction.
We left happy to know we had another great place to frequent nearby.
Safari
60 Randall Dr.
Historic Pickering Village
Ajax, ON
L1S 6L3
905-619-2636