Black Ox Bistro is a restaurant in Scarborough offering modern halal cuisine with an elevated flair. The restaurant caters to serving halal-certified meat that are from HMA (Halal Monitoring Association) certified sources. It's not a requirement for me to eat halal, but I was invited a couple of weeks ago to check out what Black Ox Bistro had to offer. I found out that they do not only offer halal items, but there were veterinarian and gluten-free options as well. Black Ox Bistro opened to much interest in the Muslim community this past January. Given the long lines at the Toronto’s Halal Food Festival 2015, one could tell the restaurant has gained popularity for their take on mainstream style dining.  However, the food isn't just for those who require their meat to be halal-certified, as it's certainly for everyone who loves good food. 


Upon entering the establishment, it was clear that the management of Black Ox Bistro wanted to create a more upscale and relaxed environment. The dining room was spacious with a bar located at the front of the house where they make in-house mocktails. The reason for the sale of mocktails is because alcohol is not permitted in hahal establishments. 
 

I started the night off with an order of their most popular mocktails, the Pina Colada ($6) - pineapple juice, coconut cream, and crushed ice. It was a very refreshing drink with a strong hint of coconut, which I enjoyed.


 I was told by one of the servers that the flat bread was one of the most popular appetizers on the menu. However, I decided to opt for the bacon wrapped scallops after seeing pictures of it on my Instagram feed earlier that week. The bacon wrapped scallops ($14) - four pan seared east-coast sea scallops, smoked veal bacon, arugula and mushroom salad, were absolutely delicious, and flavored really well. Normally, I am not a huge bacon fan, but I really liked that the texture of the veal bacon was slightly less crispy than pork bacon.


As for my entree, I got the filet mignon (6 oz) ($24) - the most tender and leanest of all steaks. All steaks are of the highest quality, and are never frozen. The steaks are Canadian Angus beef that are aged for 28 day, and HMA certified hahal. Each steak entree was served with the customer's choice of two sides from the following list; seasonal vegetables, house cut fries, or roasted garlic mash. I opted for the seasonal vegetables, and roasted garlic mash. I also added an extra order of lobster tail with lemon herb butter ($12) to make it into my own version of surf & turf. The juicy steak was cooked exactly to my order, which was medium. The sauce that I selected was the Café de Paris butter. A good Café de Paris butter needs to have the perfect balance of butter, and the fragrant herbs and spices used. The texture of the one from Black Ox Bistro was slightly thicker than I would have liked, but it did add flavor to the steak. The lobster tail also added the extra touch to what was a very tasty and filling meal.






I was pleasantly surprised that all of the staff provided both friendly, and attentive service to all diners. They all worked cohesively as a well-unified team, and that resulted in providing great and consistent service. Overall, I had a fine dining experience at Black Ox Bistro, as I enjoyed both the food and ambiance.