We’ll see you in there.
Connect to customize your food & drink discovery.
By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Animl
If you like this, you’ll also like:
ANIML, the newest offering from INK Entertainment, is a gleaming jewel box where refined touches coexist with a feral appetite for red meat and all the finest fixings. A showy King West destination, it’s a spot where the glamorous go to be seen, the curious go to gawk, and the moneyed spend time satisfying their every whim.
Despite the fringed lampshades, the profusion of animal prints and, yes, the inverted, cow-shaped disco ball centrepiece, ANIML is, at its core, a traditional steakhouse. “We had to go back to old steak houses from the ‘50s. ‘60s and ‘70s,” explains executive chef, Marc Cheng. “What’s retro? What’s not retro? What’s cool? We brought back sauces like Oscar. Also, Sole meuniere. Classic dishes."
While the look, by design studio Nivek Remas, draws on the gaudy flashiness of the ‘70s, the food is a more sedate nod to other times. Elegant with modern flourishes, Cheng’s menu is approachable, with plenty of options for carnivores, ample choices for pescatarians and a few for everyone else. Where it surprises, is in the precise preparations and attention to quality and detail.
That same fastidiousness is evident in a cocktail list powered by classics and spiked with fresh new finds. Here, you can sip languidly on throwbacks like Grasshoppers and Amaretto Sours or revel in the lift of an absinthe-laced Verdant or the ultra-extravagant Eden.
Below ground, a wine cellar houses an impressive collection assembled by INK Entertainment wine director, Mariano Gonzalez Altamura. A global sampling, it boasts vintage bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal along with classic Quintarellis and complex pours from Chateau Montelena. A sizable by-the-glass menu allows diners to begin their stay with Perrier Jouët before moving on to something more full-bodied, say Pearl Morissette’s ‘Madeline” or Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon, with mains.
The smallest INK venue, ANIML is not the place for throwback-style tableside prep. Instead, says Cheng, the team fine-tuned classics, such as a pungent, bright Caesar, so that they could arrive direct from the kitchen without cluttering up the scenery.
You will, however, want a selection of starters cluttering up your table. After all, says Cheng, “a true mark of a good cook is how they develop apps, mains, entrees and sides.”
An ode to Mira, ANIML’s predecessor, Hamachi Crudo fits the room with fermented tomato leche de tigre and what Cheng calls a “Gaudi-inspired” look. Fresh and peppy, its sauce dotted with taste bud-energizing chive, chili and burnt garlic oils, it’s the starter to order before getting down to the business at hand.
And that, of course, is meat. Sourced from around the world (mainly from Japan, Canada, Australia and the U.S.), ANIML’s beef is mostly grass-fed, then dry-aged for 39 days. “That’s the sweet spot,” assures Cheng.
In Signature Pastrami, burnished slices of Mishima Ranch wagyu short rib arrive enveloped in a theatrical cloud of applewood smoke. A dish that took shape dinnerware first — “The plates were purchased by Charles himself,” says Cheng, referring to INK Entertainment founder and CEO, Charles Kabouth. “Then I had to think, ‘What am I going to do with this?’” — it’s a dramatic, full-bodied first course.
Brined for three days, the meat is then cooked sous-vide and slow-roasted before it’s dressed, for service, with precise beads of bergamot aioli. Essential sides, cornichon and triple crunch mustard cut through the fat leaving diners open to the idea of eating more.
For the restaurant’s pièces de résistance, Cheng delved into the world of classic New York steakhouses. “What do they do?,” he asked himself. “They use these broilers. It’s really about the crust you develop on the steak. It’s actually crunchy.” Broiled for 90 seconds, steaks at ANIML are then finished in the oven, for a blend of charred edge and buttery interior that makes steakhouse afficionados swoon. A “no fuss, no muss,” finish of salt, fresh cracked pepper and beef tallow is all these slabs of sustenance need to shine. Still, if the day demands a little something extra, the team’s sauces – from crab-flecked Oscar to bourbon au poivre — definitely deliver.
Fancy even more grandeur? For the ballers in the crowd, ANIML’s menu jumps to extremes, like the market price Principal Platter and eyepopping surf options that take simple steaks into immoderate territory.
“We’re the only ones in the city with this size,” says Cheng, proudly, of the mammoth 2-4 crustaceans that arrive as a side of Roasted Shrimp Piccata. Animals that would have you scurrying if you encountered them on a beach, these grilled behemoths are sweet and tender, with a punch of flavour from lemon-laced olive oil, herbs and garlic chips.
Over-the-top and unquestionably naughty, ANIML keeps the fun going in a dessert menu designed for adults with a thing for nostalgic bites. “We talked about what’s something we used to have as kids,” says Cheng. “For me, it was Black Forest cake.” Made up to look like a sleek, varnished, oversized cherry, this Black Forest is in a league of its own.
So too, is the Gold Bar, a lustrous, photogenic final course with an undeniable resemblance to key lime pie, thanks to its number of citrus-flavoured components, from makrut lime cream to calamansi cremeux. “Based on the room, we needed something like that,” laughs Cheng. “Desserts finish the meal properly. It reflects what the restaurant and the room is. I can’t do that to a steak. A steak is a steak.”
Still, for the creatures prowling King West, ANIML’s steak is the best bait there could possibly be.
Recommended For You
