THE CHURCH KEY BISTRO-PUB: Craft Beer & Modern Pub Fare with Flair

THE CHURCH KEY BISTRO-PUB

The Church Key is your destination pub, whether you’re looking for an impressive selection of craft beers or a pub meal with flair. Owners Pete and Vanessa Willis have nearly 50 years combined experience in the restaurant industry. The opening of The Church Key in May of 2009 was the culmination of a longtime dream. “We are definitely pub people,” says Vanessa. “We like an uncomplicated place where you can talk and have good food and beer and wine.”

Church Key

The Scene

Warm and comfortable, with a pleasing combination of brick, stone and wood, The Church Key is an extensively renovated pub in a Richmond Row heritage building across from The Grand Theatre. There are seats at the bar or assorted tables suitable for a couple or a crowd. An intimate outdoor courtyard flanks the south side of the building.

Menu Highlights

Taste something wonderfully different! The Church Key follows in the British tradition of the gastro pub by specializing in traditional food done with gourmet flair. Chef Michael Anglestad, with over 20 years in fine dining, uses seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients extensively.
Try the Ploughman’s Plate, great as a meal or a shared appetizer, with English cheeses, crusty bread, paté, duck breast bacon, and vegetables. Or start with Salmon Wrapped Scallops — sea scallops wrapped in house-smoked salmon, drizzled with grapefruit and rice wine syrup and togarashi aioli — or a classic Warm Duck Confit Salad.

Entrée favourites include the famous Church Key Burger, with in-house-ground beef (& bacon) burger, caramelized onions, Stilton cheese, arugula and tomato jam; traditional Fish & Chips served with creamy tartar sauce and savoy coleslaw; and Lamb Curry — lamb braised in mild ginger curry sauce on seasoned rice with cucumber raita and fresh cilantro.