Aheeka M.
Yelp
I've been a massive fan of Bakers & Baristas for two years now (since I found out about the place), so when I found out that they'd opened a dinner service under the name of Luka, I had to try it out.
I made a reservation through their website for Friday dining and was excited to try out what they had.
It's located inside Bakers & Baristas, in a busy strip mall, and is only open on the weekends for dinner service.
It's a really cute dining room, perfect for date nights or intimate get togethers; the music isn't too loud that you can't hear one another.
There are flower arrangements all around, with group, bar, and more intimate seating.
It's a pretty small menu - which is perfect in its own way; here's what we got:
- Sourdough starter: The baguette was fresh and went very well with the salted Isigny butter.
(The server seemed trained to strongly recommend that the bread and prawns be ordered together, and that worked out as I'd been planning to do so when I'd seen the menu earlier.)
- Potato situation: A buttery, cheese-y mashed and yet-somehow baked potato with a thick, crunch outer layer. It's rich, decadent, dense, with tonnes of grated parmesan cheese and chives.
Devine. Absolutely devine. Get it! But get it to share with one other person.
- Hamachi crudo: I've found that this is a staple for most New American restaurants and their menus. To be very fair, it's thick pieces of fish in a tangy chive oil vinaigrette, with radish, capers, red onions, and citrus zest.
It was fresh, lightly lemony, yet somehow slightly too oil-y for me, which made me not particularly enjoy the dish.
- Squid ink and uni pasta: Was not expecting spaetzle as the pasta shape, so that was a unique decision.
I so wish that there was more uni on this pasta; two pieces is not enough! My partner loved this one a lot - the umami-ness was well-balanced with the pasta & sauce.
- Spicy blue prawns: Come with the heads on and peeled bodies, cooked in a rich, fermented shrimp butter with Calabrian chillies & garlic. Loved that the heads were still on; the sauce was delicious and acted as a perfect dip for the baguette.
- Basque cheesecake: I'd been eyeing this dish ever since I saw it on their menu and all the photos here on Yelp, so I had to order it and it did not disappoint!
It was creamy, not-too-sweet, the whipped cream was so nice and a great mouthfeel.
We also got two non-alcoholic drinks and a beer, so you can imagine the bill - it was ~$150 before tips. The drinks were alright; I'd forego them next time.
Our server was a pleasure, without being overwhemling or overbearing in any way; pretty sure he's also around during brunch hours; an overall great experience.
I love the plates and sort of want to buy my own ones from Crate & Barrel now! (I flipped over the plates to see where they were from.)
My one star off is really because of the notable portions versus pricing; everything, except perhaps the Potato Situation, was quite small, and the bread being a paid option rather than gratis was a little off-putting.
From an accessibility standpoint, there are two large doors, to enter/exit by, however, they aren't the easiest to open and there isn't any accessibility door opener (as far as I can remember).
Thankfully, the only steps is the raised sidewalk part, but there are
Parking is available, but you may have to park a little far away because of packed the place gets.