Ray B.
Google
Expensive splurge worth the service and the food.
I was surprised to see that this restaurant was listed in the Michelin guide (but has no stars... yet). Everyone here is super friendly and attentive. We figured that we had to do the 7-course, and we were warned it would be about three hours. Going into it knowing this was good... I think other reviewers were off-put like the 7-course was being discouraged. The restaurant itself is pretty dimly lit but not too dark, and the noise level is moderate and sometimes you can't hear people at a normal volume, which kind of stinks.
But we're here to figure out how the food is, right? Summarized, $150 CAD is not bad for a filling and adventurous 7-course splurge prepared by a team dedicated to their craft. Apologies that I can't remember exactly what was what, because it was hard to hear in the restaurant and also my memory sucks.
- First course was literally a single tortellini. I almost laughed at the idea of being served just ONE of them, and imagining a chef trying to dress a SINGLE one. It was actually not my most favorite of all seven courses, but if you gave me a plate of these, it would be very, very good. I don't remember exactly what it was but it was like braised rib meat with mushroom. Mostly savory with no real contrast.
- Second course was a nice Asian-inspired fusion of flavors with a tempura buried in strands of a veg. Nice combination of cohesive flavors and texture.
- Third course was a super-small piece of foie gras, surrounded by a similarly-sized apricot and some greens on top of a paste and drizzled with a champagne reduction. Lots of flavors here and what looks like the first of the rest of the courses with what looked and tasted like Brussel sprout leaves.
- Fourth course was a piece of stingray. Never had stingray before, and the sauce it came with was slightly salty and savory, which was nice.
- Fifth course was two lambchops and probably the largest amount of food for any of the courses. More Brussel sprout greens on top of a turnip mash, if I remember right. This was nice, meaty, and delish. Weirdly enough, it also had a touch of leek ash... literal ash. Not really sure why other than for presentation.
- Sixth course was an aerated cheese foam with honey, nuts, all sitting on croutons. This was weirdly one of my favorites, as it was such a simple dish where you could enjoy all of the flavors distinctively, not to mention enjoy a foamed cheese from Quebec.
- Lastly, the seventh course was a sort of torte with a crispy leaf pastry thing sitting on top of slivers of pear and what was kind of like a pear "applesauce" with a divot to hold a pistachio filling. This was also one of my favorites as everything was different from each other, flavor-wise. Very nice.
- We also got some little pistachio "muffins" with a coffee-like cream on top as a bonus. Not bad, but not amazing.
There is also a VAST wine selection, ranging from $15 glasses to $6500 bottles. I feel bad that I'm not a wine sommelier to be able to appreciate all of the expressions and vintages.
This may seem like I'm being picky, but I'm doing that on purpose considering you would be paying $150 for food you may or may not enjoy. I still highly recommend the multi-course meals at least once to experience them.
They also charge $11 CAD for sparkling or flat water.
Definitely would come again!