Alex W.
Google
Located in a charming renovated church, The Table Culinary Studio is PEI’s offer of fine dining, a weekly changing prix fixe 7-course menu, aggressively sourced with in-season and fresh local ingredients.
The building itself is very charming, giving both a rustic yet contemporary feel. The interior is tastefully decorated, and guests dine on quality solid wood tables, on custom made ceramics, and with shiny polished cutlery.
Service is smooth and excellent, and the courses are prepared and plated in view of guests in The Table’s open kitchen. Executive Chef Hunter prefaces each course with a succinct explanation of the dish and its associated wine pairing.
Halibut - halibut fritters, lobster roll aioli: the starting deep-fried halibut fritters had a delicate dill/lemon flour crust, and the interior of halibut and potato mash had excellent taste and texture. The lobster aioli had a perfect balance of flavor and color between its minced chives and lobster roe. Fantastic start.
Peach - peaches, tomatoes, ricotta, honey, peppers: the house-made ricotta, honey, and (what I assume were) flash-pickled peppers provided the perfect gastrique base for this light and welcoming dish. The peppers were a standout, being both sweet, yet hot and acid from the pickling. Tomatoes and peaches were perfectly ripe and enjoyable. The only nitpick I would have is sometimes the peppers would have a hit of too much acid, overpowering the other flavors of a dish.
Lobster - buttered lobster, turnips, squash, lobster leg garum: an enjoyable enough dish, but in my opinion the weakest offering of the night. My dish had very little sauce compared to my tablemates, and from what little sauce I had, the beurre blanc and lobster leg garum did not come through for me at all. The turnips and squash were very fresh, but the turnips were slightly under-roasted. The lobster was cooked very well and had a sweet fresh flavor.
Squash - delicata squash, honey, pumpkin seed pesto: another stand-out dish. The squash was roasted and seasoned to perfection, I could’ve easily put away 3 more dishes of this course, plain squash alone. The pumpkin seed pesto also had a perfect balance between the honey, basil, and pumpkin seed flavor, and was very enjoyable to accompany the squash. Amazing what can be done with immaculate produce!
Broccoli - agnolotti, island feta, broccoli: this dish did very well on the theme of broccoli, and the roasted broccoli florets complimented the pasta very well. The feta filling was bold and flavorful, with a delightful gritty texture, and the broccoli stood up to it very well. One nitpick would be that dish was served in thin pasta water mounted with a bit of butter; more could’ve been done with this. An enjoyable dish.
Beef - blue dot striploin, carrots, hunter sauce: the cut of steak served was of excellent quality, cooked to temp in a sous vide and finished in a fry-pan, basted with butter. The amount of time and temperature searing was a bit long and cool imo, as a thin gray ring did develop, and sort of defeated the purpose of sous vide. The dish came with both roasted and pureed carrots. The puréed carrots were delicious and pleasing, herbed with tarragon. Some of the roasted carrots were a bit under-roasted, but the natural sweetness of the carrots more than made up for that. The hunter sauce was absolutely delicious; it was made with shiitake, and the umami from the shiitake and beef broth really came out strong. Fantastic dish overall.
Corn (dessert) - gin & blueberry poached Asian pear, corn & sweet clover ice cream, honey granola: the pear fell really flat in my opinion; the fruit was very one-note, tasting only of blueberry. The ice cream was fantastic, and had a perfect balance of corn and clover flavor.
I really enjoyed what The Table has to offer, and I would give 5 stars for the whole package, taking into account service, presentation, and atmosphere. In terms of food alone, taking into account the price, I would rate 4-stars, as some dishes strive for but don’t reach excellence. Will return next season!
