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| - I went to this restaurant for Winterlicious 2012 and was thoroughly surprised by what a deal everything was. If you're unaware about Winterlicious, it's basically a prix-fixe event held across Toronto, where certain restaurants offer a full course meal. My friends and I went to Portico for $20 lunch and still now, in late March 2012, the best $20 I have ever spent. We also added a wine bottle because my friend was coming out-of-town, so it was a special occasion for us. Our hosts were: Cheryl, Mary and Rene.
My three course meal included: [Appetizer] Crab and avocado, roasted red pepper, garlic shrimp, seedlings, ginger carrot vinaigrette; [Main] Wild mushroom, asparagus and brie Risotto, parmesan cheese; [Dessert] Black pepper and rum panna cotta, mango chili sauce, fresh fruit salsa.
Oh man, this was the first restaurant I ever been to, where I actually wish we could just go back in and try the menu again but pick different things, literally reliving each memory of taste I ate. Ridiculously amazing. For the longest while, I couldn't decide which part of the meal was my favourite. All three parts were that good!
The garlic shrimp was perfectly cooked (not too overly cooked, not too raw), and the crab/avocado combination was just flavourful and it felt like the perfect seafood explosion. Just enough of everything, where the avocado wasn't too strong to overcome the crab flavour. Admittedly, I'm not a rice fan, but I decided to risk it because I love mushroom, I love cheese, and I like asparagus, but omfg, the risotto had so much mushroom flavour. The rice was melting in my mouth too! How is that even possible?! My parents always overcook the rice, or undercook the rice. The mushroom flavour was all over the rice, rich and creamy. But remember how I couldn't decide on which part was my favourite? The dessert was my favourite. I've never had black pepper and rum panna cotta before. My friends opted for safer chocolate-y options, but I risked a little, and man, thank God I did. The panna cotta was spicy (black pepper!) but creamy (reminded me of egg/milk pudding), and it just slid into my mouth. The mango jam part was the strangest thing, I've never tried anything like it before, but with the black pepper panna cotta, it was legit. Everything matched so well together!
The service was pretty awesome!! When my friend and I went in, they offered to take our coats, which was surprising, because we were only there for Winterlicious after all, and though we are annual/semi-annual @LiciousTO customers, no restaurant has ever offered to take our coats for us. So major points for that. And then the woman sat us down and offered us sparkling water, which had fresh fruit in the jar, which was weird, because as uncultured people, the water didn't taste much different, but then as the lunch went on, I -did- notice that the water tasted sparkly with fruit taste! Yay!
Anyway, all in all, fantastic experience, and I would definitely go there again. The atmosphere was very soothing too. Bar just around the corner. Small restaurant, but delicious A+ food!
(P.S. I swear I am not paid by the restaurant. I'm just a very satisfied Winterlicious customer. My friends can vouch for me!!)
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