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| - I've ridden my bike by this place dozens of times and always thought I should stop in and give it a try, so last night I took my lady there and it didn't disappoint.
We got there just shy of 6:30, which meant that we could get their Prix Fixe menu from Summerlicious.
The two appetizers we got were the smoked trout with avocado on sourdough crostinis and a chilled cucumber and dill soup. I hate cucumbers, so I can't comment on the soup, but the trout was excellent and the presentation was gorgeous. Bonus marks here for them using the herbs from their own herb garden. It's neat to see the chef pop out of the kitchen and come back a minute later with a handful of various leaves.
For our main dish, I got the cornish hen on mashed potatoes with some lightly stewed veggies, and she got the angus steak (rare) with roasted veggies. The cornish hen was amazing, and the vegetables still had a bit of crunch, which I think is key (soggy and limp vegetables are awful). The only downside I think was that the presentation was a little sloppy, but that's a very minor point since the flavour was great. The steak was still a bit tough, and slightly overseasoned, although it was cooked to the right temperature. Not sure what went wrong here - maybe it was just a tougher cut of meat than it should have been). Presentation on this dish was not a problem - looked great on the plate.
Dessert was the lemon curd with berries and home-made vanilla bean ice cream with berries.
The waiter, by the way, doesn't fancy himself a bartender, but made a nice vodka martini for me and a very strong sour apple martini for the lady. Kudos to him.
If I could, I'd give this place 4.5 stars, but the slightly tough steak and slightly sloppy presentation on the cornish hen bring it down a bit for me. Nevertheless, this is right up there with Olivia's on Clinton as the best dining I've had in Toronto.
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