| rev:text
| - Went to this place on the basis of Yelp reviews and the fact that I wanted great food but not necessarily the Canoe or other super-fine dining experience. Also, I love the buzz of Kensington market.
I certainly got buzz. Upon entering, my server told me that they were expecting an anti-horsemeat protest in 30 minutes and that they wanted to warn customers who might want to reconsider. "Neigh," said I. "Feed me." (Okay, I didn't say neigh but it's a better story that way).
Small place - main floor of a house. Kinda like Grandma's, if Grandma lives in the south of France. Dining alone, I sat beside the bookshelf and browsed through a book on sausage-making while watching the show unfold outside.
Staff was young and friendly. The owners were also bouncing around putting up counter-protest signs talking about their commitment to sustainable food and opposition to speciesism (why horse and not other critters?) in the planters in front of the restaurant.
Naturally, the complimentary amuse bouche was a horsemeat tartar canape - it was very nice, lean, tender, and a bit sweet.
I had the prix fixe menu (about $30) for appetizer, main and dessert
(about 4 choices for each).
Appetizer was a sunchoke soup. It was lovely and creamy - best thing I had eaten on a long, cold, drizzly day. Topped with crunchy ground up hazelnuts (toasted? sauteed?) and fresh parsley.
Main was the duck confit. What I Ioved about the food in this place - evident in all the dishes but especially in the duck - was the effort to provide a balance of contrasting flavours and textures in everything. The duck was rich and tender, contrasted with slightly al dente lentils and maple roasted root vegetables. It was excellent.
Dessert was creme brulee - part of my hunt for the perfect brulee. This one was mostly excellent. Creamy, nice flavour and texture. Perfectly caramelized topping. The one criticism I have (and this may just be a personal quirk) is that the creme was fridge-cold in places not heated when the sugar gets torched. Do they teach this in culinary school? Keep the brulee in the the fridge until the last moment? Imagine how much nicer the creme would be if it was a warmish, unjarring, uniform temperature all the way through. Aside from my extremist views on the dessert, this was a wonderful meal. Highly recommended.
In the end, the horse protest provided some interesting street theatre (horse head costumes and ketchup -- you figure it out), but was pretty feeble all in all. Staff was vigilant to make sure customers came and went unmolested.
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