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| - Much anticipation as we finally found a night to try out this newish restaurant opened from a partnership between a member of simple plan and Chef Hakim (runner up from Quebec's version of master chef).
The decor was very well thought out. Bar on the main floor, restaurant on the 2nd floor. Open concept dining room with the kitchen in full view and another central bar station right in the middle. There were seats at both the kitchen and at the bar which could allow guests to meet the staff in a more personal way.
Service started out a bit with a hiccup as our table was not ready. However, the waiters were very accommodating and made sure we were attended to at the bar while waiting.
Great selection of cocktails and wine by the glass. We opted to try a bottle from our waiter's recommendation after telling him our choice of dishes. He seemed to know his wine list fairly well but we unfortunately didn't enjoy the wine he had suggested. (A bottle of Pinot from Finger Lake NY, highly reviewed as I did some research afterwards, but a bit disappointing since we were told that the taste was similar to a Pinot from Burgundy which was not the case).
As for the food itself, we ordered from a short yet quite complete menu.
For starters we had the scampi raviolis, lobster bisque sauce as well as the risotto with rock shrimps, basil butter and celery-root in its appetizer size.
The ravioli was good but not memorable, the bisque was on the heavier side and the lobster got lost in it.
The risotto was very tasty; the use of celery-root in its base definitely freshened it up and paired well with the fragrance from the short grain white rice.
For mains, we ordered the roasted scallops with cauliflower, dried duck, lentils and
orange-curry dressing and the piglet from Gaspor served with sweet potato, nappa cabbage, cromesquis, mushroom relish and five spices glaze.
The scallops were cooked perfectly, very much enjoyed everything on the plate but did not taste at all the curry.
My boyfriend, being the bacon lover he is, really enjoyed the piglet. The skin was really crispy and had a thick layer of fat underneath (a bit too thick for my liking). Again everything paired well together but I can't say I could distinctively taste each separate ingredient.
The dessert course highlighted yet again their creativity. All the items listed mix sweet with savory in combinations that almost make you hesitant to try. However, do order dessert! The odd combinations were excellent. The rosemary mousse with little black olive cookies was divine! Best dish of the night for me. We also had the lemon onctueux with dill and fennel but the lemon overpowered the other ingredients (it was good but tasted like a lemon sorbet, not velvety smooth as the description made it seem).
All in all, it was a quite enjoyable experience. All the dishes were enjoyable and some surprisingly unexpectedly good. However, they could be a bit more bold with their flavors overall. Seemed like they wanted to kick up the creativity by mixing unusual ingredients together but tiptoed a bit around it. Total came out to just over 250 with tax and tip. Not a given, but worth the splurge once in a while.
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