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| - Canoe fully lives up to both the value, service and creative ingenuity that people, I think, should expect from a restaurant that boasts as high-end an atmosphere and image (and of course price point) as Canoe does. There are plenty of restaurants that charge as much as Canoe in Toronto, but I am not sure I have been to one that does everything from start to finish as well.
The food, while delicious, is probably also at least in part unfamiliar, something for which I'm willing to shell out extra cash--you're not just paying for the execution of the food but for the excellence and sophistication of the menu and for a new experience. I took my friend for her birthday and we both had the "Taste 60th Parallel - Land of the Midnight Sun" tasting menu. It was a brilliant meal!
The starter, "unknown fish," was soft, accompanied by a thick cream and caviar to provide great variety in texture.
Next was rabbit agnolotti--fresh, tender pasta, along with foraged mushrooms, caribou moss (the "caribou" qualified is just the name; it's straight-up moss), and some emulsifying creaminess.
Entrees: my friend got the arctic char, which had a delicious crispy crust on it, and I got the wild caribou, which was juicy, perfectly seared, and had a rich gaminess to it.
Dessert: "Frozen Tundra"--a totally crazy but amazing dessert. Wild honey mousse with berries encased in an inukshuk-like construction of sweet roasted-marshmallow-flavored shards (no idea how they created these--they looked like pieces of very thin Styrofoam). I'm not a dessert person but this was out of sight.
The meal was finished with a taste of sweet-and-salty chocolate bark with a woody-flavored jelly on top. A great way to finish off an amazing meal. The chef or team who put this menu together (not sure if it is John Horne, the exec chef) is outstanding; not only was each dish incredible but all of the courses felt so well planned in terms of variety of flavors and textures. Both my friend and I left feeling we had really been given a new experience.
Of course Canoe offers safer options, which are also excellent and come with their own innovative touches. But if you want relatively familiar food that attacks all the right mouth-feel satiety buttons (fat, sugar, salt, etc.), you may not feel like you've gotten your money's worth re: food at this establishment--and there are plenty of other places that will push those buttons at a lower price.
I'd be remiss if I ignored service and ambience. The staff here are for real. They're great at what they do and maintain a great balance of being approachable but professional. You feel taken care of and they always go the extra mile. The view is famous at Canoe and it never disappoints; the general atmosphere is unpretentious and warm. You feel like you're at a high-end restaurant (shout out to the super fuzzy seats--I was petting them all night) but unless you're in your sweatpants, you won't feel like the expensive lighting is judging you.
Alright, that's enough fawning over Canoe for one day! If nothing else, my enthusiasm speaks to the quality of the experience there. If you want to go baller for some exciting and genius fine dining in Toronto, Canoe will not disappoint!
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