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| - My summerlicious lunch was my second visit here, the first being a regular dinner last year. This gave me a chance to see the kitchen at work under different conditions.
Splendido deserves recognition for participating in the summer (and winterlicious) promos, which would be called "restaurant week" in other cities (3-course meal for $25 at lunch and $45 at dinner).
I tried much of the promo menu options. Everything tasted amazing, but the portions were such that if you are used to a big midday meal, you may want to supplement (and there were some choices available for $8: frites, green beans, and one other). I started with a salmon sashimi, then black truffle agnolotti as my main (delicious, but only 8 small half-raviolis as a main was a little small). The other option, a sea bass, was equally good (and equally small). Lots of flavor and meticulous plating - works of art.
The Desserts reminded me how one shouldn't fixate on menu descriptions in fancy restaurants (what sounds like a side turns out to be a dot from a squeeze bottle). The panna cotta portion of that dessert was the size of a twoonie. Same with the apricot mousse, so don't stress much over the dessert choices, they are all fine.
Everything came with lots of herbs or greens and decoration, so it is absolutely worth it for the theatre and quality, but just don't skip breakfast if you go for summerlicious lunch.
2015 edit: happened to be in area, and just popped in to see if I could dine at bar. It happened to be summerlicious time again, so I got the $45 dinner with a Manhattan cocktail for $10. My impressions from the last review still hold true. The foie stater on this menu in 2015 is an absolute must. The mains are not as impressive as the "killer app(etizer)", and don't ask me why they'd want to highlight the small portion of steak by pressing it all up to the side of the plate (see picture). Still amazing presentation and service from my friendly bartender.
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