Famed chef, Claudio Aprile's casual dining lounge is a dark and boisterous place, perfect for a Friday night out with friends. The room is sophisticated and comfortable while still accommodating a large number of people. I would not recommend it if you are looking for a quiet intimate dinner as it does get quite loud with all the happy diners and the eclectic music.
All dishes are served "tapas" style and are meant for sharing. This gives everyone a chance to sample little bits of a wide selection. Origin does remarkably well at mixing Asian and contemporary European flavours representative of Toronto's multi-culti palate. Their take on Bangkok beef salad as well as miso glazed black cod were outstanding. Many of the sauces struck the perfect balance of sweet/sour/savoury and were worthy of lapping up with a spoon or straight from the drippings in your saucer. Plate lickingly delicious!
Burata mozzarella atop eggplant and sweet pepper puree drizzled with a bit of basil oil bursts in your mouth with flavour and creamy texture.
Spicy Spanish fries and truffled popcorn were absolutely snackingly delicious, we could have spent all night just snacking on these two things alone.
Tuna hand roll
Suffice it to say that everything that Origin does has so many interesting flavours going on but never strays too far in over-complicating the food. One bite of anything and you feel satisfied with every chew.
Our one only put off is the strict adherence to seating times. I understand that restaurants depend highly on turnover but sometimes it seems too abrupt to end a superb meal to make way for the next reservation if there are empty tables around.
Nevertheless, Origin is fully worthy of the praise and many repeat visits.