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| - Actinolite is tucked away in a not-so-foot-heavy-traffic spot on a residential corner. I had read some reviews about it and had been excited to check it out. So I grabbed my partner in dine and we headed over for a Tuesday evening dinner.
The place was relatively full for a Tuesday. The vibe reminded me of a rustic, high-end cottage with it's dark green walls and wooden decor. The restaurant is so-named for the chef's hometown. So with that said, an overall homey feeling as opposed to a trendy/hip spot to hang out.
As usual, we opted to share several of the dishes.
I started with the Leather Jacket, a cocktail composed of Calvados, rum, lemon juice and simple syrup. When I saw the size of the cocktail, I was a little miffed, but when I sipped it I realized that if it were any larger I'd need to call a taxi. This was served with a slice of apple as garnish.
My partner in dine had a glass of white wine. I must say that the wine menu is a bit scant (if you're ordering by the glass) and it didn't feature a whole lot of Ontario wines either.
I must say that the kitchen was very nice to bring most of the dishes out in separate plates (e.g. they split them for us) so that we didn't have to cut anything thereby ruining the presentation of the dishes.
At one point the chef personally came out to speak to us as he saw us snapping photos and took an interest in finding more about where it'd be posted (if at all, this was probably around our 3rd course).
Housemade bread was brought out for the table and it was delicious. It was a traditional Italian loaf and a very crusty bread. The earlier you come, the warmer the bread FYI. I devoured the entire bread basket by myself (just to give you an idea as to how good the bread was).
To start we had the Chantarelle Mushroom Soup with truffle oil and parsley. This was a very flavourful soup and the truffle oil was definitely the dominant flavour. A great way to start off the meal.
Next came the Winter Pear Salad, with winter greens, pear, and oyster mushrooms. The salad was beautifully presented and the pear was very crisp.
The third appetizer we opted to share was the Slow Roasted Shrimp + Chicken with smoked pepper sauce. This was probably my favourite dish as it was extremely flavourful.
We opted to share the Grilled Ontario Skirt Steak with broccoli + potato leek purée. I must say the cut was not my favourite as it was a tough cut of beef (relatively). The potato leek purée however was rich and creamy.
We decided to skip dessert as none of the offerings (Sticky Toffee Pudding, Chocolate Mousse nor Cheese Board) appealed to us.
The damage at the end of the day was about $60 each. I didn't leave feeling particularly full but my appetite was satiated because the food was prepared well.
I left with a feeling of indifference. I dine out not infrequently as a food blogger and the dishes were not technically flawed, nor off in terms of flavour but there was just nothing that particularly wowed me in terms of creativity.
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