| rev:text
| - I went to Le Fantôme last night with 2 friends. The atmosphere was interesting and the service good, but the food, while good, wasn't very creative or exciting and the unpleasant surprise of a "fixed experience" and the portion size left us underwhelmed.
THE ATMOSPHERE:
Blackout blinds, dark walls, bare concrete pillars and a mass of melted candles set the tone as you enter the dimly-lit restaurant. The decor evokes an industrial grotto, or perhaps a trendy dungeon. House music plays in the background at a very reasonable volume.
THE SERVICE:
The waitstaff are attentive and know the menu well. The interactions are more cold than friendly, but the food and drinks are brought promptly.
THE FOOD:
The menu is a fixed tasting menu with two options: small tasting menu (6 course 45$) or the full tasting menu (8 course, 60$), with the possibility of adding the signature foie gras peanut butter jelly sandwich (PBFGJ - 15$) which they recommend to be split between a few people. Our biggest issue came when we wanted to order: we were told we all had to order the same menu. We thought this was a joke and 1 person in our party who was less hungry tried to order the small menu, and we were told this was impossible. We argued that each person should be allowed to order in accordance to their level of hunger, but they went on to explain that this was against their philosophy that everybody should be served at the same time. I don't know about you, but I've never felt upset at a restaurant when another person got more food then me. They remained inflexible on this, and so we all opted for the small tasting menu, but we ordered different things and got to sample every dish on the menu.
Other reviewers have done a better job than I of finding adjectives to describe the portion size (minuscule, microscopic, insultingly small). The staff know the portions are small, and even let us know we would not be leaving the restaurant full, even with the $60 tasting menu. Here is the food I got, along with the approximate portion size to give you an idea of how small they are.
-Foie nem -- 15g
This amuse-bouche was a tiny spring roll, tasted mostly of the lettuce in it; nothing exciting here.
-Beet salad, with creme fraiche and shaved Italian truffles -- 35g
Tasty, nice presentation of yellow and red beets, but nothing new.
-Charcoal-grilled lobster with kombu sauce -- 40g
Most creative dish of the night, but a bit underseasoned and the lobster took on an undesirable sooty flavour from the charcoal.
-Shaved asparagus al dente in butter -- 75g
Best dish of the night for me. Simple, fresh and perfectly seasoned.
-Poached halibut with BC morels -- 100g
This dish arrived slightly cold. The fish was perfectly cooked, but the sauce it came with was rather thin and left the dish lacking in depth.
-PBFGJS -- 200g
Another great dish, split three ways and shared between us. The homemade brioche and the intersection of salty, sweet, and fatty make this a decadent and delicious dish. Compared to the rest of the menu, this is both the largest portion and the most reasonably priced option.
-Salted chocolate mousse with dehydrated crepes and chanterelle mushrooms -- 100g
I personally liked this dish, though the rest of my group did not. I liked the saltiness of the mousse and the delicate texture of the chanterelle mushrooms.
For what it's worth, we ended up going for burgers and fries after leaving.
OVERALL:
This isn't the only restaurant that serves tiny portions of foods with fancy ingredients and you probably get what you pay for. What really ruined the experience for us was the fact we weren't allowed to order what we wanted. It seems absurd to us and ruined the experience the restaurant seemingly cares so much about. The restaurant has potential but, given the price point, wouldn't be on the top of my list of places to try.
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