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| - Went for Winterlicious 2018 for a somewhat interesting menu. For apps, I got the Hamachj Sashimi compressed pineapple with passion fruit purée, dehydrated smoked chilli and horseradish, and my friends both got the Pork Belly & Shrimp with grits, tomato, hickory sticks and scallions. The hamachi was nicely sliced, good portions (5 pieces) and tasted fresh. I like sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce but with these extra toppings, I didn't really "get" how the flavours go together because I didn't enough of it. Too much fish to the toppings, which isn't such a bad thing! I couldn't taste the pineapple with passion fruit, but each component tasted good individually. I didn't get the smoked chilli or horseradish. Might as well been just the hamachi! Could've used salt and acid if I didn't get any wasabi or soy sauce. I tasted some of the pork belly, way too fatty. And the grits were bad, like too mealy. Not even seasoned.
For mains, we each got different things. I got the grilled Ahi tuna with orzo, sundried tomato, olives, roasted red onions, basil and olive tapenade. My friends got the Roasted Duck Breast (duck confit), squash risotto and braised apple and the venison loin & croquette with roasted carrots, king mushrooms, and Saskatoon berry compote. The tuna was nicely seared and still raw in the middle but it looked like it was sweating when I got it, meaning it must've sat for a bit. Slightly overlooked. The orzo was a bit chewy but well seasoned. The olives and olive tapenade was good by itself but made everything way too salty. The tuna was salty too. Kind of disappointed because I love tuna! The duck confit was alright, not the best I've had but cooked decent. Well seasoned. The venison and croquette was probably the best of the 3 dishes. Venison was cooked nicely and seasoned well. Surprisingly not too gamey as it sometimes tastes. Went well with the berry compote, it cut a lot the gaminess. The croquette was pretty good too, it tasted like venison but ground up and mixed with breadcrumbs and seasoned well too!
Finally for dessert, we got the Egg nog creme brûlée with spiced shortbread cookies and apple cider donuts with chantilly cream and honeycomb. The creme brûlée was very "egg nogey", had that nice sugar crystallization layer you break with your spoon. The creme was tasted and was spiced as well. The shortbread was dry and I didn't taste any spice. Was it bought at a store? The donuts were small like timbits and so dry, not good. Tim Horton's timbits are better!
Overall, the food was just average. For the price $53 for a 3-course meal, not bad considering it's Mark McEwan's restaurant and the location. The presentation for each dish was top notch though. The menu sounded interesting but was not very executed well. The service was slow too. I felt like the time between each dish was like 20 min. That's way too long. And there were not even free bread to start! Other fine dining restaurants at least have free bread. Come on Mark! Don't be a cheap ass! My friend also got the mixed fruit cocktail. It looked like it was juiced to order because it had the foam that comes with after juiced. She said it was sour. That info probably should've been on the menu or provided by the waitress. The decor was nice. Each table was nicely spaced out so you can't even hear your neighbour's conversation. Lighted dark so it's romantic. They validate your parking so that's a bonus.
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