It has been a while since I have dined at Cluny, and I am very happy to say that the offerings here have improved with the recent arrival of their new executive chef Murray McDonald.
Being at The Distillery district, it is understandable that some people would think the prices are a bit inflated. Even so, I would argue that it is not by much. True, the food here is pricey compared to what you get at Mill St Brewpub just right next door, but you get what you pay for and the food is at a totally different caliber.
The decor here is extremely gorgeous, with a large outdoor patio, cosy bar area and a large dining room with a seafood station and a bread station.
For our visit, we had a large seafood platter - with whole lobster, a cluster of snow crab legs, oysters, mussels, clams, a plate of diced salmon with guacamole and escargot. It was definitely the star of our dinner there given how large and impressive this platter was. There was even dry ice in the middle and we were wonderfully entertained by the smoke that came out when water was poured down into it.
The bone marrow starter was wonderfully different than others I have had given that it was topped with escargot and was extremely tasty.
The goat cheese and fig was simply delicious and I would highly recommend it.
The Peruvian ceviche was a delight and colourful to look at, but was a slight miss given that it was perhaps a tad over-salted.
The gazpacho was light, refreshing and a get way to get your appetite going.
We had the char broiled octopus as a shared main dish, which IMO was a steal at $27.50 with other places charging as much as $60 for a similar portion. It could be a tad more tender, but I enjoyed it a lot nonetheless.
For dessert, we had a chocolate bomb which is cracked in front of you revealing a mango/passionfruit sorbet inside, along with chocolate sauce mixed with berries and pop rocks. I thought the pop rocks made the dessert interesting, and it was definitely neat to watch the shell crack open. But unless you are a huge chocolate fan with a lot of diners with you, I would perhaps not order this given how large it is.
Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Cluny immensely, and would definitely visit again.