It was my sister's birthday several days ago. Last week, I decided to take her out to dinner at Canoe to try their vegetarian tasting menu. Canoe has a new tasting menu every season, with a vegetarian one available on request. I've been to Canoe so many times yet I never had a tasting menu there before. It was a great experience. Definitely would want to do it again. The servers were so attentive, friendly and knowledgeable in everything on the menu. Next time I go I want to try their current tasting menu - "Taste 60th Parallel". I think it was just released this week. Last week our server was telling us about a fish on there that has never been served outside of Northern Canada/the Territories.
I LOVE the bread here. They make it in-house, and the spread that comes with it is always delicious. I don't remember what this one was..I know there's chickpea in there and something else. So good. I ate too much of it though..I ended up getting quite bloated halfway through our meal.
I always look forward to the amuse bouche at any restaurant. I love how it's presented. This is ricotta cheese, honey, edible flowers, and I forgot what else..it was delicious!
Next was the "Northern Woods Mushroom Soup" with morel mushrooms, balsam fir creme fraiche, and toasted carmelina seeds. First you get the bowl with mushrooms in it, then they pour in the soup. It tasted like they used a LOT of mushrooms to make this. Very good but the portion was a bit too large.
BBQ Tofu with pickled 100km vegetables and tapioca crisps.
The Intermezzo (I totally forgot what this was)
Cauliflower Risotto with roasted, raw and pureed cauliflower, sweet peas and favas. This was our favourite. It was most likely the best risotto I've ever had.
Classic Canoe Butter Tart with smoked vanilla cream, flax seed nougatine, rye and ginger ice cream. The butter tart was very sweet and so filling. Our server has been working at Canoe for 14 years so far, and said this is one of his favourite butter tarts they ever made. Apparently the butter tart is always on the menu (while the other desserts change every few months or so), but every new pastry chef changes it up and makes their own variation of it.
Lastly - the petit fours..chocolate-dipped chips
Open kitchen
Ending the meal with a green tea
The view
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Wednesday evening consisted of drinks and dessert at Canoe, then a tasting menu dinner at Stock
Screech Sour + a (virgin) Raspberry Mojito..yum!
As you may know, I LOVE Canoe's desserts. They had a few new ones on the menu, including this one - "Preserved Seaside Strawberries" (with Black Sesame Chiffon, Jasmine & Mascarpone Sorbet). It was soooo good!! Definitely my favourite dessert I've ever had at Canoe so far. I'll probably order two next time I go.
Milk Chocolate & Kernal Peanut (with 46% Milk Chocolate, Banana Butter & Caramel Ice Cream).
I took like 5 photos of it but somehow all came out blurry.
St. Honore Cheese (Pasteurized Cow’s Milk from the Eastern Townships of Québec)
Vegetable Spring Rolls (with Kozlik’s Mustard Plum Sauce)
Afterwards, it was time for a late dinner at Stock - located on the 31st floor of the Trump Hotel. I have eaten here a couple times in the past. While the food was good, I always thought it was a bit overpriced for what you get. A few months ago, Stock was taken over by Oliver and Bonacini (of my favourite restaurant, Canoe ;), so we went to try the tasting menu. We each got a 4-course meal for $95 + tax, which is definitely worth it and I recommend going for that rather than ordering a-la-carte. The chef prepared this menu especially for us, so I think some of the dishes (like the steak tartare) are variations of what they have on the regular dinner menu. I was extremely full by the end of it though, thanks to the pre-dinner desserts from Canoe!
We started off with an oyster amuse-bouche. That was literally my first time eating an oyster.
(I'm not really into seafood, but it wasn't bad)
Ahi Tuna
Intermezzo - sea buckthorn and green sorrel
Steak Tartare - this was my favourite! There was some caesar salad mixed into it.
For the main, I got the Kale & Ricotta Ravioli (butternut squash, marcona almonds, brown butter)
My friend had the Roasted Chantecler Rouge Chicken (spiced cauliflower, edamame, truffle)
This dessert was really sweet but I loved it - Poached Pear & Stout (Guinness gingerbread, Bailey’s cream, brandied toffee)
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Last Thursday night, I went for a dessert tasting at Canoe. A friend of mine who also frequents Canoe knows the chefs there, who got them to organize a special dessert tasting just for us. All the desserts we tried are still unavailable on their menus (except the Japanese Rice Cake). It was a great night! I met some new friends and had a 6-course dinner of all desserts at one of my favourite restaurants, with the perfect view.
My friend and I were the first ones there.
Robert Gonsalves is the pastry chef there. After he came out to introduce himself and explain a bit about the desserts, we started with the first course.
First Course: Floating Island (with poached meringue, roasted rhubarb and pistachio cream). I really loved this one, just wish it was a bigger portion.
Second Course: Baba (with lemon sabayon, poppy seed cream, fennel pollen meringue). I loved the meringue. The balls were filled with/soaked entirely in Screech Rum. They were way too strong. I was only able to eat half of one.
In between the courses I took more photos of our beautiful view..
Third Course: Apple Verrine (with poached green apple, iviore emulsion, cinnamon crumb). Everyone loved this one. It was one of my favourites as well (I love all apple desserts!). A variety of textures and temperatures combined to create a delicious dessert which tasted similar to apple crumble - only better!
Fourth Course: Japanese Rice Cake (with Okanagan hazelnuts, green tea custard and red bean sherbet). I believe this one is currently available to order on their menu. This was another favourite of mine. The "rice cakes" are nice and chewy.
Fifth Course: Canoe Chocolate Bar (with puffed rice, banana butter and smoked marshmallow ice cream). The smoked marshmallow ice cream was my favourite part. I didn't like the rest of it too much. It's very very very chocolatey (& I'm not really into chocolate)
Sixth Course: P.F (with white chocolate & black fig mendiant) Loved these macarons!
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