Showing posts with label lobster ravioli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lobster ravioli. Show all posts

Visa Infinite Dinner: Alder Ft. Fat Rabbit (Toronto)

It was an excellent idea to start off the evening in Evangeline, the Ace Hotel’s rooftop patio, as it created a casual beginning. A tray of cava awaited as I exited the elevator and while mingling in a room of strangers, it felt like I was there for a dinner party.

Trays of canapés flowed throughout including a delicious rabbit croquette wrapped in a green goddess salad leaf. The pea and strawberry tart was sweet, tangy, and savoury but a bit too floral so the jamon Iberico became lost. Many dashed for the oysters topped with caviar and crème fraiche, alas once I got one mine was gritty. Yet, I was so chill and relaxed that I didn’t care nor wanted to take photos… at last, I ate first.

Drinks were flowing with more cava and two Herradura tequila cocktails available around the hour. The strawberry and shisho Cointreau mix sounded refreshing but was too sweet for my taste. As was the “cabana cocktail”, a concoction of tequila, cacao bitters, vanilla, coconut oil, toasted coconut, and wildflower honey.

But at least it got everyone buzzing. By the time the Herradura rep explain their logo, an inverted horseshoe, represented pouring out the last drop of luck for their customers, I felt like Don Draper was in the room.

Dinner was served downstairs in Alder and soon generous pours of Pearl Morissette wines came by. It made my evening hearing they were supplying the drinks as the limited bottles rarely circulate outside their winery aside from some Toronto restaurants.

Alder’s first dish was a hit. The Hokkaido sea scallop and sea urchin featured two barely cooked through poached scallops, shaved in half and served with smoked buttermilk that had a tartness that’s like adding lemon to seafood but finishes with a rich creamy touch. The uni was flown out the day before for the dinner, balancing the dish with sweetness.

Fat Rabbit’s beef tartare included honey and golden raisins, which gave it a sugary taste. The addition of pickled vegetables helped bring out some acidity, but it was the mint and cilantro blossoms that added a brightness that impressed.

I can see why they left the tartare less salted as the breaded and deep-fried Guernsey Girl cheese it sat on top was savoury. It was just a waste as it wasn’t hot, so the dairy felt hard and rubbery. A great idea to feature local ingredients from the Upper Canada Cheese Company, just not showcasing it at its best. 

Alder’s lobster raviolo was so good. The bisque-like sauce was bit salty, but the pasta was cooked to perfection and stuffed with large chunks of lobster, each bite bursting with flavour.

While the roasted pork collar was meaty and almost like a pork loin, it was a tad tough and likely would be better cooked as slices rather than a huge steak. Perhaps Fat Rabbit wanted something that would hold up against the spicy aji amarillo sauce? We all agreed the pancetta wrapped shrimp stole the show and would have been happy with two of these served with more vegetables.

A generous slice of coconut cream pie finished the meal; its crust made from toasted coconut meringue so it’s crumbly and a bit nutty. Despite not being able to finish my pork, I happily consumed the entire slice.

Since hearing about the Fat Rabbit, I’ve always wanted to try the restaurant. This Visa Infinite dinner was a nice compromise before heading out to St. Catherines. Chef Zach Smith also announced a second restaurant opening sometime in the late summer or fall. The fat rabbit becomes a warren. 

Overall mark - 7 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 51 Camden Street


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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


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Osteria Giulia (Toronto)


While Osteria Giulia has been awarded a Michelin star, it’s unlikely they’ll receive a service award anytime soon. Having arrived five minutes early, they weren’t ready to seat tables and we were asked to leave – no option to wait inside or at the bar, what a pain during a windy cold fall evening. Nonetheless, once we were seated, our waitress was warm and welcoming, making up for the poor first impression from the hostess.

Luckily, the food didn’t disappoint. The burrata e caviale ($45), although served a bit cold for my taste, was soft and fluffy, the centre creamy but doesn’t ooze out upon being cut through. The simple starter was a cacophony of flavours mixing briny Italian caviar, sweet Asfodelo honey, and a smoky sourness from the Blackbird bread. That splash of sweetness from the honey was unexpected but absolutely made the dish.

Pull apart the calamari ripieni con tonno ($36) before taking a bite and you’ll find the delicate seafood stuffed with yellowfin tuna paste so there’s a meatiness to each bite. It’s topped with a puntarella and charred pepper salad, giving the calamari a refreshing crispy bite. I’m glad it wasn’t overloaded with too many sauces so that the natural seafood flavours were present.

In retrospect, the lorighittas al mare ($38) was too similar to the calamari. In fact, when the dish was presented, all I could see was a plate of squid rings, only to find many were circles of hand braided pasta. Our waitress explains what makes the dish special is the time intensive nature of creating the pasta, which did have a lovely bite to it. Everything is tossed in a tasty olive oil sauce with a hint of garlic, chilli, and an umami essence from anchovy. I just wish the dish had more of the bay scallops and even some spot prawns thrown in to make it taste more like a seafood pasta.

I’m generally hesitant to order ravioli as it’s usually a scant dish and when they are not adequately filled it can taste like you’re eating pieces of dough. Osteria Giulia’s ravioli doppi ($44) smartly has one side unsealed so they can be overstuffed with silky ricotta and sauce, so you get a gush of filling with each bite. Chunks of lobster and kernels of sweet corn add richness and texture to the dish. It was an impressive dish and the most memorable of the evening.

If you’re visiting the restaurant and expecting to be full after an appetizer and pasta, you’ll be disappointed. Following true Italian traditions, the pasta is just the second course, you’ll need to order a main. We shared the rack of lamb for two ($85) and were presented with eight perfect medium rare lamb chops that were lightly dusted with sea salt. While this would be even better if it was served with a sauce, to give it interest, the meat was prepared beautifully.

The fagioli ($16) went particularly well with the lamb, the crispy beans well coated with a salty spicy meat sauce that added a punch of flavour against the otherwise neutral lamb.

With a selection of delicious sounding desserts, I opted for the millefoglie al cocco ($19), which was beautiful to take in with the thin layers of crispy pastry separating dollops of white chocolate and mango cream. It’s a dessert that could have benefited from being served with a knife, as it was difficult to break through the puff pastry.

Every table needs to order the tiramisu alla Giulia ($19), a rendition of tiramisu that brings it to another level with the ice cream centre and huge dollop of mascarpone and rum zabaglione on top. It was so rich and delicious… how can I have tiramisu any other way?

Osteria Giulia gets mixed reviews online and I can see why: what you order and how much you order can really affect the experience. While it’s a great Michelin option for those who have a smaller appetite or want the flexibility of controlling a budget for the evening, the restaurant should consider making a tasting menu to ensure tables get to really experience all their “best of” dishes – the ravioli, burrata, and tiramisu.  

The restaurant is certainly one of the more inventive Italian restaurants I’ve visited in Toronto and offers some impressive dishes. Still, there’s something about the experience that’s lacking compared to other Michelin restaurants in the city such as the absence of well-rounded service, not serving fully presented mains, and employing annoying nickel-and-diming practices like charging $3 a person for water. Unlike their ravioli, it’s not one experience I’ll be gushing about. 

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 134 Avenue Road


Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


Is That It? I Want More!

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Blue Cilantro (Grand Cayman)

Blue Cilantro Cayman Islands


If you’re looking for a posh restaurant, Blue Cilantro fits the bill: thick white linens and shining silverware all swathed in an azure blue, so it’s almost like you’re dining in an aquarium – a fancy one, of course. We sat in the solarium at the front, which was lightly air conditioned so we wouldn’t freeze in our dresses and cover-ups. The setting was tranquil, yet offered some people watching capabilities as it overlooks a busy main road.

Being a fine dining establishment, Blue Cilantro presented the customary complimentary bites: an amuse bouche of smooth pureed cantaloupe topped with crispy plantain chip and selection of fairly sweet chocolates at the end.


Two plump ravioli (CI$14) arrived in the appetizer portion – they looked great with a fairly thin pasta and glistening sauce. Indeed, the buttery pumpkin chorizo sauce even tasted good, with the truffle oil emitting a decadent scent. This dish could have exquisite if it weren’t for the overcooked lobster inside, robbed of its sweetness and reduced to what tasted like pieces of eraser.


Similarly, the yellow fin tuna (CI$14) appeared fantastic with its carefully placed mico herbs and artfully chosen colours. Yet the fussiness over powered the fish: shichimi spices, sweet pomegranate seed, pickled cabbage, horseradish cream, fried jalapenos and dashi! All great tasty ingredients and if limited to a few would have been delicious, but with them all was excessive for me.


It was the simple clay oven breads (CI$8 for four flavours) that finally satisfied.  A cross between freshly made naan and laffa, they are thin, smoky and chewy then enhanced with other ingredients.

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With a variety of options to choose from, we tried many from the “stuffed” series: the pepper jack cheese (very difficult to not like melted cheese and bread), black forest ham (micro-fine pieces of the salty meat paired nicely with the pineapple chutney), and Yukon gold potato (incorporated some curry and heat, but I added extra jalapeño chutney to it anyways). The sole unstuffed bread was the roasted garlic, which was tasty, if not a tad oily, but went well with the sweet tomato relish.  

Wanting to end my last Caymans meal with more seafood, the Asian aromatic seafood (CI$39) main sounded like a blessing: a mix of lobster, scallops, shrimps, clams and mussels?!


Overall, like most of Blue Cilantro’s dishes, it presents better than it tastes. The young coconut broth promised hints of Thai, but really ended up being a sweet sauce that lacked other aromatics despite being a reddish-orange hue. Thankfully, the seafood was cooked adequately (although the shellfish needs to be soaked longer as the mussels and clams left a grittiness) and there was a nice selection to accompany the sticky sushi rice.

In the end, as I said, if you’re looking for a posh restaurant, Blue Cilantro has all the elements you’re seeking: fancy tableware, hushed attentive service and a serene environment. But, if you want to taste skillfully executed dishes it hasn’t hit the mark. After all, with the promise of lobster ravioli, glistening tunas and a seafood cacophony; it’s a tad disappointing when the most impressive dish was bread stuffed with potato, meat and cheese.   

Overall mark - 6 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman
 Address: 1 Gecko Link (Fidelity Financial Center)

Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this: