Winterlicious 2005

Ok if I keep this up, I'd prolly gain back the 10lbs I've lost (if i haven't already) and then some! But It's all SOOOOO gooood!!! And you guys know me; I can never give up good food @ good prices, and with good company. (Even if I am basically broke; $25 dollars for a desperately needed pair of jeans? meh, I'll wait, the holes @ the crotch aren't that noticeable just yet. $40 bucks for dinner? sure why not, lets :P) I'm already waiting on Summerlicious, mind you I should probably start saving now. And Canoe will definitely be one of my top picks. Con we should go for your birthday or something!! I don't think I'd mind paying full prices. Its just that good!!

Forget advertising, I should be come a food critic...

*****

Fred’s Not Here
321 King Street West
$20 Dinner

Grilled Thai Chicken with Noodle Salad
Great way to tantalize the taste buds. Light tangy sauce complements well with the grilled chicken and gives the vermicelli noodles some life. Perfect portions.

Slow Roasted Confit of Duck with Lemon Thyme Risotto
Mmmmm....fall off the bone, tender and soft, duck thighs...all two of them....Aauugggghhh...Was well paired with risotto. It basically soaked up all the juices from the duck. The side of baby spinach was alright though the bottom bits were a little salty. Other then that, it was good.

Fresh Strawberries & Mini Chocolate Squares with Sabayon
Good, but a little too heavy in my mind to end a meal off with.

Overall - love the "casual but fine dining" atmosphere, and the service was relatively good.
**** out of 5

*****

The Strip House
11 Duncan Street 2nd Floor
$30 Dinner

Strip House Caesar Salad with Grana Padano
I guess it was rather uneventful. Just strips of romaine lettuce with cheese. Nothing special.

Lobster Thermidor Baked Stuffed East Coast "Hard Shell Canadian" Lobster with Shrimp & Crab with Chef's Rice & Baked Provencal Tomato
Pretty good for Canadian style baked lobster. (For those who don't know, I'm Chinese enough to only like lobster tossed in the wok with green onions, ginger, garlic yadda yadda yadda. And the fact that Red Lobster sucks.) But I must say, this was good. The lobster, shrimp, and crab was perfectly combined together. Enough that they mingled well together as one, but was still distinguishable as individual pieces (pretty decent sized pieces might I add). Lobster was great, but the side of rice needs work, after all sides should never be just an after thought.

Strawberry Cheesecake

....and sooooo full....Oh damn, we still have dessert....Mmm...Cheesecake....soooo creamy....owwww....sooooo fulll.....definitely struggling....It was probably good....but I can't critique on it...cuz it'd be unfair, especially when your struggling to finish it....

Overall - I guess I was disappointed with the ambience. I mean it was a nice place, but it was rather small. And I guess it just was not that special. Pretty good service, 'cept maybe for that certain someone...Anita, I'm crossing my fingers that I don't get him as our server when we go to Filet O' Fish, I mean Filet of Sole ;)
***1/2 out of 5

*****

Canoe
54th Floor, TD Bank Tower
66 Wellington Street West
$30 Dinner

Canoe Citrus Cured Salmon & Mahone Bay Scallop Cocktail
This was beautifully presented and I must say, I was pretty impressed. Each salmon piece was fresh and firm. Complementing sauce was light, mildly sweet and helped enhance the natural flavors of the fish. Scallops were a little tiny, but was also quite pleasant with the same sauce. It was good.

Brouiled Whitefish with Fanny Bay Oyster Chowder and Tarragon
The fish was sooo tender and full of flavour. Sat quite well with the oyster chowder. And they didn't skimp on the oyster and scallops either. The few random baby potatoes soaked up all the excess flavours from both the fish and the chowder and it was gooooood. Perfect proportion.

El Rey Chocolate Ganache Cake Spiced Fruit Compote & Roasted Almond Ice Cream
I've been saying this all the way through the meal, but this WAS SOOOOO GOOOD!!! Chocolate Ganache, perfect way to end a perfect meal. Not too sweet, and not at all heavy. Paired well with the Roasted Almond Ice Cream that kept the cake moist. Berry sauce and paper thin candy sheets dressed it up quite nicely.

Overall - Ok I'll admit, I could be biased about the whole experience, mainly cuz it was sooooo perfect, sitting up 54 floors high, in a nice fancy place, all dressed up, sitting across the sexiest man on earth. (Well, he ain't Paul Kariya, but he'll have to do. LOL :P) ANYWAYS...where was I? Oh right, this place was perfect, the service was awesome, and the atmosphere...delightful.
Like I said, I could just be biased, but mind you, Canoe ALWAYS gets booked up for Summerlicious & Winterlicious. And they purposely open during weekends just to fill the demand.
***** out of 5

*****

Filet of Sole

11 Duncan Street

$20 Dinner

Grilled & Thai Beef & Calamari Salad with Lemon Grass

This dish was mediocre. The Thai beef was a little over cooked which made it rather chewy and dry. The calamari was alright and was presented quite nicely over a vermicelli salad.

Seafood Pasta - Grilled Lobster, Baby Calamari, Gulf Shrimps, Mussels & Clams with Spinach Ricotta Ravioli, Roma Tomato Basil Sauce with Seafood Essence

Initally impressed with the dish, served with half a lobster with a few mussels. However, when it came down to it, the lobster was over cooked and the mussels...err lets just say they were rather tiny and flavourless. Clams? I don't think I saw any clams. All in all, the ricotta ravioli was good. Soft and sweet with the tomato basil sauce. (But then again...I've always had a thing for pasta...)

Daily Fresh Fruit Ice with Strawberries
What can I say, ordinary fruit sorbet. Meh.

Overall - Ok, I don't want to be mean and slag the place, but the point is even though Winterlicious serves discounted meals, it's basically a way to promote your restaurant so that people can sample some dishes and would be willing to come back next time around paying regular price. But when you have mediocre service, (when it feels like the server really doesn't want to be there to do his job, when he gets orders wrong, when he doesn't even bother to smile.) the restuarant has a problem. And its not just the server/waiter, it goes for the receptionist on the phone, who not once, but twice sounded very annoyed when answering questions and making reservations. I agree, it can be a stressful job and bad days come about, but damn its customer service. I'd also have to say, that I give props to the manager/supervisor/probably owner of the restuarant. He was quite pleasant throughout the experience at The Strip House, and at Filet of Sole. Nonetheless, I'd probably not go back.

*** out of 5