Berserkers,
Fellow board member Jay Shampur and I dined along with a friend of his at The Harbord Room in Toronto. Chef Corey put together a fabulous tasting menu for us as follows:
Artisanal heirloom tomato bisque with creme fraiche, parsley oil, compressed basil, vegetable chips and seafood fritters as our starter. This was a delicious fresh and creamy soup full of flavor with a great contrast provided by the chips and fritters.
Roast halibut with compressed pear, wild vegetables and vegetable chips was our next dish. The halibut was almost like a steak, it was so full of texture and savory flavor.
Roast vegetable and shaved grilled octopus salad was our intermezze. The octopus was shaved paper-thin which was incredible and blended beautifully with the roast vegetables. The vinaigrette provided enough acid to cut through the richness while the briny saltiness of the octopus savored up the dish.
After the octopus and veggie salad, out came the two heavy hitters for our main events:
A lightly smoked salmon on top of a parsnip puree. Absolutely delicious, it tasted like cold smoked salmon but had the texture of a perfectly cooked tuna that was just seared and not fully cooked throughout. Fantastic.
Partridge au jus and foie gras terrine with roasted lightly pickled heirloom vegetables. By this point, Jay and Chris were far too full to take on this course. I am a growing boy and need my protein. Their loss. 
This was incredible. Partridge is usually too gamey and chewy, but this was moist, tender and flavorful. I suspect a brining before cooking. Very well done and extremely satisfying changeup in the proteins.
For dessert, stewed wild plum and sorbet made from the same plum served with a side of chammomile custard, sponge cake underneath, and pistachio crumble on top. The custard is in the little white pitcher beside the bowl.
This was a fantastic tasting menu that I must admit outdid the fantastic tasting menus I had recently at Los Colibris and OPUS here – and you saw how fantastic those were from my previous posts. Can’t wait to go back.
FYI, a special Restaurant Porn coming this weekend as I will be doing an incredible 15 item tasting menu at Splendido. Stay tuned!
Looks good. Wines? Corkage?
Oopsie. Corkage is standard $30 corkage fee per bottle as already mentioned by a previous poster. We brought 3 wines and purchased one off of the wine list:
Chateau de Bligny NV Champagne Rosé
Jay’s contrib. Dull salmon pink color, this sparkler was a bit odd. It tasted pretty much like a yeast soda with some alcohol to it but once you swallow there’s a bit of a perfumed strawberry flavor on the finish. Did an excellent job of cleaning the palate out but only because it was killing the food flavors dead as opposed to complementing any of the items. I’m normally pro-sparkling wine with most food but this one really made me reconsider that. Bummer.
Marcel Deiss 2008 Burg
Jay’s contrib. Extremely elegant Alsacian blended white wine blend of Riesling, Gewurztrainer, Muscat, Sylvaner, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. Off-dry, it is sweet but not fat with a very light body and pristine structure. Lots of honey, melon, and ginger flavors. The only of the three table wines to match perfectly with all five savory dishes. An accomplishment of a wine and easily my favorite of all three Deiss terroir wines I have tried to date (Gruenspiel, Grasberg, Burg). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Domaine Pavelot 2011 Savigny Les Beaune
Jay’s pal Gary’s contrib bought off of the wine list. A very young Pinot that needed a decant and I believe was opened too young. However, this went very well with the seafood dishes and was outstanding with the smoked salmon.
Maculan 2007 Torcolato
My contrib. Made from dried Vespaiola grapes hung from the rafters of drying rooms in tightly tied spirals or “torcolatos” hence the name. Very much a Sauternes without botrytis. Loads of peach and apricot flavors up front, caramel hits you on the back and lingers in a nice long finish. Excellent white passito style wine from Italy. RECOMMENDED
