Last night, I dined at Epic...the newish restaurant at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
Although Summerlicious was on, we decided to pass on it, and look at their full menu.
I asked the waiter for some kind of non-alcoholic drink (fruity, please) and he came back with the bartender's creation of a yellowish orange drink garnished with a lemon and an orange. It was quite pineapple-y, but wasn't bad.
We turned our attention to the "Water Menu". That's right. As a non-alcoholic, I was excited at the prospects of being able to sample some fine drinks. Sadly, the Swiss were not represented on the list, however I recognized most of the French and Italian labels. We ended up picking a sparkling Voss from Norway and a still Gleneagles from Scotland to start. Unfortunately, the water sommelier didn't come by to help us with our selections (we're thinking he wasn't working that evening).
I found the Voss very smooth. And for some reason, the Gleneagles was very filling. I think I've lost the taste of still water. Garnishes of lemon, lime, cucumber and ginger provided to be excellent. I quite enjoyed ginger in the sparkling water. It only accentuated the bite, and added that ginger essence that I have come to love.
We were given a Black Bean and Mango Salsa with a small tortilla which was quite delicious to whet our appetites and the bread was quite nice as well.
My appetizer was a Yam and Vanilla Bean Soup with Mascarpone Cheese Infused with Ginger. The mascarpone was delicious. It was quite a large bowl, and it got quite rich by the end. It was quite nice, but I think I would have enjoyed a smaller bowl with a thicker soup.
We were out of the Voss, so we decided to sample the Galvanina Blu. I thought this one had more bite, but the bubbles were so small you couldn't feel them.
My entree was Jumbo Gulf Shrimp served with Pineapple, Mango and Purple Potatoes. The shrimp wasn't anything too special, and it was such a weird contrast to how filling my appetizer was.
My dessert selection was rather limited due to the overwhelming choices with an alcoholic content. I didn't feel like asking if anything could be made without the alcohol and I didn't really need to because I was quite happy with my selection of a delicious chocolate cake served with a scoop of ice cream (don't remember the flavour - it was something unique I'm sure...but the flavour wasn't overpowering, hence not remembering what it was). The cake had the most gooey filling and the chocolate was fabulous (hey, I know good chocolate).
Petit-fours weren't too special - a pistachio biscuit, macaroon and a chocolate with a disappointing centre.
Our waiter was very pleasant and the service was quite nice. From looking around at the platters presented to Summerlicious diners, it really showed that you really don't get the chef's best food with that deal. An enjoyable meal, but next time might just sample a few appetizers and skip the entree, drink some great water and have a delicious dessert.
3 comments:
cronch I looked it up. They did a mini-interview with the water sommelier, Christophe Le Chatton, in the May 2005 Toronto Life. Actually though I think he was the general sommelier at that point and he just established the menu, and then I guess he left (note the current sommelier *did* drop by and check on us).
and the menu said there was a tea sommelier too (o_O) but didn't name him/her. For a place that explicitly serves afternoon tea, and employs a sommelier of tea, they had a pretty small selection (<10 varieties).
her cake was just a molten-center chocolate cake. Same overdone thing that's been on Toronto menus for a few years now. I will admit the chocolate was good, but not good enough to elicit the ~10 "this is sooooo good" exclamations that it did.
oh and the blue-bottled stuff you were talking about is Ice Age (I think, I saw it at Dominion last night). And the dude's favourite waters in the interview were Badoit (sparkling) and Voss (still).
Whatever...the cake was DARN good.
The blue-bottled water I was refering to was actually the Ty Nant. I saw a picture of the bottle on the net and recognized it immediately. I did say that the name looked familiar...now I know why.
I'll be sure to get a whole bunch of bottles of Badoit when I'm back in Europe. They really aren't that special (unless this one on the menu was a special kind).
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