Winterlicious review: Canoe

Canoe

66 Wellington St. W

What a perfectly wonderful and romantic way to cap off my Winterlicious extravaganza! Like everyone says, Canoe is absolutely amazing. And given the restaurant would usually set you back much more than the $45 Winterlicious menu, there was no pretentiousness at all ---the servers were uber friendly, offering us a seat near the window with an extraordinary view from the 54th floor of the TD building. It made for a perfect combined early Valentine's Day and belated anniversary!

The dimly lit interior and plush benches and chairs add to the completely romantic ambiance of the wooded and natuaral decor. To help set the mood even more,  the restaurant offered special Winterlicious priced wine- starting at a completely reasonable $40 a bottle, or wine pairings for each course for an extra $15. The menu honours local Canadian cuisine, much like its cousin Bannock (also one of my top restaurant picks of 2011). 

It's regional-focused appetizers are delicate deconstructions with many combinations of taste to play with. You may not be able to tell what the main element is here, but I had the Northern Woods mushroom and potato terrine, it came with truffled cauliflower puree and hen's egg gribiche ---woo that sounds like a complexity of flavours and it sure was. Each component was a very strong taste and it was interesting to mix and play with them.

Joe had the chilled slow cooked heritage salmon with radish emulsion, mache and a maple sherry reduction--whew also a mouthful of deconstructed tastes.

My main was absolute beef heaven on a plate --tenderloin and a few short ribs on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes  with a rich gravy and an onion marmalade that paired wonderfully with the perfectly medium rare tenderloin. A notable mention goes to the few glazed carrots on the plate for a bit of veg.

Joe went with a flaky and delicate pan friend Great Lakes Wallleye, with wilted greens and skillet potatoes, accompanied by a smoked mustard sauce.

Cheeses, rather than sweets, are my weakness, so when they're offered for dessert, why not? The plate had small portions of three Canadian cheeses-- a blend of super aged cheddar, creamy goat cheese and a hard cheese that was tasty but I can't recall the name of. It was served with pretzel toast and squash compote.  I was a bit disappointed the waiter didn't go ahead and let us taste all three like I've heard some other diners have been treated too. Don't know what you have to do for that. But Joe's was also quite good as well--- birch syrup cake with a bacon caramel crunch toffee along with white chocolate ice cream and ginger foam. Mmmmm.












As mentioned in my Winterlicious preview, it's a time-consuming endeavour to get Winterlicious reservations at Canoe, they have a seperate phone line set up and even then you get the busy signal the vast majority of times you dial. Thank God someone tipped me off about using an Amex card to be able to call two days in advance of everyone else. If you're looking for Winterlicious reservations at this acclaimed resto make sure you plan well in advance!