This was my favorite meal of my entire trip through Toronto. Not only are the views amazing here, but the food is top quality, and the price you would pay to take the elevator up to the tower anyway is dropped (however, the meal isn't cheap, so it all sort of evens out).
We decided to do brunch here on Sunday, instead of coming for a dinner, because we were told the reservations had to be made at least a week in advance and it was too difficult to plan our schedule that way. I'm actually glad we made that decision, because I got to try one of my favorite dishes which probably wouldn't have been offered on the dinner menu.
The setting here is fantastic. The dark wood tables, and very open layout are so friendly to the eye, and then you've got the great views of the harbor to accent it all. The waitstaff is also one of the best I've encountered, and they weren't shy about taking pictures with each of our 10 cameras (I'm sure this is quite a regular request here).
I chose to go with the 3 course menu instead of the 4, as I didn't think the amuse bouche they were offering was worth the $12 difference in price, and after seeing someone else who ordered it I'm pretty sure I was right.
My first course was the tarragon infused, wild mushroom and leek broth, which featured summer chanterelles, truffle oil, and scallion threads. This smelled amazing, especially if you love the earthiness of mushrooms, and the flavor of the broth was very nice, but the textures were way off. To start, the overall lack of mushrooms was a big disappointment. I think there were only 4 or 5 in my bowl. It was however LOADED with scallion bits, entirely way too many in my opinion, and the textures were too firm. The guy sitting next to me went with the poached shrimp "cocktail" with Mary rose and cocktail sauces, and included 5 huge, perfectly cooked shrimp. I was quite jealous.
For my main course I could not resist the spinach and berkshire double smoked bacon quiche "lorraine" with sweet potato fries, frisse salad and cherry tomato vinaigrette. This is one of my favorite ways to prepare quiche, and it's so hard to find one that is really well done, because most restaurants do it as an afterthought. It was absolutely flawless (check out the pictures, it's oozing deliciousness). The mix of ingredients was perfect, and you could taste every ingredient quite distinctly. This was by far the best quiche I have ever had, anywhere. The sweet potato fries were also done perfectly, and people at the table had a hard time keeping their hands off my bowl.
Desert was a bit unusual, as I don't typically go for it at lunch, but I must say what I ordered I was pleased with, especially considering the heavy options that others at the table chose. I decided to go with the warm apple and bitter cherry tart, with puff pastry and vanilla ice cream. The flavors were great and light enough not to make me want to crawl into bed feeling bloated after. The cherries were especially nice, and went brilliantly with the vanilla.
You can definitely drop some cash here. The wine list is probably the best I saw in Toronto, and they have some seafood "towers" in the hundreds of dollars, the likes of which I've never seen anywhere else. Of course, it's a perfect date restaurant if you're trying to impress, just try to make sure you stay looking at each other and not the awesome view the whole time. read more