The migraine was starting to move in, so I forgot to even bring my camera, but fortunately, our dining companions had gamely brought theirs! So we have a few photos to share.
But sorry, back to Lucien. The dinner was absolutely amazing. We've read some fairly mixed reviews, but it was voted one of the ten best restaurants last year by Toronto Life, so were game to give it a go. I am so glad we did, and I can't wait to go back.
For a starter, I began with roasted Ontario asparagus. It was amazing. Gently roasted, with a balsamic reduction and goat cheese, rolled in flax seed. I am sorry I can't give you a better description, or a photo, but believe me, it was amazingly good. G had the king crab and scallop with heirloom carrots, coconut powder, black bean, and toasted corn. She said it was amazing. Our friends ordered the grilled octopus with fingerling potato, house-made chorizo, pimento and olive. The chorizo was phenomenal. Spicy and meaty, some of the best I have ever had.
For my main, I had the fried organic hen with buttermilk croquette, creamed collards, and roast onion gravy. I will confess that I ordered this because it sounded so good in the review on Toronto Life... It was amazing...
That's a weird version, but I cut myself out of the photo (oh really? you couldn't tell?). The bit in the middle is the chicken breast which is lightly coated and fried and on amazing potato-y bread-y cake. To the right of it is the chicken leg confit with onions. That little purple onion looks quite gross, but the meal was amazing. On the other side is the greens with the buttermilk croquette. The croquette was great, when you broke into it, it was filled with buttermilk. Really really nice.
G had the Alberta bison striploin. It came out very rare, not at all medium, but the kitchen graciously took it back and browned it up...
You can sorta see it... Anyway... we had red wine. Hee hee. Really, though, G's dinner was quite nice. She greatly enjoyed it.
Our friends both ordered the pickerel with spiced chickpea, broccoli "marrow", serrano ham, and idiazabal. They said it was really nice.
The food had some molecular gastronomy touches, but wasn't over the top. Everything just had amazing layers of flavour. It was some of the best food I have had in forever.
Dessert. I don't have a picture of P & M's dessert. I don't even remember what it was, really, some sort of parfait or something.
I had the chocolate complex which is a chocolate selection from around the globe with individual items to dip the chocolate in. It was so unusual.
It was so amazing, and I just wanted to close my eyes and keep trying. Under the balsamic vinegar is an olive oil. I really enjoyed the chocolate dipped in the olive oil. Really interesting.
G had the cheese platter and she said that all in all it was good, but that she didn't have any idea what the cheeses were because they go through it so quickly.
Yep. That's a bunch of cheese.
Really a great dinner, and I totally enjoyed every second of it. G raved, as well and P&M seemed a-okay with it all.
All in all, for the price, the restaurant was a complete steal. I can't wait to go back.
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