Trio Restaurant

Date Visited: Dinner on Wednesday Jul 22, 2015

Company: +Will

Trio Restaurant in the Novotel Hotel in North York was the restaurant my friends and I decided to go for our usual Summerlicious meal. However, Stanley got delayed on his flight from New York so we unfortunately had to cancel that dinner. I discovered that Novotel is actually attached to +Will's place of work though so we could still check it out ourselves another night since I was in town for Wayhome the next day. Helpful thing to note is that they will validate your parking if you use the hotel garage below the building!

The restaurant was very empty when we arrived but looked extremely classy with lots of sun shining in. We took a look at the menu and ended up both getting the exact same things. We started off with the 5-Hour Pulled Pork with caramelized onions and a Canadian cheddar mac & cheese fritter on top. The presentation was on point for this dish, so pretty! There were a lot of flavours on the plate. I wasn't a big fan of the white ranch-like sauce on top as I  didn't think it went well with the pulled pork. Also the fritter was a bit too well-done to the point where it was hard. Unfortunately, it didn't impress me as much as the plating.

For my main, I went for the Grilled Sirloin on a Portobello mushroom on mashed potatoes and chimichurri with frizzled onions. The smell of the chimichurri was very potent, you definitely could smell the basil in there. I asked my steak to be medium-well but it was more well-done as there was no pink whatsoever and it was a tough to chew. Other than that, the rest of the dish was delicious. The portobello was cooked perfectly and the mashed potatoes were very buttery. Extremely filling!

Lastly was the Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse, it came in a cute little glass and was a nice amount to end the meal. It was very light and tasty. 

Food: 2.5/5 - Better than what you would normally find in a hotel restaurant, but could have been better.
Decor: 3/5 - Bright and classy, lots of tables. Very quiet when we were there.
Service: 4/5 - Waiter was kind and very professional.
Willingness to go back: 1/5 - Wouldn't come out of my way to return.
Overall: 2/5

Website: http://www.novotel.com/gb/hotel-0910-novotel-toronto-north-york/restaurant.shtml

Via Mercanti

Date Visited: Dinner on Thursday Jul 9, 2015

Company: +Will Ives 

So this year, I gave Will the job of choosing a Summerlicious restaurant for us to try! He decided on Via Mercanto, an Italian restaurant located across the street from Sick Kids Hospital that is known for its authentic pizza. I was impressed and excited to try this place, I didn't realize how close it was to us either so we could go again easily in the future. It was a sunny evening so the patio was packed by the time we got there, we also followed suit as the inside looked fairly empty. When we first got the menu, we didn't see any Summerlicious on there so we had to ask specifically for that. The service was a bit slow, especially with water and taking our orders. We decided on totally separate items so we could share our meal. 

For the appetizer, I ordered the Caprese Salad with Fior de latte cheese, Roma tomatoes serviced on a bed of arugula with basil dressed in extra virgin olive oil. It looked very pretty on the plate and a good size also. The ingredients were all excellent but I thought it could have used a bit more flavour as it was a bit bland. Will got the Rancino Di Riso, a rice ball with Risotto, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Peas, and Beef. I was pleasantly surprised how delicious this was! There was a ton of flavour in the ball and the consistency of the rice with cheese and beef was excellent. I definitely could have had a few of these. 

For my main, I knew I wanted to try their pizza but couldn't decide between the Vegetarian or Romolo's. I read that the Romolo's Pizza, a half tomato sauce, half olive oil with Fior de latte, Prosciutto cotto and Mixed mushrooms is one of their classic dishes so I opted for that and also because Will would be more willing to eat it (without the veggies). I enjoyed the tomato side better cause I'm not really a fan of the smell of olive oil and found it overpowering. Other than that, the dough was very crispy but a bit hard, I thought it could be a bit more chewy. 

Will went for the Faggotino Di Parma, Housemade pasta in a cream sauce wrapped in Prosciutto crudo. This pasta was delicious, the sauce was extremely cheesy and the prosciutto was amazing, there was a lot of it surprisingly! I did find everything a bit salty though from the excess of cheese, great dish otherwise.

Finally, for dessert I went for the Tiramisu and Will got the Chocolate Gelato. The presentation of the Tiramisu was excellent, the piece was kind of small but they sprinkled lots of cocoa powder to appeal to the eye. The flavour was great and the cake was very spongey and light! As for the Gelato, it tasted like chocolate, I don't have much else to add to that :)

Food: 3/5 - Not going to lie, my taste buds may have been a bit off due to a bit of sickness but found a lot of flavours more prominent than others in the dishes.
Decor: 2/5 - Didn't see much of the interior decor but the the outside was a bit difficult to find and the seats weren't very comfortable on the patio.
Service: 1.5/5 - Not the best, very slow.
Willingness to go back: 2.5/5 - Would give it another shot, had lots of good options on their menu.
Overall: 2/5

Website: http://www.pizzeriaviamercanti.ca/

The Teahouse

Date Visited: Lunch on Friday Jul 3, 2015

Company: Walk-in for 4

This summer during the Canada Day long weekend, I finally got a chance to visit +Will's hometown of Vancouver, BC. I was especially excited to try their restaurants as I was told they had amazing fruits and fresh fish! We tried to plan our days and meals accordingly to try some local spots as well as his family's homemade dishes. We had one morning designated for tandem biking around Stanley Park and co-ordinated with his brother Sam and girlfriend Beth to meet-up for lunch at The Teahouse, situated within the park. They were hanging out the beach just down the road from the restaurant and we were lucky that they spotted us biking up a large hill to get to there. 

We didn't have a reservation so they had to give us a buzzer to wait for a table as it was really busy. Luckily, the view and surroundings is beautiful to check out while you wait. We got a table about 20 minutes later and I have to say that the decor inside is equally as beautiful... There were a ton of windows to bring in light and even a sun room section of the restaurant. Teahouse would definitely be a good way to describe it or even like a fancy garden party, the crowd was on the older, well-dressed side. 

To start, we got some non-alcoholic drinks as they sounded really good. I can't exactly remember what I got but it was a Strawberry and Pineapple drink rimmed with Cinnamon. It was so refreshing and delicious, +Will wanted to order his own after he tried mine.

We were also given some fresh bread to start which was great because we were starving after a morning of biking. We also saw that they had a Charcuterie Board on their specials menu and decided to have that as an appetizer. It came with some mustard, salami, prosciutto, pickles, mustard, and crisps. Everything was delicious and had it's own character. The mustard was a big hit and the meat was extremely fresh. The crisps had some raisins to give it some flavour.

For my main, I couldn't decide between the Salmon Burger or Caesar Salad, I knew I wanted to try salmon since I hadn't yet while in Vancouver. In the end I went for the Salmon Caesar since I knew I would get full from the starter and drink. Sam got the burger so at least I could see what it looked like also. I was a bit surprised how thin the salmon was, especially on the burger, I thought it would be more like a steak. On the salad was fine since it is a lighter dish. The flavour really stood out especially with the way they cooked it, really crispy on the outside. The flavour of the dressing was on point as well and they didn't put too much on it. They left their leaves long on the salad which I do enjoy being able to cut them yourself with the fresh salmon.

Overall, a lovely lunch in a beautiful restaurant. Definitely worth the visit if you're planning a trip to the park and don't mind paying for a fancier meal.

Food: 4/5 - Extremely fresh, my dish was pretty simple though.
Decor: 5/5 - Loved everything about how this place looked :D
Service: 3.5/5 - Great service, pretty friendly waiter from what I remember.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Would definitely come back if I was in Stanley Park.
Overall: 4/5

Website: https://www.vancouverdine.com/teahouse

The Corner Place

Date Visited: Breakfast on Sunday Jun 21, 2015

Company: +Will

After an interesting night at the New Pornographers NXNE show at Yonge-Dundas Square, Will and I got up surprisingly early, hungry for some breakfast. Apparently it was too early for +Stuart, so we left him to sleep as we headed out to find a place to eat. I was around 10AM so I thought there wouldn't be a line at George Street Diner, but I was wrong. Next we went to try Le Petit Dejuner but it was randomly closed. We finally just kept on walking towards the St. Lawrence Market to try to find a place that was open. After passing the Jason George which wasn't open until 11AM, we came upon The Corner Place, somewhere I've never really taken notice of before. It was empty but they said they were open which was good enough for us. It was a bright and sunny day so we decided to sit on their beautiful patio overlooking the St. Lawrence Market.. 

Their board on the street advertised $3 Mimosas so we obviously had to start with one of those. They were a pretty good deal for the price, it was served in a champagne flute filled to the top and I've paid much more for a mimosa that size. It was delicious though which was most important of all. They had a lot of interesting options on their brunch menu, most containing a Mexican flair. I chose to have the Market Breakfast which was a Brioche with Peameal bacon, Fried Egg with Onion, Cheddar Cheese, Dijon, Tomatoes and Arugula. Our orders didn't take very long this early in the morning as the patio just started to fill up now. I loved the colours on the plate of my breakfast, it made me very excited to eat everything. The potatoes seemed pretty greasy but I like that they cut up bigger pieces of red potatoes. The brioche was quite the sandwich to try to eat, I didn't realize the egg was over easy so when I smushed it together, the yolk ran everywhere. I wasn't really expecting to get a sandwich in the first place when I ordered this but I was very happy with what I got, everything was cooked perfectly and good flavours. The fruits were a nice addition to have overall. 

I wasn't expecting much with The Corner Place as it was basically a last resort for brunch but I would definitely return! I was pleasantly surprised on how good our food was and at reasonable prices for the area.

Food: 3.5/5 - Lots of cool things to try here at good prices, especially drink specials!
Decor: 4/5 - Awesome patio for people watching.
Service: 3.5/5 - No complaints, really good.
Willingness to return: 4.5/5 - Definitely would come back for brunch or any other meal.
Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.thecornerplace.ca/about

Burger's Priest

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Jun 27, 2015
Company: Take-out with +Will Ives

+Will, +Alex, +Brian, and I had plans to see Jurassic World on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the Entertainment District before heading to a Birthday BBQ for the evening. After meeting at Scotiabank Theatre and seeing that our showing was sold out already, we decided to grab lunch before catching the next show. Will remembered that a new Burger's Priest had opened up in the area right by the Burrito Boyz/Smoke's Poutinerie building so we headed in that direction. Will and I went over to get burgers while Alex went to get a burrito.
Will and I climbed the steps and entered new and shiny new Burger's Priest location complete with a flashy sign outside. It had ample standing room on brand new hardwood and limited tables around the perimeter of the space. We walked up and took a look at the menu for a bit, I was a bit confused on what The Option and The Priest were. Apparently, The Option is two breaded and deep-fried portabello mushrooms with cheese in the middle. The Priest is The Option + a Cheeseburger which is what I ended up getting with a few more condiments. We found a table to sit at to wait for our burgers to be made... timing was an issue due to our movie so we headed straight back to Burrito Boyz once we got our orders. Surprisingly, Alex hadn't gotten his burrito yet... I thought ours would take longer but it must have took about 10 minutes (seemed forever!).

I unwrapped my burger to see a monstrosity of a thing to eat, I was dumbfounded on how to even begin the first bite! Nonetheless, I went for it, and it was amazing... cheese oozed out of The Option like lava... what a sight. Bite after bite, more cheese kept on coming out of no where, it was heavenly for me. I was very impressed on how contained and structurally sound the option was, hardly messy! The cheeseburger part was simple but also delicious, it was incredible how great these two paired up together. We shared some fries from Will's combo and they were pretty good too. Very standard but I enjoyed the size and soft texture, not so much on the crispy side.

I think everyone should try Burger's Priest, it's definitely worth the $10 you spend on the burger. I can't imagine coming here very often unless I wanted to become obese so prepare yourself for it!

Food: 4.5/5 - Wish I didn't have to eat it in a rush so I could savoir each bite!
Decor: 3/5 - Very clean and fresh, not much decor going on yet though.
Service: 3/5 - Wait time was pretty standard.
Willingness to go back: 2.5/5 - Worth bringing noobies to try it but I wouldn't regular the spot!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.theburgerspriest.com/

Kinton Ramen 4

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Jun 26, 2015

Company: +Will Ives 

Will and I had plans to go on an Escape Room double date in North York and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some good Korean food since we were in the area... little did I know that they had a Kinton Ramen down the street from where we were going! It also turned out that my dad brought back some take-out pork bone soup for lunch that day so I already had my Korean fix. I was very excited to try Kinton since I've heard the name so many times. 

The location looked pretty small from the outside and like your typical noodle bar. We entered to the staff yelling (welcoming) us in and were seated for two at the bar as the rest of the place was already full. It was pretty hot where we were as the staff was right in front of us preparing the soups. It was definitely interesting to see but it made a difficult to talk with all of their yelling. It was a fun atmosphere though and made for a lively dinner.

The menu is very easy to understand, they direct you step-by-step how to place an order and I went with the Regular Original Pork Broth with Thick Noodles and Pork Shoulder. We watched all the orders being made and it was fun being on the front line for that to see their process. I was a bit surprised on how fatty the broth was when I first got it, especially for a regular. Nonetheless, the broth tasted good, pretty rich. The pork shoulder was delicious, such amazing flavour with each bite! The egg was also cooked perfectly, still a bit runny on the inside. The noodles were also amazing, excellent quality and fresh. I can see why Kinton has built up such a good establishment, they really use the finest of ingredients.

Food: 4/5 - Excellent ingredients, only complaint is the fattiness of the broth.
Decor: 3.5/5 - Very clean and simple with wooden decor.
Service: 4/5 - Quick in turning customers over, fast to get the ramen.

Willingness to go back: 2.5/5 - Lots of options to try, would try to go to another location.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.kintonramen.com/

Arkadia House

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Jun 20, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 6 with the girls pre-bridesmaid dress shopping

In preparation for +Joslynn's wedding, the girls and I planned a date to go into David's Bridal to try on some bridesmaid dresses. Our appointment was just on a Saturday afternoon just after lunch so I decided to find a place for all of us to eat beforehand. While looking, I was pleasantly surprised at all the options I found, there were a ton of nice places to try in the industrial area. The bride made the final call in getting some Greek food.

We all met at the restaurant just before noon and the large restaurant was empty at this time. We got a big round table for 6 in the centre of the restaurant. We all admired the lovely decor and how fancy and cultured it looked. We got some bread to start as we checked out their menu. The butter we got was rock hard though so it was very difficult to spread over the bread. Most of us chose something from the lunch menu as the prices were cheaper than dinner and we probably couldn't finish all the food from a dinner plate. The waiter was very friendly and was attentive as he needed to be.

I ordered the Chicken Souvlaki with Greek Salad and Potatoes and the portion size was perfect. Everyone also thought the plates the food was served on was super cute. The chicken was very tender and juicy, great flavour also. I'm not a fan of very thick tzatziki sauce but the flavour was delicious despite this. The potatoes were pretty boring, not enough flavour and a bit dry. The greek salad was delicious, the dressing was thick, creamy, and rich if that's what you like! It was a good authentic meal at a reasonable price.

Food: 3.5/5 - Authentic and good flavours.
Decor: 4/5 - Spacious with lots of lighting and Greek decor!
Service: 3/5 - Really good, only a bit slow at the end to get the bill.
Willingness to go back: 3.5/5 - Would definitely go there again!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.arkadiahouse.com/

Portico

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Jun 19, 2015
Company: +Will

Will and I decided to go for a nicer dinner to catch up after a few crazy weeks. We've passed by Portico which is attached to the Cambridge Suites Hotel many times but have never eaten there. I was looking for places in the area and decided to make a reservation to check it out. It was not busy at all around 7PM on a Friday as I think we were the first ones there for dinner. The decor is very classy and has an atmosphere for finer dining, very fitting for the hotel scene. Their water is infused with various fruits which was pretty cool and different from the classic lemon water.

Their menu was pretty limited with only a few options and all on the pricier side. Once we ordered, we got some buns to start. We got about 3 which was an odd number, and all of them were different. Nothing to special about the bread, but they had two types of butter which were really good.

For my main, I had the Seafood Riscotto with Sautéed Tiger Shrimp, Sea Scallops, Sweet Pepper, Leek, Roast Tomatoes, and Garlic Lobster Butter. The plate was huge but the portion was smaller than I expected. I didn't love this dish, the riscotto was plain with just a tomato sauce and it could have been cooked more thoroughly. There were only 2 scallops which were overcooked which made them hard on the sides. The shrimp was really good and large but the flavour wasn't quite there overall.

Will ordered Portico’s Famous Pad-Thai, I had a bite or two but I could hardly find any noodles in there, lots of veggies! But the flavour seemed on point and Will enjoyed it.

By the time we were done, a few more people where there, mostly from the hotel as they seemed to be on business trips by themselves. The enjoyed the setting as it was very quiet and the waitresses were very attentive. Surprisingly good service!

Food: 2.5/5 - Not my favourite and a bit pricey
Decor: 3/5 - Super fancy and clean but a but too much so...
Service: 4/5 - Great!
Willingness to go back: 1/5 - Definitely wouldn't go out of my way to return, much better restaurants in the area.
Overall: 2.5/5

Website: http://www.porticorestaurant.ca/

NaRoma Pizza Bar

Date Visited: Lunch on Sunday Jun 14, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 5

I had a bit of a family reunion this summer and had a bunch of family members from out of the country stay at my house for a few weeks. My cousin +Mark decided to take our cousins from HK out for a hiking day trip in Hamilton to experience some Canadian nature. After being rained out, we headed into the city to grab some lunch. We picked NaRoma out of a list of restaurants from a blogTO article showcasing some of the best places to eat in the city. Parking wasn't too hard to find on Locke St. and we also saw a few shops to stop by after lunch (ie cupcakes!).

The location was a lot smaller inside than I expected with only about 8 tables and more of a cafe vibe than a restaurant. Our wait for 5 people was going to be around 10 minutes. Their menu was very intensive with a ton of different pizza flavours. We were a bit confused on what their 'sizes' meant and weren't sure if flavours meant we could try multiple on an order. We ended up getting 2 Coppia's (12 pieces) and only 2 flavours, but we could have tried 4 flavours which was unfortunate to find out after. Our wait seemed forever as we were starving from the hiking but the kitchen also seemed to take a long time. Every time I saw the cooks slicing up pizza I was excited but it seemed they had a lot of take-out orders.

Eventually, our pizzas did come fresh out of the oven and they were huge for the smallest sizes. Our first pick was the Brie e Prosciutto with Mozzarella, Triple Cream Brie Cheese, Prosciutto, Fig Jam, Caramelized Onions, Arugula, and reduced Balsamic. The Prosciutto was very crispy and you could really taste the Brie. The Arugula balanced nicely with the sweet Balsamic which was drizzled all over. I liked this the best, the flavours were equally distributed and tasted great together!

Our second pizza was the Vegetale with Mozzarella, Ricotta, Zucchini, Rapini, Red Peppers, and Garlic. The only reason I didn't enjoy this one as much were the Garlic patches, all I could taste was garlic after eating them. The flavours of the vegetables weren't as prominent, but it was more cheesy and bland. My cousins from HK preferred this one however while Mark and I preferred the Prosciutto.

I was very impressed with their pizzas, they are thicker crust and less cheese but were done excellently. The dough was delicious which is important in this case and they had a ton unique flavours for you to choose from, I can see why it's such a popular spot!

Food: 4/5 - Delicious and filling pizza.
Decor: 2/5 - Very small and hipster, set like a pizza cafe.
Service: 2/5 - Nice servers but slow!
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Definitely!
Overall: 3/5

Website: http://www.naroma.ca/

VIP Bistro

Date Visited: Brunch on Sunday Jun 7, 2015

Company:Walk-in for 3

+Stanley was in town for the weekend and we were planning to grab some brunch with him before he headed back to NY. I randomly looked online for somewhere we can meet mid-town, in between both of our locations. I found Vip/Vivetha Bistro online but it was a bit confusing as to what it's real name was as there are multiple locations and no website for this specific one. Nonetheless, +Will and I drove from downtown into a quaint neighborhood past Yonge and Lawrence to find it. We got some parking on a side street and had a nice stroll through the large houses in the neighborhood onto Yonge. We found the spot and saw that it is called VIP Bistro and even had a website on the sign. After checking the website just now, it is no longer active.

The place was pretty small with about 7-8 tables but was decently filled up. We sat and were given some menus to look over while our waitress asked what we wanted to drink. I was surprised that their food menu didn't have a page for drinks, I kind of wanted something but didn't know what kinds of juices they had. About 5 minutes after we placed our food order, the server came over to tell us that it would be about a half hour wait for food and asked if that would be okay... we said yes because what else are you supposed to say? Stanley already got his coffee so all we could do was wait. Looking around, only 1 table had their food so far so it couldn't have been good news for us.

For my dish, I got the Eggs VIP, Eggs Benedict with spinach and mushrooms with the eggs poached medium as they ask you how you like them done. I wasn't very impressed with the hollandaise sauce as it was very bland and hardly any of it at all. I loaded salt on the eggs to get some flavour as spinach and mushrooms were bland also. The potatoes were pretty good but it seems like they were sitting out for a bit, not that warm. It was a pretty disappointing plate overall and not even filling. 

Will got the Brunch Combo Platter with Blueberry Pancake, French Toast, Eggs, Bacon, and Sausage. He substituted Blueberry for Strawberry so they put some sauce on the side for him. The french toast and pancake looked amazing and were equally delicious. I've never had good french toast before but now I have, it being smothered in apple sauce really helped though. His other plate was also half-filled with scrambled eggs, no way that was only 2 eggs.

Our waitress did apologize for the wait when the food did come, she mentioned something about the cook... he was new or something? She didn't check up on us any other time though and just seemed to avoid the whole situation which was awkward because the restaurant is pretty small.

Food: 2/5 - Worst Eggs Benny I've had, but delicious French Toast!
Decor: 2.5/5 - Quite small but clean and simple.
Service: 0.5/5 - Awful, not sure what kind of business they are running here where the kitchen is this slow.
Willing to go back: 1/5 - Unlikely but would definitely recommend the Brunch Combo.
Overall: 1.5/5

Website: n/a

George Restaurant

Date Visited: Late Dinner on Wednesday June 3, 2015
Company: AJ's Convocation dinner for 6

Last week, +Will invited me to dinner with his family to celebrate AJ's convocation from Queen's U. They had recently found out about my food blog and Will advised me I would enjoy the restaurant they chose for dinner. He gave me the link and told me to check out their interesting cocktails. The location was walking distance from Will's and had a very cool exterior with large tall door. Upon entering, the decor was a bit more fancy but with a modest atmosphere. They had an open kitchen which we were seated right next to with a mirror on the ceiling to see the chef's working stations. There seemed to be a lot of students in the kitchen learning as well.

We were explained a bit about the difference between their five-course and seven-course tasting menu, each contains an amuse bouche, 1 or 3 appetizers, fois gras, a red-meat course, a cheese course and dessert. The Seven-Course Tasting Menu was decided upon and I also got the George - 75 Cocktail for a drink. The cocktail consisted of Tanqueray Gin, Aperol, St. Germain Elderfower Liqueur, Champagne, and a dash of fresh lemon juice. I hadn't really had anything similar to it before but it was very delicious, not too sweet and a bit tangy. We also got some interesting bread for the table to start with some crisps that were very oily but delicious and different breads on the bottom.

Our first dish was the amuse bouche, a bite-size hors d'oeuvre. Mine kind of fell apart while they brought it out so AJ switched so my photo would look better :) It was a mushroom puree on top of grilled eggplant and chipotle mayo with Plum relish. Everyone enjoyed the flavour and it got our taste buds ready for the rest of the meal. This is also when we realized that we'll have to take notes of our dishes as they were way too complicated to remember. Most of the table received wine pairings for each dish so it was interesting to hear the sommelier speak to each of them.

So when our first dishes came, we knew we were in trouble for remembering ingredients as they decided to do two different dishes for our table of 6. The plus side was that that we were able to try even more dishes by sharing. We received a Potato wrapped Tuna and Sesame Crab Cake with Lentil Salad. I'm not usually a fan of Tuna but this may have turned me into a fan, the middle was so soft and the potato exterior provided a crispy edge, great textures. The crab cake was not like anything I'd had before, very rich in flavour while the lentil salad provided good balance.

Next, we had Salmon Tappanyaki with Saffon in the front and White Asparagus and Peas in the back and Steelhead Trout with grilled white Asparagus. The Trout had an mild flavour as I've never had it before but I definitely preferred the Salmon, it was cooked perfectly and was presented with interesting ingredients. I was surprised how un-fishy all of the seafood tasted as they were mostly raw.

Our last seafood dish was an Octopus Carpaccio over a Radish Carpaccio and Butter Lobster with Sesame Soya Noodles and Tempura. I adored the presentation of the Octopus, it was like a drawing on paper, the flavours were light and refreshing. I was happy to see an Asian inspired dish with the Soya noodles, it was the heaviest of all our dishes so far but have a variety of textures to keep it interesting. 

Next would be our Fois Gras plates, and once again our Chef decided to be creative and make two separate dishes. One was the Duck in a Mint Crepe with Buffalo Mozzarella with Fois Gras on top and Tomato Foam and the other was a Fois Gras on Sweetbread. So I read and seen a lot of videos about fois gras before so I was both nervous and excited to finally try it. So the duck was basically raw which made it very difficult to cut through and chew. It was probably my least favourite dish of the night, there was just a lot going on on the plate. The fois gras specifically was extremely tender and melts in your mouth, it tasted pretty much how I'd expected. It made it a bit harder to eat just knowing so much about the controversies over it. A few bites were do-able but I didn't think I could eat it all. The second dish was served over sweetbread, which I just Googled now to find out what it was. I definitely thought it was just chicken and sweetbread was the coating they used over it. It tasted very good though and I'm glad I didn't know what it was when I was eating it.

Our peak of the courses were the red meats, I received a Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Asparagus and Sweet Potato while Will got the Beef Tenderloin with Cheese and Peppercorn. There was also some Pesto and Gnocci on the plate for sure but our waiter kind of stopped after the first part, I think he forgot what it was. Will and I were both happy with what we got so we weren't sure if we were going to do halfsies on this one. The Lamb was spectacular, pink on the inside but subtle flavour and so tender. The sweet potato were in sheets and stacked on each other, so creative and fun to eat, not to mention it accentuated the flavour. Will cut me off a piece of his steak, it was too rare for my usual liking but tasted pretty tender. The gnocci was an interesting addition but tasted great.

Our second last plate was cheese which is something I've never experienced before. This time they gave us three different types instead of two. I had the Pasturized Cow's milk with Apples and Pecans. The cheese was very creamy and thick almost like brie. The flavour was very tart so it was nice to pair with the other various things on the plate which were all generally sweet.

And finally, our desserts! We got three different ones again this time. Both Will and I were lucky to receive the Chocolate Souffle with Mandarin Tea! I thought at first it was Lava cake but once you broke into it, it was so soft, creamy, and held together. The Mandarin flavour was quite sour, all the sweetness was left to the chocolate. I didn't really enjoy the texture the cookie crumbs added to the plate, a bit unnecessary for me. I also tried some of AJ's Lemon Pie, it was so sour but actually tasted really good as it had equal sweetness, very lovely.

As an end note, I think everyone had a fun and enjoyable time at George Restaurant, I love discussing food over a meal and we were able to do that with this tasting menu. It offered so much variety and I don't think anyone wouldn't have enjoyed it! A foodie's dream meal :)

Food: 4.5/5 - Experienced so many new flavours and all done brilliantly.
Decor: 5/5 - Very classy, interesting decor and views into the kitchen.
Service: 4/5 - Mostly knowledgeable, a few staff weren't very detailed with their descriptions of the food.
Willingness to go back: 5/5 - Great experience and would love to return.
Overall: 4.5/5

Website: http://www.georgeonqueen.com/