Canoeing

I rarely do restaurant reviews, but I figured once and awhile I would if I went somewhere especially good. Last night Liisa, Juri-Kari, Anu and I went to Canoe as part of the Winterlicious festival which runs every year. Winterlicious is a festival where hundreds of Toronto restaurants offer prix-fixe menus, generally this allows you to go to some of Toronto's most expensive restaurants but come out of the experience with a few bucks still in your pocket.

Canoe is one of Toronto's best known restaurants, it's located on the 54th floor on the TD Centre so the view is spectacular. It's a Canadian centric restaurant where they try and create dishes with Canadian grown products and flavors (think lobster and maple syrup).

My meal consisted of:
Appitizer: Yarmouth Lobster Chowder, Wild Rice, Sweet Yam & Drunken Raisins
Main Course: Alberta Lamb Sirloin, Smashed Celery Root, Grain Mustard & Rosemary Garlic Jus
Dessert: Spicy Gingerbread Bundt with Bourbon Maple & Vanilla Bean

The lobster chowder was good but the lamb sirloin was the best part of the meal. It was likely the best piece of lamb that I've ever tasted, very tender and perfectly matched with smashed celery root. The dessert was also very good and I rarely like sweets and the portions were enough that I couldn't have really eaten much more.

We also had a nice cocktail and some wine and a generally good time. I've heard a lot of complaints that during Winterlicious the service can be poor because waiters generally get lower tips since overall bills are lower than normal but I found the service to be excellent.

Overall it was well worth it, the view plus the food created an excellent evening out for us.