On a bit of a whim, Rob (who is up from Houston on work) and I decided to go to Canoe for dinner tonight as neither of us had ever experienced what is widely considered one of Toronto's best restaurants. Situated on the penthouse level of one of the TD buildings it certainly has one of the best views!
Although Winterlicious is on, it's almost impossible to get Winterlicious reservations at Canoe so we were "stuck" with the regular menu (and prices). We each ended up getting the chef's tasting menu, which was as follows:
Both Rob and I loved that the theme was chocolate and absolutely everything on the menu was superb. The other nice thing was that nothing on the menu was something I currently have the skill to reproduce myself. As far as the food goes, the most revelatory thing for me was the vanilla poached apricots that were part of the dessert. I've never tasted apricots like that before, and now I never want to taste any other kind again.
Despite the awesomeness of the food and the amazing views and the excellent service, the highlight for me was the beer. Last May I dragged my mom down crazy single track roads in Belgium in order to visit the Westvleteren Brewery so that I could buy some Westvleteren XII; considered one of the best beers in the world and rather hard to acquire outside of Belgium. Unfortunately they were all out when we arrived so I had to make due with one of their other (still excellent) brews. But tonight I remedied that failure because Canoe has bottles of Westvleteren XII! And not only that, they allowed me to keep my empty bottle and when the manager noticed me walking out with it he stopped me to give me a "special gift." Two Westvleteren XII branded glasses!
So yeah, I'd definitely recommend Canoe if you're ever looking for fine dining in Toronto.
