We both started with the soup of the day, cream of asparagus. I ordered mine without the lobster oil that you see here. The soup was very light and refreshing with a bit of a lemon zip. The asparagus flavour was amazing, woodsy and fresh. It was like biting into an asparagus spear only in liquid form.
I liked the way that we were served bread. Our server brought around a basket and gave us one of each, olive boule and crusty white, 'so we wouldn't have to choose'. He left us with a small round ramekin of lemony white bean spread. Later in the meal he returned with the basket saying, 'have one more, this time you choose' and with it came more delicious spread.
My friend is a vegetarian, she ordered the risotto which was packed with summer mushrooms, leeks, cherry tomato halves, and although the menu says olive oil, we were both sure we tasted truffle oil. It was amazing and quite a large portion too. K's now worried that the bar has been raised too high and she won't be able to enjoy risotto in the future and I'd agree that that's a totally rational fear.
I had the lamb saddle roulade which came herb crusted, on sherry macerated mixed bean salad with a 3 day lamb reduction. The menu said something about horseradish, but I didn't realize until afterward that I didn't get any. In any case there was nothing to complain about. The lamb was done to a perfect medium rare and the bean salad was so springy it was inspiring.
Looking at the dessert photos is making my mouth water all over again. This was the best dessert experience I've had in a while. The white chocolate panna cotta, topped with whipped cream and poppy seed tuile came balanced on a cinnamon nest of kataifi (a middleastern shredded phyllo dough), which tasted like a fine dining version of shredded wheat. It was surrounded by orange reduction and wild blueberry compote. So many flavours and textures! It was the kind of sensory overload that a good dessert should provide.
K had angel food cake with Niagra apricots, strawberries and cherries which came surrounded by creme anglais. The restaurant had filled up by this point with the happy hum of business people and ladies who lunch. Although we passed on wine, we felt giddy with satisfaction, laughing and talking over tea and the remainder of our desserts.
Many Torontonians complain that Summerliscious results in restaurants dolling out small portions and bad service. This was not our experience at all. It was a great foray for us into the restaurants of Yorkville, which we usually would not be able to afford. Since going I have told countless people about how good it was. As far as I can tell Summerlicious is a clever promotion that works.
hi Amanda, This is wonderful!! K is laughing at my excitement. I'll be checking regularly, although I'll need direction to learn how. You do a great job, and I like all the side bars too. There are a couple of cookbooks I'm interested in checking out - one being the one you bought in Rome, another, the one about seasonal foods. I'm starting to be a more involved shopper, not necessarily the 100 mile diet, but something alone that line. I also wonder if you can point me in the direction of some good bread recipes. Okay, she's laughing again!! Thanks for all your helpful info. I look forward to checking in again soon. ~ Jude
Posted by: Jude, Barrie | July 06, 2009 at 07:55 PM