Absinthe

After the Music and Dinning experience and tasting Chef Garland's duck there, we ventured off to his restaurant down on Wellington Street.  The location has big windows in front to let in plenty of light, while the decor inside is a very nice green colour to match the colour of absinthe.  The place was not very busy, for the later seating which is a bit of a shame, but it is the middle of the summer and the middle of the week, so many people may have been on vacation.  We all went with the table d'hote.  The waiter came back with an amuse for us, which was a very light and delightful duck tartar.  This did an excellent job at setting the tone of the meal, and really exciting the taste buds.  We got served fresh baked bread with a butter infused with a bit of citrus.  It was a very good combination.

For appetizer, we ordered at the table, the charcuterie, the tuna ans scallops, and the escargot.  The escargot in the vermouth cream was amazing.  If it was not uncouth to drink that sauce out of the plate, I would have.  I did polish off the rest of the bread trying to soak up the rest of that sauce.  The tuna and scallops was also very tasty and cooked well.  The charcuterie was what the boss had and it was presented on a wooden cutting board with all the different styles of duck and a mini loaf of bread to help eat that spread.  Every bite made the boss ohh and ahh with the flavour.  Surprisingly, her favourite thing on that plate was the Duck confit pogo.  The presentation of both the tuna tartar and the charrcuterie was excellent.

For the mids, we had ordered both between the four of us.  Sadly, this was the most disappointing course.  The salad was nothing special, and the vinaigrette did not accentuate the salad.  The soup was decent, but I found the soup to be very one dimensional.  There was not any flavour pop, but I think it acted more like a pallet cleanser.

When the mains came back, it made up for the mids big time.  The boss had the farm duck duo, while I had the steak frites with a duck poutine.  The farm duck duo had the duck cooked to perfection,  The presentation was decent, I felt was a little bit messy, but I had seen worse, but the flavour and the taste made up for it.  The duck really melted in your mouth and the seared foie gras was what the boss called, "one of the best things I've tasted in a long time".  My steak frites was an excellent cut, cooked perfectly to medium rare.  I do have to say, I never thought I would say this about fries in fine dinning, but these fries were just that good.  Mix in an excellent gravy and some duck and wow, it was very good!


The service over the meal was excellent.  The staff was very knowledgeable, introduced all the wines, and the plates while not being intrusive.  When we did ask them any questions, they were very helpful, and polite.

For this level of food, I have the say that the price is very reasonable.  Excellent job to Chef Garland and his staff.    We do hope to be back again soon.

Review (out of 5):

Food: * * * *

Value: * * * * 1/2

Atmosphere: * * * *

Service: * * * * *

Price Range: $7 - $29 (+$30 for wine parings)

Website: http://absinthecafe.sitebenefits.com/