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| Cold Snap |
A field trip. Of course we wanted to go to Aloette! Their website promises “a refined take on bistro fare paired with sophisticated and affable hospitality.” Caroline, Kaarina, Laura and I had been looking forward to this lunch for quite some time. The experience delivered.
Aloette is currently rated number 35 on
Canada’s 100 best restaurants, just down two flights of stairs from Alo,
rated Number 1 at Canada’s
100 Best. Alo can take months for an available opening. Aloette is more
accessible, and although reservations aren’t required, limited bookings are
available for the convenience of guests. When we arrived, all the tables were filled, so it’s a good thing we made reservations.
Considering the calibre
of the food and service, Aloette offers exceptional value.
Housed
in a heritage building, the restaurant design makes the most of its narrow
space, with vaulted ceilings and windows looking onto busy Spadina Avenue. Rich textures and muted colours make for a relaxed ambiance, in contrast
to the frantic pace on the other side of the glass. Laura
noted that it was noticeably easy to hear each other at our table. The
baffled ceiling is a prominent feature in the restaurant that really
cuts down on the noise, which is such an unwelcome part of most Toronto
dining rooms these days.
The
server was well versed in the menu, made informed recommendations, and was able
to answer our questions. We sipped cocktails while waiting for the small plates to arrive. The Cold Snap
was prettily presented in a small coupe glass, a refreshing mix of Seedlip
garden, verjus, sherry vinegar and thai basil.
We
agreed to share small plates. This is the opportunity to sample more
dishes, but with everything tasting so over-the-top delicious, it was
especially hard to exercise restraint.
Everything was so visually stunning with flavours and textures perfectly balanced.
Toast with whipped roasted yeast butter was served to awake our tastebuds. Caroline wondered "Who ever dreamed that up? And where can I find that recipe?"
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| Perfect roasted yeast butter |
Our
first course was roasted squid with side stripe shrimp, 'nduja, potato, and
cerignola olive, which brought murmurs of pleasure.
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| First course! |
Next, beef short rib with
chimichurri, spinach, and onion ring; served with thai salad of peanut,
mango, zucchini, kohlrabi. Kaarina remarked the fresh
crunch of the Thai salad was a
match made in food heaven when paired with the richness of the beef short rib.
We all agreed with Caroline's assessment that the beef short
rib was melt in your mouth, fall apart delicious!
One more course... potato
gnocchi of sweet potato with bacon, sage, chestnut; served with crispy squash
and brown butter hollandaise, sage, and parmesan, with pumpkin seed. Some were
skeptical when the server suggested the pairing, however Kaarina observed the
combination was the smoothest, tastiest comfort food of this 2020 winter.
Caroline felt the gnocchi was light as air and wondered about chemists in the
kitchen.
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| Gnocchi and squash...hhmm! |
We wanted to sample the rest of the menu! Hamachi crudo, glazed pork belly, iceburg wedge, burger and fries, fried chicken...
It was evident there were
strict codes of service when the request to leave the water pitcher on the
table was denied. Instead, servers returned frequently to top up the glasses.
The four of us were split on opinion on this, with 2 annoyed by frequent
interruptions and 2 happy for the extra real estate on the table.
Laura added the
chef, Patrick Kriss, grew up in Scarborough and attended George Brown college.
He spent time working in Michelin-starred restaurants in France and Daniel
Boulud’s eponymous restaurant in New York City. His Toronto restaurants are widely acclaimed, with good reason.
Aloette was definitely a
teaser for what dinner at Alo would be like. One day the Epitourists will have
to check that out!
