Tochi's Hut

JC defended him M.Sc. thesis last Monday.  RY wanted to come up from Virginia to celebrate as well.  Given my skiing plans this past weekend, everyone was kind enough to accommodate my schedule.  RY flew up a day earlier (a good thing too, given the 25cm of snow we're expecting today) and we celebrated over dinner on Thursday.

Everything came together at the last minute.  BW was suppose to take care of our dinner reservations.  When I got back home after 10pm on Wednesday night, I found out that he just gave RY (in Virginia) a list of the Winterlicious restaurants.  RY picked out 5 choices, but he wasn't going to call from Virginia.  I ended up calling the restaurants in RY's shortlist at 11pm, not really expecting to get any reservations.  As luck will have it, I managed to make reservations for a late dinner at La Maquette. 

After a slight mishap at the Eaton Centre, we took a quick stroll to Nathan Philips.  Unfortunately, none of the WinterCity activities were going on today, so we just huddled around the skating rink before proceeding to the restaurant.

To tell the truth, I didn't even bother looking at the Winterlicious menu beforehand.  I just heard RY mention that the appetizer has Shrimp Tempura.  Tempura in a French restaurant?!? 

As you walk into the restaurant, you'll immediately notice the romantic atmosphere - candle lighting, fancy statues, spiral staircase and live piano music.  JC was beginning to seriously worry that he wasn't dressed appropriately for the evening.  Whatever. :-)

We got a nice table on the second floor, and soon found out that there was a wedding celebration with a party of about 15 people at the next table.  So much for the nice quiet "romantic" atmosphere. lol.  Although, it's not like we won't have ruined the atmosphere for other guests anyway.

Since it's Winterlicious, I guess I have to talk a bit about the food.   I didn't have much choice for appetizer, since I HAD to try the Shrimp Tempura.  It was served with Mayo Ginger and Scotch Pea Meal Pepper Sauce served with Belgium Endive.  The jumbo shrimps were very good.  The batter was very very thin, just adding a nice texture as the crust for the shrimps.  It wasn't tempura in the japanese tempura sense - the shrimp was definitely the focal point, not the batter.  However, the presentation of the appetizer was rather bland.  The greens and yellows kind of just merged together on a big plate.

Main entry, I had Roasted Venison Chops served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes in a Sesame Reduction enhanced with hints of Chocolate and Crème De Menthe and fresh Marjoram.   Wow, what a long description.  Sesame Reduction.  I recognize the terminology, but don't really remember all the details.  Anyway, the chops were really tender.  I did taste a bit of the mint and chocolate, but the flavours were dominated by the fresh peppers sprinkled over top of the dish.

For dessert, I settled for Banana Liqueur Crème Brule.  This was my favourite dish of the entire meal.  I just have a sweet spot for Crème Brule's.  Served with a mint leaf and a raspberry... mmmm.   A definitely A+ on the Brule.

For drinks, we got a bottle of Jackson Triggs Merlot.  JC really liked it, but there wasn't much evolution or aftertaste to the wine.  I found it didn't do that great of a job to cleanse my mouth of chops flavours.  A so-so selection.

BW, RY and I took our hand at trying to photograph the food.  The low lighting essentially made things really difficult for BW and me.  We don't have 28mm f/1.4 prime lenses.  >_<.  I was quite a noob as I forgot to reset my exposure settings on the SB-600 flash.  I was wondering why the flash output was weaker than I expected.  sigh.

As usual whenever we get together, there are the diplomatic discussions on Canon vs Nikon.  The waiter, whose service was only so-so during the meal, came through at the end when he mentioned he got a D40x for his nephew for Christmas.  He totally redeemed himself and just earned himself a bigger tip from me and RY. lol.

Overall, the meal was probably a 3/5 stars; it was good, but not really spectacular.  I might go back again, as long as there's no wedding going on. 

P.S.  The rest of the gang decided to bake a turkey over the weekend, just for the heck of it.   I was going to miss out on all the fun!  Apparently, they went, got the bird and all the miscellaneous ingredients, only to find out that BW's oven doesn't work.  Chinese people rarely use ovens! lolol.  The bird is still sitting in the freezer.