Colborne Lane

I have just had a life altering experience. I am feeling a bit like a bigamist because I fell in love with two men in the same evening. Domenic was our server for the evening. He left nothing to chance. He explained every detail of the menu and graciously delivered the magnificent dishes. He was thoughtful and attentive.

Claudio is the most creative genius of a chef. I marvel at his creativity and culinary skills. Elaine and I were out on our quest for the best restaurants in Toronto. We discovered this place one evening when he entered this restaurant by mistake instead of one further down the street. We vowed to return to Colborne Lane and we are both delighted that we did. We opted for the tasting menu of 10 items but told our server that we don’t eat meat. The chef created a menu for us that will long be remembered. Domenic even took the trouble to visit our table. Not only is he a master chef, he is also a charming handsome young man.I highly recommend the tasting menu. Of course you can order from the menu but this is a life experience. It is interesting that Elaine and I were philosophizing during dinner as to how to make our lives more fulfilling and here we were in the midst of a most satisfying event.

Our 10 courses cost $100.00 and I hope to go back again because it was worth every bit. The restaurant is a restored building on Colborne St. It has maintained touches of the past and added an elegant new well designed look. Every offering was served on a different shaped white dish. Some of the plates were truly remarkable. One large platter had a small well in the middle of the plate. The food presentation was only in the small well leaving the rest of the plate to be admired. A large white rectangular platter had a dollop of sauce on one end. The food presentation was artistically placed on the other end. It was a work of art.

The first course was called Aloe Vera. It was small bowl with pieces of compressed watermelon covered with a flavored snow.

Instead of the Scallop dish on the regular tasting menu we were offered a tasting of Tofu slivers. I have never tasted anything so delicious. It was beautifully flavored and decoratively plated.

The Chilled Soup was served in a large irregular shaped bowl. The bowl arrived with a small ball of black olive sorbet. The smooth green cold puree of vegetables was poured at the table with a topping of basil foam.

The Beetroot and Tomato Salad offered peeled small tomatoes on pieces of flavored beets .Fennel sorbet and basil blossom garnished the plate.

Black Cod was served with a scallion sauce, pistachio and sesame panna cotta with a puffed tapioca cup on top. An Intermezzo included peach sorbet and mango puree

Instead of the Triple Seared Beef we were offered Halibut that was absolutely perfectly flavored and cooked to perfection.

Can you imagine that 3 desserts followed? The first was a Dulce De Leche topped with blueberry snow and apricot flake salt. The second dessert was a masterpiece created at the table. A large silver bowl with smoking nitrogen was placed on the table. Cream was poured into the smoky nitrogen and stirred very hard to form the Nitro Ice Cream within a moment served with a small doughnut .The final offering was a Coffee Bomb served over a cup of smoking nitrogen

Elaine and I agreed that we had discovered the best and enjoyed it to the fullest.