Foodaholic!: Winterlicious

A La Carte at the Gardiner Bistro celebrates Winterlicious with a great menu, and Valentine’s Day with two great events!

Address: A La Carte at the Gardiner Bistro, 3rd Floor, Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON, M5S 2C7

Toronto, Ontario – The A La Carte at the Gardiner Bistro will be participating in Winterlicious from January 30, 2015-February 12, 2015 offering an $18.00 lunch prix fixe menu.

Some highlights of the Winterlicious Menu include Chef Jonathan Leblanc’s House-Made Butternut Squash Soup with Sage Leaf and Maple Syrup Drizzle, and Poulet Chasseur, a substantial chicken stew with mushrooms, baby potatoes, and tomato ragout.

The Bistro is also featuring some items unique to the Winterlicious Menu: a vegetarian Mediterranean plate appetizer with warm olives and hummus served with pita bread, and Banana Bread served with Chantilly Cream and fresh strawberries for dessert.

This Winterlicious Menu is an excellent way to try some of our most popular dishes. In addition, A La Carte at the Gardiner Bistro will be running its regular lunch and brunch menus during Winterlicious.

On Friday, February 13, the A La Carte at the Gardiner Bistro will be hosting an Anti-Valentine’s Mixer featuring a live DJ spinning anything BUT love songs. The event will run from 4:00pm to 8:00pm, and be an excellent way to meet new people. Bring a significant or insignificant other, friends or frienemies, or join us solo to meet a potential Anti-Valentine! Drink specials and the regular dinner menu will be available.

Saturday, 14 February, A La Carte at the Gardiner Bistro serves its regular brunch menu, but will feature Valentine’s Day specials, as well as the Mignardises …for Two!

A La Carte at the Gardiner Bistro is open Saturday to Thursday from 11am-3pm and Fridays from 11am-8pm. Please call 416-586-8086 for reservations.

à la Carte at the Gardiner | 111 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON, M5S 2C7 | TEL: (416) 506-4945.

WEB: http://www.alacartebistro.com

It has been a few years since I visited the CN Tower; the last time was for a company dinner party at 360 Restaurant. I didn't even know about Horizons Restaurant until a friend of mine organized a group lunch earlier this past weekend for Winterlicious 2014.

The Horizons Restaurant is located on the LookOut level of the CN Tower. You have to buy a lift ticket for $15 (special price per person for Winterlicious) to go up the elevator to the restaurant as it's not free unless you dine at 360. Even though Horizons Restaurant does not spin like the revolving 360 Restaurant; it still offers a wonderful view of the city if you're seated by the windows.

The lift ticket for $15.00 (special price).

The menu is displayed right outside of the restaurant.

The menu for Winterlicious.

Unfortunately, we had a major mishap while trying to get to our reservation on time. My boyfriend's car snowed in and the tow truck wait was an estimated 2 hours. Luckily, my friend and her boyfriend were on their way and closed by to us, and they kindly gave us a lift. Many thanks to my two friends for helping us.

The boyfriend and I were hungry so we decided to order three Winterlicious to share between the two of us. We wanted to sample a little bit of everything on the menu and at $15 for each three course meal; who can really resist? The value of the meal was incredible as the food was delicious and we left happy with our lunch.

Additionally, our two lift tickets allowed us access to both the LookOut level and glass floor of the CN Tower. So I'd say that this is a pretty nice deal for those who also wants to check out the CN Tower. My friends and I spent a good 40 minutes on both floors taking photographs.

Butternut Squash Bisque (dried cranberry chutney, maple crème fraîche).

The torn Romaine salad with black olives & oven dried tomatoes (shaved Parmesan cheese, roasted garlic cream) was simply presented on a large white plate. Despite it being a simple salad; I still liked the tangy dressing. It was a good refresher for the upcoming meal.

The browned crust of the salt cod brandade gratin (sundried tomatoes, artichokes, sour dough crostini) was full of crunch. Underneath the gratin was a mixture of lightly salted cod that was well-seasoned.

For those who want to steer from getting a Canadian dish; there is the curried lamb biryani (toasted almonds, dried fruits, saffron threads, and yogurt raita). It's a take on the popular Indian dish. I am not a huge fan of lamb so this wasn't a very enjoyable dish for me as the meat was rather dry. I did liked that the seasoned fragrant wasn't too strong and the yogurt raita helps to enhance the flavor of the rice.

Out of the three mains; my favorite was the sweet onion braised Ontario pork & fennel sausage (warm lentil salad, lavender honey glazed parsnips). It was of a good size, and the overall flavor of the pork sausage was juicy.

There was a choice of four mains, and we opted to not get the whole wheat spaghetti with broccolini & toasted pumpkin seeds (lima beans, roasted peppers, grated Pecorino cheese).

The pastry that accompanied the Newfoundland fisherman's pot pie (root vegetables, herbed puff pastry) was absolutely flaky and soft; I loved it. Additionally, the pot pie was definitely good comfort food that was perfect for the cold and snowy weather that we're having. The portion was also generous as there was a good amount of both vegetables and seafood in the creamy sauce.

The Southern Ontario apple crumble (vanilla bean ice cream) was extremely too sweet for my liking. The aroma of the cinnamon that the dessert emitted smelled nice, and the baked apples were topped with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice-cream.

The dark chocolate lava cake was a warm chocolate cake topped with Lindt milk chocolate ice cream. The inside of the cake contains rich and creamy chocolate that will satisfy many chocolate lovers.

Out of the three desserts; the spiced pumpkin cheesecake (toasted pumpkin seeds, cinnamon whipped cream) was by far my favorite. I haven't had anything pumpkin since pumpkins-season ended at Starbucks so this was a lovely treat. The cake was rich and I liked that there was a mild pumpkin flavor rather than the overwhelming taste of all pumpkin in the mixture. The slightly golden crust provided a nice contrast to the creamy texture of the cheesecake.

The staff was very accommodating and the service was quick and polite. We were a table of 8 people, and never once felt rushed by the staff the entire lunch. Overall, the lunch at Horizon was an enjoyable one and it's now on my list to return to check out what they offer on their regular menu.

RATINGS:

Quality of Food: 4.4/5
Service: 4.4/5
Overall Dining Experience: 4.4/5
Price: $$$ || Menu

Address: 301 Front St W, Toronto, ON, M5V 2T6