March | 2010

Went to Colborne Lane (http://www.colbornelane.com/) a few nights ago for their 10 course tasting menu. I’ve been there before for some desserts and was thoroughly impressed with their play on food, and what you think food should look like.

I previously had a cheesecake, but instead of looking like a regular slice of cheesecake, this one looked like someone liquified it, and splattered the cake, graham cracker crumbs and some other stuff all over the plate. I didn’t take a picture of it but it was pretty much roadkill kinda looking at first. Definitely different. Upon inspecting it further, the composition and placing of the dessert was spot on as well. Coming from a design background, I think, in the chaos of the splatter, everything was planned carefully and placed the way they are, to make it aesthetically pleasing.

Anyways, onto the tasting menu. I’m no foody, so I’m probably butchering the ingredients or whatever was included.

First dish:
Cured Hamachi flavoured with beets and some sort of orange sorbet. Forgot whatever else was on it. I’m not the biggest fish fan, but it was definitely interesting eating it with the orange sorbet. Can’t say I loved it, but I didn’t hate it.

Second dish:
Scallop with sweet chili sauce, crème fraiche somehow hardened into little pellets that they call nitro crème fraiche (I think the guy mentioned liquid nitrogen or something), and that crumble and large white turd looking thing is coconut milk which they call clotted cononut. lol Definitely liked this one. Big fan of scallops and sweet chili sauce. 😀

Third dish:
That long ice cream squiggle thing in the middle, that’s foie gras, or made of foie gras, and is banana flavoured. I forget what the other stuff is. This was kinda weird. It was like a salty, oily kinda banana flavoured paste. I try to forget about it. lol. (I’m really not cut out to be a foody at all. I’m pretty happy with some fast food.)

Fourth dish:
Soup – I’m beginning to forget what’s in it. I think it’s the one on the website, which is Parsnip soup. Chestnut + shredded duck + huckleberry + truffle powder. I loved this. It was sweet, savory, a bit sour, cold and hot all in the same dish.

And the action shot:

Fifth dish:
I was kinda good at this point, not full, but wasn’t hungry anymore, and we just began the main courses. ~_~
This was black cod, seared with miso I think? and that shrimp chip/rice cracker kinda looking thing is puffed tapioca. Again, not the biggest fish fan but this ended up being alright.

Sixth dish:
This one is lamb loin, and I have no clue what the other stuff is except that white swoosh sauce is licorice yogurt. From the website: organic quinoa + medjool date + licorice yogurt + amaranth + black garlic. I really enjoyed the lamb. I NEVER eat lamb, cause of that distinct taste of it you get most of the time. But this one ended up being really good. None of that distinct lamb flavour. It tasted like beef. lol. Liked it so much I’ll include two pics of it.

Oh yea, and there’s some sort of sausage there under the lamb, that was pretty good too.

Seventh dish:
Nearly done… this is triple seared beef tenderloin. I think it was seared with miso first, then something else and then salt. Bah, my memory is terrible. From the website: yukon gold + heirloom carrots + caramelized soubise + pickled mustard seed.

Eighth dish:
Into the desserts finally, this one they call a pre-dessert. It’s actually milk chocolate ice cream chunks, some other sort of sweet ice cream chunk, and the black stuff is actually dehydrated black olives if I remember correctly. Do not like olives, but the chocolate masked the taste for the most part.

Ninth dish:
Their pièce de résistance, warm doughnut + nitro crème fraiche + passionfruit. They make the “nitro crème fraiche”, aka ice cream, in front of you with liquid nitrogen and pouring crème fraiche into the bowl. This was probably my favourite of the night. The warm, cinnamon doughnut, lemony flavoured nitro crème fraiche. mmmmmmmm…

Tenth dish:
Finally. This one is pretty small. They call it an iced coffee bomb. The waiter told us it’s gonna melt in like 5 seconds, so I didn’t get a chance to turn on the camera and snap a shot, worried that it would melt. Imagine if you will, a very large looking junior mint inside outs x3 on that plate. They were ice cold, and after like, 15 seconds the shell kinda imploded on itself and the filling, coffee liqueur kinda spills out into your mouth. It was okay…

x3 on this plate:

Anyways, I guess overall, I enjoyed the dinner. It was kinda like an asian fusion x science type of dinner. They really like using their liquid nitrogen. I guess part of it was kind of a show as well, to justify the cost. Definitely worth a try at least once, and I would definitely go back, but would probably stick to their dessert menu.

Colborne Lane
45 Colborne street
Toronto, Ontario
M5E 1E3

http://colbornelane.com/