Address: 25 York Street
Website: http://ariaristorante.ca/
Type of Meal: Dinner
Aria is
located in Maple Leaf Square a bustling area filled with people and lights
connecting to Union Station and the Air Canada Centre. Conversely, the restaurant is a tranquil
environment with soaring ceilings, spectacular light fixtures, dim lighting and
hushed conversations. For me, it’s not the venue you’d visit for a quick bite
before a game or concert; but, if you’re not pressed for time and money also
isn’t a concern than the restaurant certainly offers a better chance at scoring
a table than the rowdy Real Sports.
During
Winterlicious, Aria was offering a 3-course menu for $45 - the perfect opportunity
to try this relatively expensive restaurant. Unfortunately, the dishes offered
are not part of their regular menu, so if something sounds delicious you will
not find it during a regular visit. However, the meal did provide an indication
that their chef puts together hearty dishes which although are simple, ties
together flavours quite nicely.
The seared
scallops had a beautiful crust as you’d expect. Done a touch on the rarer side
it was barely cooked throughout and quite tender. Sitting on a bed of
cauliflower puree, which was smooth and creamy (anything but healthy), it
worked as a nice sauce to spread onto the scallops.
At first, I
was a bit hesitant to order this appetizer on account of the raisins, pine nuts
and capers described on the menu. Fruit and nuts with seafood seem like a bad
combination and capers only really go well when done in moderation. I was
pleasantly surprised with the finished dish; each of the elements weren’t
overpowering and actually worked pretty well with the scallops. The raisins had
been soaked and not overly sweet, the pine nuts also just a slight bite to it,
while the capers must have been mixed into one of the purees as there wasn’t
one in sight.
While the
braised veal cheek didn’t have the most impressive plating, the meat itself was
absolutely delicious. Having been braised for hours it fell apart with a simple
poke of the fork and simply melted in your mouth. Soft stewed chestnuts added a
nice earthiness to the beef with some sweetness from the pumpkin and potato
mash. For my taste, the mash was a tad too sweet as I tend to like more savoury
dishes but it wasn’t a deal breaker.
With the green
chard leaves topping the veal cheek, I managed to find a piece that hadn’t
wilted in the sauce and realized the chard was roasted beforehand. This roasted piece added such a nice contrast
to the meat that I wish more of them had lasted… perhaps scattering some of
them around the plate rather than directly on the meat could accomplish this?
Lastly, I
ended with the bonet chocolate dessert from Piemonte (a region in Italy),
following our waiter’s recommendation. The dome is a mix between a chocolate
mousse and panna cotta texture and sits on a disc of chocolate cake. Sitting in
a pool of butterscotch caramel with a scope of amaretto gelato beside it, the
dessert was rich and decadent. Thankfully, not overly sweet dark chocolate was used
for the bonet, which paired nicely with the sweet caramel sauce.
The passion
fruit panna cotta also interested me as it had pop rocks in it – who doesn’t
like these little candies? Luckily for me, my friend ordered it and generously
offered me a taste. Boy it was good! A nice smooth base and then ever so
slightly the pop rocks activate, causing a pause while you just hold the
dessert in your mouth and let the tingling feeling erupt. The coconut macaroon
cookie on top was soft, chewy and not too sugary; for a person who doesn’t like
dried coconut I found the macaroon quite tasty.
Alas, this dessert was the better one in my opinion – inventive, fresh
and surprising. What a great way to end the meal.
Service was
professional and attentive, with wine and water glasses filled discretely
without interrupting conversations. The
only inconvenience happened when I had to visit the toilet and found they were
located outside in the office building which required pass card access. With no
hostess at the podium, I had to interrupt a waiter who accompanied me to the
door to swipe me in. For such an upscale restaurant, they should have seriously
considered making their own toilets to avoid such a hassle for their guests.
Is Winterlicious worth it?
As a special feature to the Winterlicious blogs, I will attempt to calculate the savings being offered (based on my meal selection).
Winterlicious - $45
Regular menu - $61 - scallops* ($14), veal cheek* ($35) and bonet* ($12)
Savings - $16 or 26%
* All the items aren't on their regular menu; prices based on the calamari fritti, braised bison and other desserts
Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10
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Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
