K and I feel that it is good to have some quiet and relax time between the two of us for us to recharge once in a while. As a result, earlier this month, we went to George Restaurant for lunch while Baby J was in school (yay! ^^). We ordered the $60 4-course Tasting Menu because we had the whole afternoon to ourselves and were able to afford a 2-hour meal quietly.
The meal started with a complimentary amuse-bouche -- butter beef with broth. It was a nice plate to start off the meal with because it was refreshing with a little bit of citrusy taste and I also liked that it was beautifully plated.
For the follow on courses, K and I were served completely different dishes. That means we got to taste 8 different dishes for the entire meal and made me feel like we got more of our money worth.
My first course was a tuna tartar. When I only tasted the tuna alone at the beginning, I found the tuna was mushier than I expected, however, once I combined the chips that it came with, it enhanced its texture and it was a new way to have a tuna tartar, a way that I liked and never thought of having a tuna tartar with before. However, I did not enjoy the quail's egg on top and I wished they had skipped it because I did not like the lukewarm feeling of egg on top of the raw fish. In addition, the chunks of carrots, turnips around the tartar made it look less delicate.
K's first course was a poached scallop with artichoke salad and he said it was refreshing.
The second course was a pasta course, one was a gnocchetti with wild mushrooms and prosciutto. It was a savoury dish and I found myself wanting more when I had my last gnocchetti. The other pasta course was some kind of penne pasta with zuchini and goat cheese. At first, we found the ingredients too ordinary, however, it was surprisingly good once we tasted it and the texture of the pasta was very light and airy (a texture that is better than al dente, but I don't know how to describe it).
My third course was a corn hen with artichoke which was very tender and juicy and K's thrid course was tenderloin which we also liked too.
For our dessert course, they were good but no surprises. I had a coconut tapioca with berries which tasted good but reminded me of the dessert that you would have in a Chinese restaurant and K had a chocolate cake with sorbet.
Overall, we enjoyed our lunch break at George. We liked all of our dishes with the pasta dishes as our highlights. In addition, presentation of each dish was impeccable and the inside ambiance of the restaurant was quiet, modern, and gorgeously decorated.
111C Queen St. E
Toronto, ON
M5C 1S2
Tel: 416 863-6006
