Sen5es @ the Soho Met - Summerlicious 2010

     Coming back home to Toronto in July also means checking out the amazing Summerlicious Fix Prix menus from some of Toronto's hottest restaurants for lunch or dinner. Restaurants that you've always wanted to try are now mildly affordable with a 3 course meal for the entire month of July. Of course this depends on which restaurant you dine at. So, when the opportunity arose to check out the well known Sen5es located in the equally grande Soho Metropolitan Hotel, I had to go. That, and head chef Patrick Lin, our family friend was on hand to personally oversee dinner.
    When we were shown our private dining room at Senses, my dinner companions had a glimpse towards what life as a VIP would feel. The room had a beautiful elegance to it as you can see below.

 

Before dinner began, Chef Patrick Lin offered us each a canape consisting of a scallop, capers, tomatoes, and microherbs. 

Look at the smoothness in that scallop! 

Now for the starters. Choices for starters included the following three options:

Tian of red tuna, salmon, and hamachi tartare with layers of avocado, tomato,
cucumber and aged balsamic vinegar & spicy mayo
Note: This is the one I had. The flavours in this dish worked perfectly together. As you ate through the layers of fish the avocado and cucumber gave the flavours some depth. So good!  

chilled tomato gazpacho with lobster medallions

thinly sliced roasted veal tenderloin with a tea smoked egg on a bed of
tuna fish sauce and sun-dried tomato vinaigrette 

grilled romaine lettuce heart, tofu, green & white asparagus,
portebello dressed with a yuzu truffle soy vinaigrette Dinner options:

prime beef tenderloin in natural jus with tempura prawn, accompanied with
wasabi mashed potatoes, and beans wrapped in bacon.
Note: This is what I ordered. The prime beef was done perfectly at medium rare. The star of the show was the wasabi mashed potatoes. There was a hit of wasabi at first bite, but then quickly went away to normal mash potatoes. The tempura prawn stayed surprisingly crispy until the end of the meal. 

Roasted Grand Marnier liquer duck breast in orange duck jus
with a duck leg confit lasagna sprinkled with bread crumbs
Note: Duck Confit Lasanga was great. Break crumbs offset the typical 'saltiness' of the duck confit. Certain that duck confit lovers will enjoy this dish!    

From L to R: Fried Oyster Fritter, dungeness crabmeat risotto, and
Mediterranean poached halibut fillet topped with sundried tomato and olive salsa
Notes: Risotta had chunks of Dungeness crab inside and was evidently made the correct way. Halibut seemed to lack a bit on the flavour side, as the other two players seemed to overpower the halibut.
Dessert!

warm peach tart (with an entire half a peach!) with lemon sorbetto

lemon-lavender-blueberry dome with chocolate arts and lemongrass vanilla sauce
Notes: admittedly a bit different for the palate, but worked well together in this case. The lavender flavour came more at the end of the bite. 

L to R: Cherry Jubilee, lemon sorbetto, and crepe suzette
notes: Cherry Jubilee was dark and rich, but a bit sour. The menu had indicated 'vanilla icecream', but the icecream we got was certainly lemon sorbetto, so the mix didn't seem to go so well with the already tart cherries and crepe suzette.

Sen5ses - Soho Metropolitan
328 Wellington Street West.
Toronto, ON. M5V 3T2
(416) 935-0400
Dining room: Tuesday-Saturday 6-10pm
Lounge daily from 5pm-1am
http://www.senses.ca/senses_restaurant.html

Most pictures courtesy of Philip Yan