Summerlicious. Have you been this year yet? For two mouth-watering weeks this month over 200 of the city's top restaurants are offering three-course prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus at one of three price categories:
Lunch: $15 | $20 | $25
Dinner: $25 | $35 | $45
There's exactly one week left for Summerlicious (Twitter: @LiciousTO, Facebook: LiciousTO) so get a move on it and make your reservations!
I was fortunate enough to be invited to Azure Restaurant & Bar at the InterContinental Toronto Centre (Twitter: @ICTorontoCentre, Facebook: InterContinental Toronto Centre) for Summerlicious dinner last night (this visit marks my third time at the restaurant!) Azure offers contemporary Canadian cuisine and emphasizes heavily on using local and seasonal ingredients. For Summerlicious the restaurant is featuring a 3-course lunch at $25 and a 3-course dinner at $45 (with vegetarian option available).
Azure's bread basket is always a delight.
Summerlicious dinner for two looks something like this:
HEIRLOOM TOMATOES
Buffalo mozzarella + basil + figs + balsamic glaze
SEARED TUNA & COMPRESSED WATERMELON
Watercress + avocado + orange + cucumber + micro cress
ONTARIO BEEF STRIPLOIN
Pink peppercorns + truffle pomme puree + scallions + king mushrooms + au jus
BC ORGANIC SALMON
Garlic scapes + arugula + grilled plums + lavender sour cream
HONEY GINGER PANNA COTTA
Lemongrass consommé + mango gelee + pine nut dentelle
CHEF'S DAILY SORBET
Raspberry sorbet
LINDT MILK CHOCOLATE TORTE
Chocolate mousse + marshmallow crème + ganache + sour cherry + praline
All in all a good dinner at Azure. Wonderful presentation for all plates. The appetizers were the standouts of the night. The simple fresh ingredients on the salads completely shined on their own and their flavours popped (the tomatoes + mozzarella + figs + balsalmic combo is killer.) As for the entrees, taste and flavour were there but unfortunately our salmon was on the dry side and the striploin was done medium-well (we asked for medium-rare). When our server came over to ask us how everything was we told him about our steak, and he kindly offered us another one (we declined the offer as we were more than half way done the steak... it really wasn't a big deal anyway). To compensate for it our server got us all three desserts *thank you!* My favourite was the panna cotta; I really enjoyed the unique and distinctive sweetness from the honey ginger. It would have been a perfect dessert if the pine nut dentelle was crispy instead of soft and mushy. Cheers to Azure for the biggest serving of raspberry sorbet I've had to date, and the lovely, multi-layered chocolate torte was also a treat :)
If you're on Twitter or Instagram, make sure you tweet your meal review during Summerlicious (July 4 - July 20) with the hashtag #InteracFoodCritic for a chance to win one of 17 daily draws of $200 delivered through Interac e-Transfer®! More details here.
*This meal was complimentary. The opinions and views expressed on this post are my own*
Related Posts:
Azure Restaurant & Bar (2013 Summerlicious)
Azure Restaurant & Bar (2013 Winterlicious)
