Emma, a fellow UofC alum was in the city for training, and Karen decided to introduce her to me over a girlie dinner last week. Coming from the gustatory capital of Hong Kong and in a line of business where there is no lack of exposure to fine dining, Emma would be a tough critic to impress. Thankfully, Degustation, with a fun concept, delicious food and value for money proposition knocked our collective socks off. Score one for New York.
Tortilla Espanola
Chef Genovart hails from Spain and serves a Spanish influenced menu, tapas style. Diners can choose to go ala carte or pick the very reasonably priced tasting menus (5 courses for $50, 10 courses for $75).
Since Karen was keen on the tasting menu, all three of us had to participate. Thankfully the restaurant is flexible enough for us to swap a few dishes, allowing us to taste more. I opted out of the poached egg course and went for the Degustation’s version of the spanish traditional tapas, tortilla espanola. Imagine my surprise when out came not a hefty slab of potato omelette, but a pair of little munchies made up of a thin potato slice wrapping a quail egg, pan fried and then topped with the thinnest slice of cherry tomato. Clever and tasty, but much smaller than the first courses my companions had, a colorful salad and a composed soup of poached egg and tempura-ed vegetables.
oil poached cod, clams, peas in bacon broth
For our second courses, all three of us opted for the cod fish. It turned out to be the right choice, this being one of the highlights of the meal. The fish is perfectly moist, the clams big and juicy, and the taste of bacon enhanced without overpowering the flavor of the delicate fish. We cleared our plates on this one.
quail with pinenut puree
I went from fish to fowl with my next dish, a simply grilled quail with mushrooms and a thick, buttery pinenut puree. The quail is cooked on a charcoal grill situated right in the middle of the room, and the aroma was amazing. The meat was juicy, and the gaminess accentuated with the sweet and earthy flavors of the sauce.
- pan seared scallops with shiso puree and saffron risotto
Karen and Emma switched out of the quail and ended up with plates of seared sea scallops. The brilliant green of the shiso puree, the scallop’s white flesh and distinct brown sear sitting on a yellow and orange bed of oatmeal risotto made for a beautiful and edible Rothko-esque picture.
pork belly
The meat dish is always the weakest for some reason and I honestly cannot get excited over crispy pork belly anymore, no matter how well done. I liked the garlicky sides though, which helped ease the fattiness of the pork. Karen and Emma stuck to the Wagyu beef and porcini dish, which had a really pleasing sweetness to it that I could not identify.
bread pudding
We were very ready for dessert after the meat course, and were served a simple but effective dish of bread pudding, soaked in milk and then treated to a round of brulee-ing. The sourish berry coulis and fresh berries helped temper the sugariness of the pudding.
4 cheese, 4 accompaniment plate
We were by this point full, but continued to order a plate of 4 cheeses after a bout of dish envy as we saw the chef prepare a cheese plate for other diners. Each cheese came with a mate, and the pairings worked really well to highlight the characteristics of the cheeses. The honeycomb that accompanied a stinky cheese whose name I no longer remember did me in. I had to have the cheese plate simply for the thrill of eating honey straight out of the comb. After the cheese and the attendant basket of bread that came with the cheese, we were now approaching more than comfortably full, and since the restaurant does not serve coffee due to lack of space, we paid our very reasonable bill and ambled out of the restaurant in good spirits and with plans to meet again on Sunday.
September 10, 2008 at 7:02 pm
wah, i want to go too!