I wrote this post from the cottage, sitting on my porch with this view! We had the most incredible weekend weather wise; high twenties Celsius and virtually cloud free.
Saturday was our wedding anniversary and as a real treat we went to Scaramouche. Scaramouche is one of Toronto’s top rated restaurants and being so, we generally reserve it for really special occasions. It’s been around for about 30 years, situated in an unlikely location in the basement of an old apartment building. But what makes this place special is that although it is in the basement, the entire back side facing south is open with large windows offering up incredible views of the city skyline.
We had 7:30 reservations and the place was already packed with the wealthy silver-haired bunch finishing off; we were shown to a wonderful table directly beside a window and a great view. Our waiter, Andrew has been working there for 23 years, we have had him serve us before, and he seems to remember us. Andrew is an charming character and given the opportunity will offer up interesting tales in a soliloquy-like delivery; he is rather dramatic! Sadly he was not as dramatic on this evening, or he was busy, but there were no tales.
We began with a martini, I with my vodka martini, very dry without an olive nor a twist, and JT with a gin martini, with two olives. The olives are strange looking, kinda bluish green, Andrew told us the name but I already had a sip or two of the martini, so I cannot recall!
We placed our order and Andrew paces us very nicely. I’m still watching my portions do I order two appetizers, JT eats like a normal person. Although it is a fancy place and quite expensive, I do find the portions are rather generous (it’s usually the opposite, high price, tiny portion). Andrew starts us with a wonderful amuse bouche, a little mushroom mousse, which did its job very well and had us salivating like Pavlov’s dogs at the sound of a bell! Not surprisingly I order the Yellow Fin Tuna ($20) sashimi grade tuna tartare seasoned with lime, ginger, soy, coriander, shiso, caramelized daikon, soy and sweet chili sauce as my first course; the Asian flavours hit my taste buds perfectly. I would guess there was close to 100g of tuna on the plate, very very tasty. JT ordered the Three Goat Cheeses ($19) made of fresh Monforte, St. Maure, Bûche de chèvre with beets, walnuts, lentils and a mushroom crostini, with pesto and a Moscatel vinegar reduction. He said it was good but not over the top.
Our second courses were Spicy Steak Tartare ($18) hand-cut filet mignon with garlic crostini garnished with watercress. It was about 70g of meat and a little too saucy in my opinion (like mayo). The flavours were good, just too creamy; JT had Lamb ($46) roasted rack, slow cooked shoulder with eggplant, black olive, artichoke preserved lemon and pine nut and a salsa verde. He said it was good but again not over the top and for forty six dollars you expect OTT!
We finished our dinner with a cappuccino which was OK, definitely not the best coffee I’ve ever had.
Although the dinner was good, it wasn’t the level I’d expect for a $200 meal; everything was fine, it just didn’t meet our lofty expectations set by our previous dining experiences at this place.
Overall rating of Scaramouche (in my opinion): Decor 2/5 (except for the view which is 5/5), service 2/5, food 3.5/5, Value 2/5, Noise: 4/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet). A note about this rating: we valued it to expectations garnered by the expensive cost and high level of this restaurant. We paid for our meal in full.
Hi Eva, it’s too bad the restaurant didn’t quite live up to expectations, but it still sounds like a great place to have dinner (albeit a little pricey perhaps?!).
I noticed your comment to Sissi above – I never had pho with raw beef in before. Every time I’ve had it in the Vietnamese places in Chinatown here the beef has always been cooked(ish), or at the very least a bit rare. I do enjoy rare steak, but I don’t think I’d be such a fan of pho if it had raw beef in it (even though I’m sure it cooks… sort of… in the hot soup. I suppose it depends on the cut and thickness of meat.
Love the photo – that’s my kind of place… would choose that over Times Square any day!
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Thanks Charles, it’s funny how cultures present cuisines differently in different countries, our Pho is always raw, but the soup is so scalding hot that it literally cooks it in seconds.
I came down with a bad head cold on the weekend and JT went out and got me take out Pho yesterday for lunch…it really hit the spot. It’s brutally hot in the city with high humidity so I normally wouldn’t be eating Pho, but with a cold I usually crave it’s heat and spiciness. So good.
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Take out pho… omg! It’s a good thing I don’t live near my favourite pho place in Paris. €6.50 for a massive bowl, I’d literally be eating there every day – not even kidding, especially in winter!
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Our local Pho place is about $7 which is around €5. And it’s sooooo good. I know what you mean about eating it every day, it’s just a little too salty to justify!
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I, too, am trying to cach up here, Eva, and sorry I missed your anniversary. Your celebratory dinner seems disappointing –or at least I would have been disappointed. If I’m going to pay “top dollar”, I expect everything to be the best and not just good. Well, the restaurant may have let you down but I’m sure your company didn’t. I hope you both had a wonderful anniversary with many more to come.
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No worries John but thank you. It was a bit dissapointing, but had it been a hundred dollar place it likely would have been OK!
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Sorry, I’m still catching up on my commeting. I did well while I was away — up until Thursday when I returned home as was behind with everything back here. I’m disappointed that my favourite restaurant didn’t meet your expectations. I’ve always love it for its’ consistentcy too…. 😦
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Thanks Barb, I’m catching up too. Ya, it was too bad about Scaramouche, perhaps missing a couple of years will bring the enchantment back.
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A shame it didn’t quite live up to expectations – it all sounds very good, but I feel the same – you’d think they’d try to go that extra mile to make sure it’s really worth it!
On the point of coffee – what is it with restaurants and coffee…? I know coffee isn’t really their “raison d’être” – more of just a thing they sling out after the meal but I’ve yet to have a good coffee in a restaurant, except for one place in Stockholm which served the nicest cup of filter coffee at the end (it was mainly nice because it was so surprising – I’m so used to espressos served here after meals).
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Thanks Charles, I don’t have a coffee after dinner very often so I consider it a real treat it was a disappointment.
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You know, since writing this I sampled a coffee in a recently re-opened Indian restaurant. It’s been re-opened three times, each time as a curry restaurant. The first time, the coffee was very unspecial, but drinkable, the second time it tasted of mould, and the third time…. well, it was the best coffee I ever had after a meal in a French restaurant (or rather “restaurant in France”).
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Interesting, Charles but for some reason coffee would not be something I would order in an Indian Restaurant, but I’m glad you had a great cuppa!
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I know what you mean, when you pay that much for a meal, there are certain expectations related to value 🙂
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Thanks Lorraine, there certainly are, that’s for sure.
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Your tuna dish sounds fabulous!!! Actually it all sounds very good, but especially the tuna! Happy anniversary again!
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Thanks Kristy. It was very tasty and service not as bad, just not as good as it could have been. My friend Andy and Mark were guests of a friend and it was a $700+ tax and tip dinner, now that would be disapointing!
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That is one great view. It doesn’t look like a horse either.
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So funny Greg. I actually like her look! And I’m not a horse lover!!!! Unless it’s tartar! 😉
Thank you, though.
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What a breath taking view Eva!
I love your reviews, so thorough 🙂
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Thank you kindly Sawsan; that’s the view that makes the 3.5 hour drive worth it!
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The amuse bouche sounds perfect and I would have enjoyed JT’s lamb, but it is disappointing to spend so much money and not have everything as you like.
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Thanks Sharyn, price to expectations are indeed a difficult thing to manage.
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Happy 26th Wedding Anniversary Eva. Congrats on a huge milestone. We had our 26th anniversary in January. That’s fabulous that you were able to go out and celebrate at a special restaurant however it does seem that the restaurant let you down some what. Here in Sydney we have plenty of restaurants that charge those sorts of prices but I tend to avoid them because when I go, I go with such high expectations and the typical scenario is that I am grossly let down. I often think it is better to go somewhere ‘cheap and cheerful’ and if things go wrong you don’t let it bother you. However, on a special occasion like an anniversary, you don’t necessarily want ‘cheap’ do you. What to do!!! xx
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Thank you Charlie, I do remember that blog post of yours but anyway happy belated anniversary to you too, it is indeed a milestone. We had been before to this place and it’s always been special, but as I recall, perhaps last year was made special because our dear friends ordered a glass of champagne for us, which had nothing to do with the restaurant, but a kind gestures. I know that next year, we will likely choose somewhere else.
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Belated happy anniversary my friend – the dishes sound very unique and classy at this restaurant, though it is unfortunate that only the view was 5/5!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thank you kindly CCU; that’s the thing about really pricey places is that expectations go up with the prices. It was still nice but not as nice as I had hoped since we had so much better experiences in the past there.
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Excellent review! I see we would both agree about the food, service etc. if we went to a restaurant together. I also love raw tuna and beef tartare is one of my favourite dishes (actually the only beef dish I love), but I must say rare are the restaurants who know how to season it… If you go one day to Paris I strongly recommend Le Train Bleu. It’s the most beautiful restaurant I have ever seen (the ceiling and walls are breathtaking, it is classified as a monument), but most of all they serve the best steak tartare I have ever had in my life. The service is quick, polite and efficient. Now I am seriously craving their steak tartare…
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Thank you Sissi, steak tartar is the one of the beef dishes I generally order too (Vietnamese Pho is the other, and that’s raw too!). I am so happy you mentioned your flavourite place on Paris, we are going in mid September! We will book it now! I just looked at their site and the restaurant is breath taking! I’m very excited to have our first restaurant in Paris booked! Thanks again.
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You are welcome! I hope you will enjoy it! I must warn you: in Paris steak tartare is usually served with French fries and if I remember theirs were irresistible… My steak tartare treats are the only time I have French fries actually 😉
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I know, they do that in Toronto too, I just have a few of them anyway! They are really a lovely treat.
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