Ottawa Foodies

I ate at the WGP for the first time last week and enjoyed it quite a bit. Of course, it is quite expensive and I won't return unless it's for a very special occasion.

I started with the tuna tataki, which was drizzled with a soya glaze, sprinkled with goat cheese and served with a couple pieces of marinated bok choy (or "choi" as they called it). I found the goat cheese to be entirely out of place and inconsistent with the other flavours on the plate. The tuna was cooked nicely and was quite flavourful and tender. Still, it was edible and decent. I think the goat cheese was a mistake, though.

As a main course I had the arctic char (yes, I like fish), which had a delightful salty flavour. Delicious. It was served on a bed of wild rice pilaf and with three small glazed carrots. I found the portions of rice and carrots (three tiny carrots??) to be small for the price, although thought the fish portion was okay. The wild rice pilaf was good, but nothing to write home about, and the carrots were nicely done.

For dessert I chose the homemade ice cream (two scoops of oatmeal raisin and one scoop of chocolate). All three scoops were delicious. The oatmeal raisin was amazing because I could taste these fresh little raisins and could feel the grittiness of the oatmeal flakes. The flavour of the ice cream was amazing. The chocolate was also lovely. Definitely a good choice.

As for drinks I had a diet coke and a Waupoo's Premium Cider, which was out of this world!

My bill came to about $60 plus tip and I left feeling content, but not really full. I would recommend this restaurant, but make sure it's for a special occasion.

Much as been said about WGP, but thought one more comment is warranted.

On a recent outing to Wellington street, I stopped in for lunch, my 2 children (9 months and 3 years) in tow. I had previously been apprehensive about bringing small children to WGP but, it was my birthday, I'd had a pretty terrible week, it was lunch time, and I was starving.

Just wanted to give props to the staff who were welcoming (they have high chairs... so we are not the first). The kitchen staff spent a huge amount of time entertaining my youngest making faces and dancing in the service window.

Really, really, great place.

Oh yeah, they had sticky toffee bread pudding for dessert. Get there quick, have some, you'll love it... mmmm.

This place does not need the extra publicity, it sells itself very well on it's own. However, I still want to share the amazing experience we had the other night here. We were just looking for a "snack" and a nice glass of wine on Tuesday night. At 9pm the place was packed and buzzing. We decided to sit at the bar. We chose to split a risotto with le Coprin mushrooms with a goat cheese croquette and generously drizzled with white truffle oil. Oh My! On top of being insanely delicious, for easier sharing our server divided the dish on 2 different plates and we each had a croquette. I was amazed at how well we were treated. With our meal I had a generous glass of South Australia Petit Verdot, Pirramima Mclaren 2004. This wine is not for the faint of hearts. It packs a punch and will assault your every senses...I LOVED IT!

I adore this place, with the re brick and wood it is both warm and cozy. Makes me feel like home.

A great choice if you find yourself in this stretch of Wellington. The meals are reasonably priced and creative with good ingredients. Ambiance is nice too. Only thing keeping this restaurant from becoming a top pick is the somewhat disconnected appetizers and mains and the slightly non-gelling dishes themselves. The chef is perhaps not quite as experienced as they are imaginative.

Probably the best restaurant I have been to this year. The staff is lovely, knowledgeable and helpful with wine selections. Had a rare tuna app with fennel, slice of medium-rare steak that came with potatoes in a delicious (can't remember exactly what kind) of sauce and a crepe full of bananas and chocolate for dessert. Also tried someone else's ice cream (this was when Pascale was still making it, I'm assuming they don't use hers anymore since she left) and it was awesome. Great place, would reccomend it to anyone despite the 200$ bill for 3.

No need for a lengthy review as I am sure everyone is convinced that this is a great spot... but did think this was worth a mention.

Saturday night there was no steak tartare (booo), but they did offer up an equally sublime dish. Poutine, WGP style. Two words.... bacon gravy. Wow.

Also mixed in there somewhere with all of that bacony goodness was some balderson aged white cheddar and pea shoots.

VERY good. Enjoy with Beau's LTL.

I am going to be in town on Sunday, have enjoyed Beckta, Domus, Sweetgrass among other restos on this list, would you recommend Wellington? Might there be something closer to the Marriott that you would also recommend?

Thanks-

I can't say enough good things about this place! my husband had the duck and I had oysters, both very fresh and delish...we also took home made ice cream home, amazing!

The servants?! I think you meant 'servers'... oi!

I loved this place.
what sold it to me was the atmosphere and the servants. The servants really know the food/beer/wine. The food is simple but well made and well presented.

The beer I chose was an ale from the Robert Simpson Brewing Company out of Barrie, ON which is one of the many beer microbrewed beers they serve. I like the fact that they serve beers from local Ontario small breweries and in being a gastropub, compliment the food you eat as well.

We ordered beers with our meals and this was the bf's choice. St. Peter's English Ale which is brewed in Suffolk, England and is organic. The bottle was the coolest bit....we were allowed to keep it! Very good beer.

While not really a comment on beer from this vendor, I just had to respond to FF's comments on Guinness. If you don't like the relative harshness of Guinness, you should head over to Ireland. The Irish all swear it doesn't travel well, and I thought they were full of it. But it's true. Guinness in Ireland is as you describe: heavy, dark, but smooooooooth and creamy. It's just the perfect drink. Though "perfect" is a dangerous word when talking about taste.

The really big Irish fans insist it has to be sampled in Dublin, near the brewery, as even trucking it to the outer counties reduces the quality. This might be going a little too far, so to speak.

I really enjoyed the Amsterdam Two-Fisted Stout (presumably from Toronto's Amsterdam brewing company). Although the waiter "warned" me that it's dark like Guinness, this beer is the way Guinness *should* be. Heavy and dark, but with a smooth and delicious flavour. No overpowering bitter burnt flavours like Guinness... A pint of Guinness is too much (hence the existence of Black and Tan). A pint of this Two-Fisted Stout is spot on!

The only downside of their beer selection is that the other four draught choices tonight were all yellow beers: three lagers and one pale ale. The beers I love most always seem to be red (or at least orange).

The owners took a broad range of input when coming up with the beer menu, including the opinion of some local craft brewers. They serve an excellent selection of Ontario Micro Brews and British Ales which attracts beer geeks from all around the Ottawa Valley. Definitely go here for the beer.

I sampled a glass of the Shingleback Shiraz (South Australia) and enjoyed its sweetness and complex fruitiness. I'm generally one to sip my wine between courses rather than with the food, so this worked out well. Unlike most wines it even went well with dessert. Anyways, I have yet to meet an Australian Shiraz I don't like.

They have an extensive selection of wines by the glass here, so if you like to sample a few different ones it's a great place to be!

Everyone knows to try the Beef Tartare at the Gastropub. So if you haven't already done so, unless you are planning a visit to restaurants on Boulevard du Montparnasse in Paris, there are no other places in Ottawa that will offer the same (tasty) quality Tartare. A must!

Success!

I believe it was "beef tartare with crostini and truffle oil" on the menu.

Generous portion, marries well with their "house"-level Pinot. Were I to make it at home I'd probably boost the acidity a bit (maybe more capers?), but this was full of beefy goodness.

We've had the steak tartare here. We thought it was very tasty, and the portion was quite large (so large that, had I been eating it alone as a starter, I would have been too full for my main -- but, perfect for sharing).

I can't give unilateral "yay" or "nay" on the steak tartare here yet, because it wasn't available on the menu when I went. They did, however, make some up for me right special. It was good, but I'm not sure if it was the recipe they normally use.

For lunch, yesterday's Ice cream selection was:

Cranberry sorbet, raspberry chocolate, and get ready for it, Banana caramel!

The cranberry sorbet would have been the perfect palate cleanser... a bit sour and very refreshing.

The raspberry chocolate was rich. I have never really enjoyed the chocolate/raspberry mix. But I ate all the ice cream in my bowl.

The chunky monkey carmel was the perfect mix for desert. Once again nice and rich, I could of had a full bowl of this ice cream only and would have been happy.

I love that they serve the ice cream in cold bowls. Pretty sure they put them in the freezer so that the ice cream won't melt while you eat! Very nice attention to detail.

Here is the photo showing "3 small scoops of exquisitely delicious gourmet ice cream" that zymurgist describes. I had raspberry, Tiramisu, and vanilla. They are creamy and yummy!

They do the ice cream in house but I no longer make it for them since February

We've had the ice cream from Wellington twice now...the first time was in late May; we had caramel, something forgettable and banana (the banana was lucious!). We went again last week and had strawberry-rhubarb sorbet that was a bit icy...black currrent ice cream and peanut butter ice cream; we also ordered a chocolate-caramel pot de creme; probably the best dessert course I have ever had. YUM!

She was making it. I'm not sure if she still is. I can ask on Sunday =)

I've heard that their ice cream is homemade, and I've also heard that Pascale's (now with the Piggy Market) was making it. Can someone verify this for me?

their homemade ice cream is amazing! well worth the price.

I hear they make the ice cream in house. Every time we've been there, we've lucked out since they made peanut butter ice cream on those occasions! Delicious!

For 7 bucks you get 3 small scoops of exquisitely delicious gourmet ice cream. Extremely yummy!

We all like this baguette-type bread. I was told that the bread is supplied by their neighbor Harvest Loaf, Harvest Loaf. I wish that I also live next to a bakery so that I can have fresh bread daily.

However, I am extremely surprised and disappointed that they don't have balsamic vinegar when I asked for it!

When it came to order our second courses, I was hemming and hawing between the walleye and the chicken. Our server noticed this, and asked what I was trying to decide...when I told him, he immediately said the walleye. And wow, was I glad! Although I'm sure the chicken would have been just as good but he had said that this was the right season to have walleye since it takes a few years before the fish are good to eat again from the lakes. Or should I say, BEST to eat again. This fish (we call it pickerel mainly in SK) is not 'fishy' tasting at all and flaky. It was served on a bed of duck sausage (delish) potatoes, and beets. Sooooo goooood!!

Went here for the first time on Sat. night for my birthday! This was my 1st course....I wanted to quote from the menu but since their menu changes regularly, they just have a sample menu on their website so I'll try as best I can.
Albacore tuna with pickled ginger, tiny pieces of watermelon, and roe. It was cooked nicely, leaving the middle a touch undercooked, which I believe is the best way to serve tuna in this manner. The roe was wonderful with this, and the ginger gave it an extra zing with the bits of watermelon adding cool freshness.

My bf's second course was the parpadelle pasta which is similar to lasagna noodles but half the size. It was served with roasted red peppers, oyster mushrooms, and padano cheese. I'm sure there were other bits and bites in it but these were the main items. Very delish and the portion size was just right.

Sorry this pic isn't the best since it was getting darker and the table was only lit by a small candle. Quite romantic, really!

This was the bf's 1st course...chicken fricasee with corn,oyster mushrooms, and truffle oil served on a herbed crepe. I'm sure there was other goodies in here but I'm recalling from my memory a few das later. I had a bite of it and it was served warm (I thought it'd be cool, don't know why) but wow, this was amazing! Even though my tuna was excellent as well, I was wishing I had ordered this instead!

This is the tuna tartare ($12) that my friend ordered. Tuna mixed with spicy yuzu mayo. My friend is a picky diner and she told me that the tuna was good, but didn't blow her away though.

Note: Talking about yuzu, have you ever picked up a glass jar of Korean yuzu (called yuja in Korean) from any Chinese grocery stores (e.g., New 168, Kowloon Market, or T&T)? It looks like orange jam. In the winter time, I use about 1 or 2 tablespoon of yuzu syrup to stir in a cup of hot water (sometimes I add small amount of honey) to soothe my throat. I remember that few years ago, a popular Korean TV series (called Dae Jang Geum) was aired in Hong Kong and the drama series has fascinated many Asian TV audience as well. The story talks about the first female Royal Physician in Korean history. About every episode involves making delicious food presented to the king and the stress of herbal medicine.

Two of our friends ordered their Angus ribeye ($30) with brown butter cheddar potato puree. The menu states that the dish accompaniment includes Le Coprin mushrooms. But I don't see any mushrooms in the photo. I think it would be nice to add some vegetables on the side to accompany the big steak (very good portion!). My friends told me that the steak they had was tasty.

Sea scallops are always our favorite dish, so delicate. However, scallops are often overcooked and become a rubbery dish. Our sea scaloops were cooked to perfection. The accompaniment (lentils, Nagano bacon, savoy cabbage, overnight tomatoes, corn relish) was also very delicious.

Note: We didn't order this as our main. Instead, we ordered this dish ($25) as our appetizer for the group to share (since many of us ordered the soup of the day). My girl friend who went here for dinner the next day also ordered the scallops as her main. She said the same thing - "the scallops are cooked perfectly!"

This is the Nagano pork loin that my husband and one of our friends ordered. The meat was very tender and juicy. The meat does not have the texture like the typical Canadian pork. My friend (used to be an expat in Japan) told my husband that when you eat the Nagano pork meat, you have to cut it in a smaller portion, put the small piece in your mouth and detect the fine texture to enjoy this type of meat. Then you will see the difference. Nagano pork does not taste like pork at all. So, when you order this dish, try to eat it slowly to enjoy the taste and fine texture.

I told my another friend about this dish. She brought her husband with her to try our recommended dish the next day. Her husband also likes it.

My friend ordered their Date square with vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce. I tried a bite and told my friend that I like her Queen's date cake more.

This is the Chocolate terrine with raspberry sauce ($6). My hubby enjoyed it very much!