Ottawa Foodies

My friend also said the same thing about the price here (price has gone up sharply). She said we can get a better meal at Signatures, vendor 875, with excellent services.

We were allowed to take the food home of course, they packed it up in a doggie bag to match the wine that they let us take home too. When eating so many courses though, one does want to have a reasonable amount for each course, not a 300g steak and potatoes main after one has already enjoyed 4+ courses before it. It adds unnecessary pressure to eat more and one often ends up leaving uncomfortably full.

Did they let you take the leftovers home in a doggy bag? I would personally never complain about "too much food" unless they didn't let you take the rest home.

After posting my review, I checked out the Ottawa Express link below as well...not surprisingly they mention the food being too salty also. What is it with the salt?

My husband and I wanted to try this restaurant for a while. It was recommended by a friend and the chef is well known. We made a reservation for Valentine's which was a set 6 course menu for $108 each.

The decor is beautiful...love the birch even though it is not good Feng Shui...but then maybe that would explain the rest of the story.....

We had warmed buns brought in a basket to the table - OK but not great. Served with olive oil poured over sea salt..did not really do it for me nor hubby.

Amuse Bouche was very nice...sushi grade tuna in rice and coated in caviar.

I had a lobster bisque with goat cheese topped with a thick crust of puff pastry. Nice but fairly heavy considering there were still 5 more courses to come, and too much sea salt on the pastry. Hubby (seafood allergy) had a wild mushroom version. Again too much salt, but a little lighter and I actually preferred over mine.

Second course was a venison carpachio with kumquat marmalade. Nice but again too much sea salt on it...There seemed to be a theme.

Next came the only veg dish which was 4 sprigs of asparagus with a light sauce and yet again too much sea salt. At this point I requested that the sea salt not be added to any more of my meals. Unfortunately we forgot to say the same for my husband.

Fourth course was a duck cassoulet over a bed of white beans in a white cream truffle sauce...nice but very rich. At least I did not have salt added and my husband had to scrape his off.

Watermelon sorbet was provided as a palate cleanser.

The Main was a 300g rib eye with mounds of garlic mashed potatoes and squash. This is a massive portion even if only having 3 courses. We did the math - it is 2/3 of a pound or 10 oz. Perhaps they cater more to the hockey players who might appreciate a meal of this size. My husband scraped the sea salt off again. At least it was very tasty and cooked to perfection. We only got half way through and then threw in the towel so to speak.

The final course, or so we thought, was dessert - a wonderful molten chocolate cake with ice cream and ornamentation which I could not identify...we each had a tasting but could barely eat.

Then they brought out more chocolate with coffee, and then 6 truffles with the bill...which neither of us even touched.

Service was poor. The waiter was pleasant but appeared to be too busy with many tables. We poured our own water and wine throughout the meal and I had to wave down another waiter to get my coffee with the dessert.

So to sum it up...way too much food, too little service, combination of courses too heavy and rich with 3 including meat and an incomprehensible amount of sea salt used on every dish other than dessert.

The meals also felt very rushed. Perhaps we could have eaten more if the courses were not immediately following each other with only 1-2 minutes in between. It was so fast that one person removed plates while another brought in the next and they sometimes passed each other in the restaurant.

The one saving grace was that they let us take home the leftover wine at the end of the night. We ordered a wonderful Zinfandel from Crane Canyon for $80 but one bottle is a bit much for 2 people when one has to drive. I have never seen a restaurant recork a bottle so you can take it home. Enjoyed it with chili the next night. Of note, you could get a wine flight (6 half glasses) with the meal for an additional $80 each. It seems they have the portions right on the alcohol...now if they could do the same for the food.

For the 2 of us with the bottle of wine and taxes and tip it came to $380. For that price I would rather go to 18 or Beckta where we have had the Chef's blind tasting several times and paid same/less for a more enjoyable experience.

Our friend's company Christmas dinner took place at Perspectives again. The dinner was excellent together with attentive services. Our water was re-filled all the time. Considering the whole place was almost full along with Christmas banquet dance/dinner on the second floor, I think the service we received was pretty good this year. The Christmas set menu ($46.95) now consists of 3 dishes only - hot appetizer (spring roll or ravioli), main course (duck only or add $13.50 to add lobster to the duck), and a fixed dessert which is creme brulee only. It seems that the menu price has increased significantly.

Our friend asked the server to order 2 bottles of wines for our table - one red (Angels Gate's Pinot Noir 2005) and one white (also Angels Gate's Gewurztraminer 2005). I tried the white and I enjoyed it very much with my meal. We had a wonderful night at Perspectives!

Price: I just talked to my friend on the phone and she told me that the bill came to about $135 per person after taxes and tips. For this price, my friend said that she is now thinking of having their company Christmas dinner at Signatures instead since she likes the 5-star top-notch services at Signatures very much.

P.S. All the food photos were taken using my friend's Nikon N40. I had fun playing with his camera. People are comparing Nikon N40 with Canon Rebel XTi. Now I have tried Nikon N40 and I hope that I will have a chance to try Canon Rebel XTi one day. By the way, have you seen the wedding commercial featuring Canon Rebel XTi lately? My friend's nephew was involved in shooting that wedding video.

Sounds like this place is not worth going to, even if Anne Hardy has given it two stars...

I have been there for a meal after a golf game, but hotel restaurants don,t really do it for me...

perhaps that,s why I haven,t been to Signitures either, yet. I had been to it,s predessor, the U of O restaurant think it was called, but wasn,t very impressed...

My friends invited us to Perspectives for Christmas Festive Dinner yesterday. Our 5th visit to this top rated restaurant in Kanata and I had once again a wonderful meal there.

Menu
Appetizer: Lobster macchiato (i.e., lobster soup) or Smoked duck proscuitto
Main dish: “Rotisserie poussin”, “miso lacquered sable fish” or “Shell and bone”
Dessert: Crème brulee terrine

A designated friend (who knows wine) picked a bottle of red wine from New Zealand for us. The red wine was quite smooth and I like it very much. (Too bad I didn’t write down the brand.)

I have taken photo for each dish. So, you can refer to the photos below for more details.

Few things worth mentioning here:

Chef Michael Blackie
Chef Michael (their executive chef) is the winner of Ottawa 2006 Gold Medal Plates. He will move on to compete in the Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championship to be held in Whistler from February 1st to 4th, 2007. I hope that he will win! Ottawa is now a culinary city full of famous chefs.

Note: Actually, I asked our server if Chef Michael was in the kitchen and I got the YES answer. The hotel also had corporate Christmas dinner on the second floor. So, he must be busy managing the kitchen for the banquet as well.

Inside the restaurant
We arrived at the restaurant at 6:30 PM. At that time, the place wasn’t full. Only few tables were occupied. Around 8:00 PM, the place became busy. I guess the trend is to have late dinner nowadays.

Décor and Feng Shui
Inside the restaurant, the décor is very contemporary and spacious. The designer uses white birch as divider. It looks very elegant. However, we were joking that the use of dry wood violates the rules of Feng Shui. It is best to stay away from dried flowers or plants, since these symbolize decay or lifelessness. Instead, having living plants and fresh flowers inside the restaurant will encourage good energy and revenue flow. We joked that if Terry Matthew orders the management to replace the dried birch with living tree, the place will be prosperous every day. (Note: The photo shown was not taken by me. I got it from the Internet so that you know what I mean by their birch divider.)

Services
We do find that services at Perspectives can't be compared with Signatures or Merlot. The services were not impressive at all. I think if you get the table inside the glass room, you and your guests will be served by a more experienced server. Last time we had dinner with our friends inside the glass room and the service was excellent.

The photo shows the bun they served us and their complimentary in-house smoke salmon for each of us. My husband just can’t wait to say “Very Tasty” (好好味 in Chinese) immediately after the bite of their smoke salmon.

I was hungry. So, when I saw the buns before the meal started, I can’t wait but to pick one up and started eating. The buns were warm. We dipped the bun in the seasoned olive oil. It was very delicious. So, I started to eat the second bun (I know I should not eat too much bun, but I can’t help since the bun with the olive oil just tasted so damn good.) I wanted to eat the third bun. But I know I have to stop to make some more room for the real meal.

Review: www.ottawaxpress.ca

This is the Candy cane creme brulee (egg nog + mint ice cream) that was included in my set menu. Delicious!

This is their creme brulee ($8).

This is the Fruit Alignment ($8) - raspberry tiarmisu + jackfruit and ginger gelato + chocolate hazelnut florentine.

This is the mandarin cheese cake ($9) that my husband ordered. Isn't this cute?

This is the double deck ($9) which is passion fruit + milk chocolate + Irish cream + jivara gelato. This is definitely for chocolate lovers.

Who doesn’t have room for dessert? This is the Crème brulee terrine – spice vanilla anglaise with ginger bread crust. My meal was complemented by this delicious treat – mildly sweet, not too rich, melt in my mouth. Honestly, I can eat another one in a row.

You can see that we had so much fun just eating dessert!

Another yummy dessert!

The pastry chef is full of imagination.

How about their in-house ice cream?

My Duck a lot (from the Set Menu) was very very good. I would order this again.

I also like the deep-fried apple on the side. Very innovative!

This is the main course from the Set Menu. Duck a lot. Adding applewood cheddar poached P.E.I. lobster to the duck plate would cost additional $13.50.

This is the Potato wrapped venison loin (with steamed edamame, sweet pea, shallot pulse). $36.

This is the Wide-eye Ontario rack of lamb (with lobster brioche + basil + chevre cosmopolitan). This dish has the price tag of $51. Not cheap!

My friend told me that the lamb was good. But she prefers the lamb at Le Panaché, vendor 503.

This is the A.A.A. three way (fillet, short rib, pulled cheeks, cranberry-toner) my husband ordered ($41). He told me that the taste was good, but the sauce is a bit sweet for him.

This is the Rotisserie poussin (香烤春雞) accompanied by Saskatoon berries and potato gratin (i.e., a cup of baked potato), charmingly presented on a white-bone plate.

This small chicken’s skin was coated by either honey or syrup. The meat was tender, juicy and delicious. I really wanted to eat with my two hands to enjoy this small bird. But thinking that this is an elegant restaurant and I have dressed up, I better behave like a lady. So, I have to enjoy this succulent young bird with knife and fork the traditional western way.

This is the Shell and Bone (pan seared sea scallops with slow roasted veal tenderloin). I didn’t have this dish. The majority of my friends (6 out of 8) ordered this dish and they told me it was succulent and scrumptious (hey, I have to write like a food critic, ha ha…)

Quail?

Trout?

Must be duck? My friend's dish.

This is the ravioli. Nice to see the slice of the lotus root on the top.

This is my tuna + tempura prawn tartar with caramelized banana finger (part of the Set Menu). I called the western version of sweet spring roll. Not bad.

This is the Black butter sided scallops ($16).

I had the Lobster macchiato (i.e., Lobster soup). It was very delicious (Hmmm, I loved lobster!!). However, I found it a bit salty though. It could be perfect if the salt level can be reduced a bit.

This is my husband’s smoked duck prosciutto. I let him try some of my Lobster soup and he told me he preferred my soup over his duck.

Our family and another 8 families made the reservation for New Year brunch buffet here to celebrate New Year together. We had a request for the ladies to wear something red since red is a symbol for good luck and good fortune in New Year. The one with lots of red was awarded a small gift.

Last time we went to Merlot for New Year brunch buffet. But this year, Merlot charges $48 per person. We found it too expensive for buffet (you are talking about $65 per person after tax and tips for buffet lunch). Otherwise, we all prefer to go to Merlot to enjoy the panorama view and revolving experience again.

Anyway, Perspectives charges $32.50 per person. So, we voted to try the New Year brunch buffet at Perspectives.

Since we were very pleased with their dinner, we thought their New Year brunch buffet should be good to excellent. However, WE (I mean the majority of us) were quite disappointed, especially the service.

Since our group has a total of 32 people, we were given 4 round tables. We were not seated at Perspectives dining area. Instead, we got the private area behind the Options Bar for our group, which was very nice. We like it very much.

The made-on-order omelette was fine (typical hotel buffet food) and the French baguette toast was alright and I like the banana topping.

The "General Blackie's Chicken" was too sweet for my taste bud. Small amount is alright. The "nasi goreng" rice was fine. The "Pot stickers" was disappointing (my son told me the one I made at home is way better). I was told the "Lamb Vindaloo" was good.

The "green curry and coconut broth" was fine (but we complained that the temperature of the soup was not hot at all, only lukewarm temperature). For the majority of us, soup must be steaming hot.

The cold buffet has an array of Asian influenced menu, such as tuna, soba, smoked salmon, sushi, nigiri. The display was nice. But I don't think the taste were good (especially I had good sushi the night before). So, after few bites, I didn't eat too much of the cold buffet.

The dessert section was the excellent part. The way they displayed the dessert was very good. I really like the mango cheese cake. But some honeydew (in the fruit bowl) has gone bad, not fresh at all.

When we had the dessert, we had to ask the server to give us coffee. Every one told me they had to find the server to pour us coffee. The orange juices was nice. But then we had to remind the server to refill our glasses many times.

Anyway, it was a nice place for us to gather together. But the food was disappointing. The teenagers and young men (they had one table for themselves) weren't excited about the food either. Maybe they were still in sleep mode after the New Year Eve party.

I was too busy taking pictures for our friends. But I manage to take one photo for my plate.

Here is the "Asian Pho - green curry and coconut broth infused with kaffir lime with select garnishes."

I've never heard of Pho with coconut milk in it, so I assume this dish was the result of some artistic license on the chef's part. But since I'm a fan of Tom Kha soup, I was excited to try this. The flavour was quite nice, but I'm afraid there was just too much rich coconut milk in it. With spring rolls and a light salad it would make a wonderful lunch, but it was too heavy for a buffet. The straw mushrooms were a welcome garnish.

Anyways, I really like how this buffet has a strong Asian theme to it!

Here is part of the dessert table. The tiny lemon meringue tart was nice and the miniature crème brûlée was fantastic. Cakes and tortes (not pictured here) seemed to be of above-average quality.

Good friends treated us to the family-friendly "New Years Eve Brunch Buffet" at Perspectives. It was our first visit to this place and we were quite impressed. Service was very friendly and not in the least bit snobby. Fresh squeezed orange juice poured at our table was a nice touch.

Considering this was a buffet, food quality ranged from good to excellent. The roast turkey was phenomenal, as was the French (baguette) toast with banana caramel sauce. I also found the "General Blackie's Chicken" to be quite addictive: sweet and salty but satisfying in small amounts. Potstickers were bland and salty and I couldn't find the hot sauce. The nasi goreng was quite good but the shrimp chips were nowhere to be seen. I also never saw the "Steamed Salt and Pepper Squid" -- I would have asked about it if I realized while I was there. As it was, there was so much food available that I lost track of how it measured up to their published menu.

Tea was steeped from high quality teabags in which you can see large tea leaves rather than the more common "tea dust." Nice touch!

This photo shows part of their "Cold Buffet" table, featuring sushi, salmon sashimi, seared tuna, Thai beef, and chilled soba noodles with ponzu/wasabi bouilllon.

This is the Lobster, bacon and black bean bisque ($10) that my husband ordered. When the soup arrived, every one asked him what that was because the soup really looked like the Chinese version of black sesame sweet soup. I had a sip of the soup and it was not bad. But I would prefer to try other dishes.