ottawa foodies

Sorbet (after taking a bite out of sorbet and white wafer...sorry couldn't wait).

dessert

Since my last review, I have been back to Arome twice. Once for the Friday Brazilian BBQ and the last time for the Sunday brunch again.

Both times service was excellent, as always :)

Brazilian bbq was a nice treat and tasted even better sitting on the patio next to the gorgeous view of the river and outdoor pools beneath lac leamy. They had lamb, chicken, spicy sausage and a sweet sausage...I could be forgetting a meat. I accompanied the chicken and lamb with a wonderful sauce they had - maybe some jack daniels flavored sauce. The buffet was 3.8 out of 5 for me. I would have liked it better if they had more variety in the salad and offered rice and other "sides". Also, I prefer the style of having the server come around and slice the meat for you at your table.

Sunday brunch was A++ again. Unfortunately, for us, we just didnt have the proper "buffet" appetite for this brunch! I got as far as the breakfast items, fresh salads, soup, bread and my own creative mini-sandwich - and then my stomach decided to cop out on me. Same for my boyfriend:( we got tired of eating! lol I missed all the regular lunch meals like the pasta and the salmon and roast beef...argh!! *expletive*!! And as we were leaving I noticed a breakfast pastry station by the front door that I never saw before... double arghh!!

Oh well...I will be back again soon enough! On a positive note, we managed to make room for a little dessert which was delightul as always with plenty of cheesecakes, fruit, chocolate and sugary stuff to choose from. For a change, I decided to order an apricot sorbet (to help digest) and that was the icing on the cake. Very nice. Ive got pictures to prove it! Enjoy and happy brunching.

Shag Me - you are right Arome does do a Brazilian bar-b-q. I was there last Friday night. It is a buffet mostly focused on meat, fish and seafood but they do have a few vegetables/salads as well. The chicken was particularly delicious. Included in the $37 price tag is their dessert buffet – if you go, make sure you are hungry!

imho - arome just bumped chateau laurier out of first place for sunday brunch.

I wrote a long review for arome this weekend and then my computer shut down and I lost it - so I wont do that again. But here is a list of main food items offered for brunch that day

-lamb
-sauteed shrimp and mini scallops in garlic sauce
-roast beef (sliced by server). accompanying sauces included bearnaise...mmmm so good
-steaming, piping hot, fresh manicotti SO GOOD!
-roasted chicken - very well cooked and tasty
-breakfast items - eggs benedict on ham and english muffin, roast potatoes (was so good I forgot to put ketchup), crepes, pancakes
-omelettes (prepared as per your liking)
-carrot soup (delicious- like actually perfect)
-mushroom soup, vegetable soup
-loads of bread of course
-lots of salad and vegetarian choices
-fresh cold shrimp
-cooked cold salmon
-lots of desserts but i was too full to go and look/try
-etc

I will be back again very soon.

Also, I saw an advertisement about a Brazilian bbq that they have on special days. Perhaps it was for another lac leamy restaurant, but I will definitely want to try that.

May and June Arome has a lobster special on, details are on their website.

We took advantage of this on Sunday of the long weekend.

The restaurant itself is fairly elegant with a nice view of Lac Leamy. I think the terrace would be nice in the summer. I was surprised to see how busy the restaurant was at 8pm on a Sunday night. There was a line up for tables when we arrived. Fortunately, we had reservations.

To start, we were brought crostini with an olive tapenade and later fresh baguette and butter was brought to the table.

We started with a trio of salmon appetizer which had smoked salmon, marinated salmon and salmon tartare. All of which were excellent. I was a little miffed that the plate was dropped off by a food runner with no explaination of the components (Components were not described on the menu either. I managed to flag down our waiter who explained it.

We all opted for the Steamed lobster which was $23.90 (Sunday to Thursday) served with rice and grilled veggies. Everyone loved the lobster- it was very sweet and fresh. They were about 1lb in size.

I had a very good caesar to drink, dad had a gin martini and my boyfriend had a Keith's. We also had a chilean white with dinner. They seem to have a lot of organic wines on the wine list.

They had an amazing looking dessert buffet table. They also have a three course menu that you can put together with a variety of appetizers,entrees and the dessert buffet for a reasonable price.

Service was good but not great. The clientele was a mixed bag. There were people in suits and then people in jeans and a t-shirt, which I thought was a little too casual.

Overall, a very enjoyable meal for a reasonable price.

beef tenderloin @ arome hilton lac leamy. REALLY REALLY nice. exemplary bilingual service. very reasonably priced and lipsmackingly delish.

my fave swordfish (when available) table d'hote @ arome hilton lac leamy. outstanding value and top notch lunch from $16-20. always a rotating menu. includes AYCE salad and desert bar and coffee and tea. perfect for entertaining clients, hot dates, friends and the whole family. free parking, spa and ottawa's only heated outdoor pool at your disposal. makes downtown ottawa a bit of a pricey hassle.

veal and veggies on couscous lunch table d'hote @ arome hilton lac leamy. outstanding value and top notch lunch from $16-20. always a rotating menu. includes AYCE salad and desert bar and coffee and tea. perfect for entertaining clients, hot dates, friends and the whole family. free parking, spa and ottawa's only heated outdoor pool at your disposal. makes downtown ottawa a bit of a pricey hassle.

salmon lunch table d'hote @ arome hilton lac leamy. outstanding value and top notch lunch from $16-20. always a rotating menu. includes AYCE salad and desert bar and coffee and tea. perfect for entertaining clients, hot dates, friends and the whole family. free parking, spa and ottawa's only heated outdoor pool at your disposal. makes downtown ottawa a bit of a pricey hassle.

This is the dessert table. Pick as many as you want, but watch out for your calories!

This was Medley of baby greens, honey and cider vinaigrette that my friend ordered (Note: From their 3-course Table d'hôte menu, you can order salad, soup of the day or Chef's inspiration to start.)

I forgot to ask my friend how her salad was. But from the photo, the salad looked good.

My fiance and I visited our friend who is a seafood sales rep in california. We at fresh/delicious seafood for three weeks while we were there. Once we got back, Big Daddy's didn't exactly cut it anymore. Though we regularly visited Arome for the Kobe steak, on a whim, one visit, I ordered the seafood platter for one. It was by far the single best seafood experience I've had in Ottawa. TRY IT!!!!

Real Kobe beef is supposed to be extremely marbled. That's the whole point of Kobe beef. What you had at Hilton Lac Leamy is probably American Wagyu which has been cross bred with Angus. This will be leaner than true Kobe beef which is fatty. One of the conditions of Kobe beef actually, is that is has to have a marbling index (BMS) of over 6 (between 6 and 12 which is the highest with over 50% marbling). USDA doesn't even go above a 7 in the marbling index, so true Kobe beef can't even be compared to American beef (Angus) or American Wagyu.

Forget the rest of the vendors listed, I guarantee they won't compare. If you want a serious taste of what Kobe beef should taste like, take a trip to L'Arome, located in the basement at the Hilton Lac Leamy in Hull QC. The best steak I've ever had. A 4oz cut will run you ~$40, and an 8oz costs ~$75, but well worth it. The service is sensational. If you're into surf and turf, there is a seafood platter that is to die for as well.

My fiance and I discovered L'Arome a couple of years ago, and when we visited Vegas a while back, we searched for a restaurant that served Kobe so we could compare. We found a high end steak house in Caesars that boasted an amazing Kobe...at $20/oz. My fiance ordered a 10oz cut, and without exaggeration, it was the single worst experience with a steak I've ever had. In comparison, I would rather eat at The Keg. It was extremely marbled and greasier than a McDonald's patty.

Moral of this story: Forget the price tag, try it.

My husband and my sons ordered their Prime rib from their Table d'hôte again (obviously they like their Prime rib). The price is now $41.90 and glad that it is only a small increase in price for this.

When you order from their Table d'hôte menu (great value), I recommend that you try the Prime rib of Angus beef ($39.9) as your main. My husband gave me some to try and it was very tender and delicious. He ordered 285g and the portion was just right. Their mesh potato was as good as our previous visits.

This is the Prime Rib. I tried one piece and was really melt in your mouth. I can't remember if he ordered 10oz ($39.90) or 20oz ($47.90). But it was huge and my son can't finish it.

I like fish and this was the Tilapia (a bit overburned as shown from the photo).

P.S. I used to like their wild rice (they give you a bowl of wild rice and a bowl of meshed potato for every one to share). Somehow, the chef has changed the way they cook the wild rice. There were more white rice than wild rice and the rice wasn't as tasty as it was.

Ordered their "catch of the day" again. This time, a different cooking version of their Sea Bass. Very fresh and tasty!

For this dish, wild rice (in a separate bowl) was included for every one to share. All my friends agreed that the wild rice was very delicious and liked the wild rice very much. This time, white rice was added and mixed with the wild rice. The rice taste wasn't as good as last time.

You can't go wrong with the "catch of the day" which includes red tuna, salmon or sea bass for selection.

Interesting that all the ladies ordered Sea Bass. (I think we were bored with salmon and tuna.) All the ladies like their "catch of the day". The Sea Bass was absolutely splendid! Highly recommended.

Ashley - looks like it's Mahi-Mahi

I ordered their catch of the day. I really don't know what fish it was. The server told me it was called Mei Mei and I had no idea of what type of fish it was. I joked to the server if this was Chinese fish.

Any clue about what kind of fish it was (sounds like Mei Mei, or nei nei)? All I know is it is ocean fish.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I tried their Grilled poultry Arome style (also part of the 3-course meal, $29.90). Taste was not bad and my rating was 3.5 out of 5 for what I ate.

My kid ordered this dish this time and he gave a rating of 4 stars out of 5.

My husband had this Seafood fettucine ($42.90 from their 3-course Table d'hote menu) . Very rich and creamy sauce (as expected). After finishing this, he had no room for dessert any more.

His rating of this dish: 3 stars out of 5.

It seems that the walnut bread has been excluded now. The quality of the bread was not as good as my previous visits. Besides, I would prefer to be served warm bread instead of cold bread.

I really like their fresh bread (flat bread, walnut bread and white baguette). We ate most of the flat bread and walunut bread while we were waiting for the appetizer to come.

This was the Soup of the Day (cream of Tomato) from their Table d'hôte. Delicious soup as usual!

Went to Arome again for an invited dinner. Got their soup of day again (Sweet Potato soup). Yummy!

Excellent Mushroom Soup (Soup of the Day)! I won't mind having it again next time I am here for dinner.

Pumpkin soup. Taste was good.

This time, chef's inspiration was tuna (if my memory serves me right).

My son's Smoked Salmon

For this meal, my friend's chef's inspiration was scallops and a muffin. Cute!

Chef's inspiration changes every time we are here. This was the shrimp skewer my husband and others ordered. On the side was Aroma's version of coleslaw with tasty salad dressing.

This is the Chef's inspiration (cold appetizer - advocado sauce over chicken over mashed sweet potato) . The server said the chef changes the appetizer every day. Taste was okay. I preferred the western style potsticker I tried last time.