Richmond Station has been on my list ever since it opened about 2-4 months ago from reading about it on fellow blogger's blogs. Honestly, I watched Top Chef Canada here and there and have no idea who the winner was. We were lucky to be seated upstairs right in front of the kitchen. I googled how Carl Heinrich, winner of Top Chef Canada looks like so I know which one is him in the kitchen.
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| complimentary bread |
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| richmond station charcuterie 14 |
The polenta fries were perfectly crisp, fried to perfection. The polenta fries itself was pretty bland, you definitely need to deep in the marinara sauce for some taste. I'm not a huge fan of the texture of cornmeal so this wasn' my favorite.
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| polenta fries 7 |
Most lobster bisque I had previously were rich and thick. The one at Richmond Station was on the contrary. It was runny and light. The soup base was a refreshing lobster broth where I can taste it was made using the lobster head and shells. The lobster pieces were very small and almost unnoticeable. It was a nice change from the usual thick lobster bisque. The soup was served warm which I didn't like.
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| lobster bisque 9 |
The wild boar meat was very tender and the handmade orecchiette had the perfect texture. It was al dente. The dish was not heavly seasoned, thus eating the whole dish was not a problem as you won't get sick of the taste. However, I did not like the toscana cheese in the dish. It semi melted in a blob and the taste was a little bitter. Not for my taste buds. Again, I found the dish to be warm.
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| wild boar ragu 23 |
Nicely seared piece of fish which I found to be slightly, just ever so slightly undercooked. It was served with potatoe rosti which was not crispy. Overall, it was a good dish but again, served warm.
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| grilled sea bream 21 |
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| complimentary dessert |
Final Verdict: Slightly Above Par (they need to improve on keeping the temperature of the dishes)
Was the place very busy that night? I wonder if this is a normal occurrence for them, not having enough wait staff to get dishes out in time.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping the menu develops a bit more character -- from what I've been seeing and hearing, the food is great, but there's nothing that is distinctly his own style yet.
I absolutely agree with lacking uniqueness. He needs to create a signature dish that you can only get at Richmond Station and wanting you coming back for more. It was pretty busy on sat night. We got early reservation so we finished around 6.
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