Friday, July 27th was my 3-year anniversary with my girlfriend. Being that we both love trying out new restaurants, we decided that our gift for each other would be to treat ourselves to a special meal at Toronto Life's #1 rated restaurant of 2012: Yours Truly. I'd been dying to try out YT, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I booked well in advance, and on the big day, I picked up K from work and off we went to Dundas/Ossington to celebrate!
We had a relatively early reservation, but we still arrived in the neighbourhood with over an hour to go, so we started by walking up and down Ossington a bit to see what was going on. That's when we spotted Bellwoods Brewery, an awesome bar/restaurant/microbrewery. The spot had such a relaxed, community feel. There were picnic tables scattered around their patio, and if you were in a group of two, you might just end up sitting with another pair and even get to chatting with them. K and I kept to ourselves, but I loved the vibe and it having a beer outside was the perfect way to start the evening.
Around 6:00 (I told you it was early), we walked up to Yours Truly for the main event.
The restaurant itself was nice - dim, simple, stylish. We were seated at a table somewhat cramped in the corner, but it was good enough.
The draw of YT is that they do things so differently. It's my understanding that they have two dining experiences available - they have two or so seatings of their Yours Truly experience, which is what we took part in. It's a $45 4-course prix fixe. The second experience is the Carte Blanche, which is something like 10 courses around $100 all-in. It was a celebratory day, sure, but we've gotta be fiscally responsible. So our prix fixe worked like this: you got a menu with a matrix - 4 rows and 3 columns. Each row represented a course, and each item in the columns was the main ingredient of that course option (all unique and seasonal). So basically you pick four ingredients, and those are your four courses. I'm an adventurous diner because I've basically never met a food that I didn't like (except I don't really like cold cuts), so this was a fun and easy experience for me. I chose lox, bream, chicken, and cheese. I won't go into detail describing each course, but I will say that each was extremely delicious. Each course was also extremely creative, consisting of some ingredients that I'd never heard of, and also combinations of ingredients I could've never imagined. It was the kind of meal where you almost had to close your eyes when you took your first bite of each course, to experience every flavour and let it all roll over your tongue. It wasn't just about nourishment; it was about a total dining experience, trying new things, and treating ourselves!
One other thing - as if four courses weren't enough, we also enjoyed a signature YT cocktail each (I had the "John Candy" and K had the "Cibelle"), as well as three amuse bouche, which were delicious!
I also want to add that one of my favourite parts of the Yours Truly experience was the service; it was top-notch! All the servers had clearly bought into the mission of YT in its entirety, fully knowledgeable on every course option, flavour combination, and even the strangest of ingredients. They were friendly, attentive, and not at all overbearing: my favourite qualities in serving staff.
And that wraps up my 8th edition of "Discovering T.O.". Let me know if you ever check out Yours Truly and tell me what you think!
Currently reading... In One Person by John Irving
Posts to come... full rc-4 update!
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