I love food. Yes my culinary adventurers you have heard it many times throughout my blog posts how much my heart sores when kitchen aroma's are unleashed, my appreciation for simple yet flavourful food, the glee I feel when I see colourful plates presented and of course my love affair with the idea of eating, buying and supporting local.
This weekend I had a treat. A wonderful friend introduced me to Frasercafe in Ottawa. As we stepped through the front doors into the simplistic, warm, open-kitchened restaurant I felt at ease and very much at home. I knew right away that this restaurant was built with love. Now laugh as you may because I know I use this word "love" quite a bit. Please understand that when I say built with love I mean: Attention to detail, Passion for Food, Understanding of their Clientel, Fantastic service, Wine/beverage/spirit appreciation, and overall the atmosphere screamed "We love what we do"
About Fraser Cafe"Our simple menu allows for flexibility as well as inspiration, while using an appropriate technique for the preparation of each ingredient. It is our aim to source our products locally and to use them in their respective season.We are hoping our open kitchen provides an opportunity for you to engage the chefs in your experience and to ask any questions on our products."
Ross and Simon Fraser (Yes! Opened by two brothers.. Now can you feel the love?)
So here's the deal. . I am going start at the ending because tonight I sat dreaming of their dessert for a good half hour before I started writing this blog. Frasercafe makes their own ice cream. Yup that is correct. Not just one or two flavours... they had at least five different choices of in house ice creams when I was there. I choose Rocky Road being a childhood favorite and almost wish I hadn't. As tonight I say tearfully looking at my own sub par RockyRoad. It just didn't compare. Now I will have to fly back for another scoop.
For both our main courses we went with the Chef's Creation or Choice. This I actually hadn't seen before on a menu. As explained by our lovely server this meant that we would be presented with a dish created off hand by the chef in the kitchen. If we both choose this option we would be given two completely different meals that would also completely vary from any of the options described on the menu. Now for any of you who are indecisive, how perfect does this sound? Or for an adventurer, and simply in my case someone who loves to read menu's and recipes but in my dinning experiences would much rather be surprised.
Perfection. That is all I can say about that as I feel if I tried to truly describe the intricate flavours on the plate that I would not get them right, and the last thing I want to do is wrongly describe the artistic creation and presentation of the food.
First Course: Daily soup with a lovely take on your traditional butternut squash. This soup was luxurious to eat. Smooth with the perfect balance of natural sweetness from the root vegetable. I stole the soup from my dinning partner and did not give it back. 
To start: Oysters - PEI Malpeque with horseradish, lemon and hot sauce.
Fresh Bread and Butter
Simple, Delicious, Beautiful
Last but not least I have to say that one aspect of their table decorum really stuck out to me. On each table there is a petit pepper grinder and a lovely present of crushed sea salt. This truly impressed as I am a big believe of to each their own. Do I re-salt at restaurants? No, but some do and I feel as though this was a really nice unpretentious way of saying hey, our food is fantastic, beautifully seasoned, but... if you feel the need to add a bit, do so. A thoughtful offering.
Next time you are in or even close to Ottawa treat yourself to a memorable meal and evening. Go directly to Frasercafe. Say hi to the owners, sit at the welcoming bar, talk with the cheerful attentive servers and fall in love with it all. I did.
Eat, drink and enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment