Quetzal(Toronto) – (*)

Hey all,

First time posting here so kind of winging it, I’ll give a brief overview:

Last year Michelin came to Toronto for the first time(which has always seemed like a wild oversight to me) and awarded spots around the city.

A couple friends and I are big foodies but neither of them have done fine dining before really(I had), so we agreed to go check out one of the spots that got a star.

One note about the restaurant upfront is the general theme, behind being Mexican cuisine, is they have a 28 foot long open flame fire pit that is open concept. The aesthetic is very nice inside, but be aware that the smoke that comes off that grill will linger on whatever clothing you wear.

Thoughts on the dishes:

The scallop ceviche was very good(depending on what you want from a starter, it’s very subtle which I liked)

We also got a Sikil Pak which was pumpkin seed, roasted poblano, cotija, pickled cactus and endive(it’s not pictured I forgot to take one), which was essentially chips and dip with the endive leaves as the chips. That was much more of a punch in the face of flavor.

The masa dish was good, I wouldn’t say great, although I did appreciate how crispy the base was considering how wet most of the toppings were it held up very well.

The octopus was cooked fantastically but I would say the accompaniments and sauces made the whole thing a bit too oily(the Octopus on its own was a great bite).

The mushroom dish was nice, if a bit one note.

From here on the food was absolutely outstanding…

The bone marrow and shrimp dish is meant to be eaten as a taco(scoop the sauce off the marrow, scoop out some marrow, toss a shrimp and put it all in a tortilla). It was incredible, if I’m maybe a bit biased because I’ve always loved marrow as an ingredient.

The steak and black garlic mole was great, the steak was cooked well and the mole was so rich and complex, chocolatey almost. Really great.

The pork was probably the highlight for me, the combination of a ludicrously perfect cook on the pork, and the caramelized onion salsa was absolutely unbelievable.

The desserts: I’m not big on Tres Leches cakes but there’s no mistaking that was a very good version of one.

The ice cream dish was phenomenal, a great sweet and sour play(the avocado ice cream was smooth and sweet, what you see in the image is the passion fruit mousse they put ontop of it, there’s a lot of it and it’s very tart, so you can portion it yourself to find the perfect blend, and then toss a piece of the lime touille for some crunch.

And lastly the strawberry dessert may have been one of my favorite things of the meal, the freshness of the strawberries, the smoothness of the ganache and the sweet crunch of the cane sugar flakes was great.

All in all if you’re in the area, the other big takeaway is relative to other places this caliber the cost was intensely reasonable(if you don’t go wild with drinks, you can eat really well for $100-150 CAD)(our entire meal above was $150 per person after tax and tip), so if you’re curious about fine dining, it’s probably a very good gateway into that world. Service was outstanding as you would expect.

by kevvybrown