An Ode to Amuse Bouche

My friend Pete and I have been trying to go for an indulgent dinner at this romantic and quaint spot but between our hectic schedules and life in general, we hadn't t set a date.  However upon finding out that this dear sweet place was closing at the end of May this year, lit a bit of a fire under both our bums and we quickly booked a dinner date.  My gosh!  Why did we wait so long? We actually started talking about a second visit while we were eating our 10 course dinner before it closed it's doors for good.

We went on a Tuesday which for all those bargain hunters is Tapas Tuesdays in the land of Amuse Bouche and all tapas on the menu were $10 and there was set courses for 5 courses for $40, 6 courses for $55, 10 courses at $70 (we chose the 10 course to split amongst ourselves.)
The wine list was showcasing $5 glasses and $25 bottles as well and we ordered an Argentian bottle of Malbec. The deal was incredible!
Now on to our amazing dinner- we were first given the name sake - an 'amuse bouche' to start our dinner which was a pork and wild leak croquette with applesauce.  It was just a tiny bite size item to begin our dinner with and was crunchy, salty and sweet at the same time.
The next dishes that came out were the salmon tartar - sashimi grade fresh salmon with fennel and the bajan fish cakes which was delicious little breaded morsels of fish served with a tartare sauce.   I was really excited that they served the duck confit poutine as you know I'm a poutine nut!  The poutine reminded me of the poutine at my birthday at the House of Commons.  Shoestring potatoes with duck confit served with a mild but salty gravy.  But the kicker was that this poutine was served without any cheese, no curds, no grated cheese, NADA!  I think the chef may have actually forgotten to put in the cheese!
We then had fried salmon rolls maki rolls which were OK and duck merguez saussages served over polenta.  The sausage had a bit of a kick to it and it was very juicy over the soft pillowy polenta was a great combination.  We then moved into the entrees which were duck breast served with brussel sprouts, spetzle (pasta) and nuts.  The duck was gamey but it was an interesting paring combination with the crunchiness of the accouterments.  We were also served haddock in a coconut broth.  Together the dish was buttery and it almost seemed to rich for me at this point in the evening.  Now on to le dessert which was a platter of sweetness starting with a flourless chocolate tart with orange preserve.  This was very sweet and i'm not the biggest chocolate fan.  Also there was a chocolate and pistashio moouse served in a shot glass- the colour combination with the lime green of the pistachio made the presentation stand out. The flavours together were smooth and not too sweet.  The other shot class had a white chocolate and apple crumble in it- while I usually like white chocolate - i found this tasted more of cough medicine.  We also had a butter pecan almond tart which I thoroughly enjoyed!!  Then we finished with a cheese plate of brie (which you can never go wrong with) and some other cheese that reminded me of flaky manchego.  It was served on a platter with roasted sunflower seeds.   We were completely content and stuffed by the time we were done.  I am sad to see this gem close down but am happy that at least I got one last good meal in before it does.

*** 1/2 stars
Amuse Bouche (South of Queen Street, West of Bathurst)
96 Tecumseh Street, Toronto, ON
416-913-5830  
Tue. to Sun.: 6:00pm - 10:30pm