Colborne Lane

I went to Colborne Lane expecting to see some Ferran-​style wannabe molecular gastronomy, but was instead greeted with well-​conceived dishes, impeccable service, and just some downright awesome food. Unfortunately, the night I went was the last night that they were open. Nevertheless, I felt that it was necessary that I come onto here and give Colborne Lane the recognition that they deserve. Truly an excellent restaurant that will be missed.

Came here after braving through snowmageddon and expecting an awesome meal. This place is too loud, feels like a bar. Sadly, it’s an overrated gastronomy cuisine with bad service and horrible décor. Seriously, this place is like a McDonald compared to Alinea (unfair comparison, I know).
Drinks: No menu? Erm… Then, how do I know what you’re good at? They also have very limited wine menu. Don’t know whether that’s because of winterlicious or that’s just how they usually are. The attitude of the server did not help either. He just said, «You can order whatever drink you want.» No recommendation, suggestion, none, nada, nothing at all. Then he just walked away and didn’t come until we flag him to order food.
Appetizer: Pickled Irish organic salmon + crème fraîche + avocado + puffed tapioca + yuzu vinaigrette
Horrible plating. The chef just threw some avocado randomly, lo and behold it’s a deconstructed cuisine. However, out of all the others that I ate that night, the taste and texture are the best. The salmon is poached so that it’s cooked around ¼″ on the outside and raw on the inside. So, it’s like eating boiled salmon and salmon sashimi at the same time. The yuzu vinaigrette taste very fresh and surprisingly taste really good with what seemed like an avacado purée. The puffed tapioca adds a nice crunch.
Main: Braised pork belly + fermented black bean + lily bulb + maitake mushroom + chicharon
A decent meal. I was a bit afraid when I ordered this because it’s supposed to be topped with fermented black bean. I ate natto before and could not stand the smell. My friends all ordered the other two mains, so I was convinced to get this one. This one feels like it had more care in its plating compared to the appetizer. In terms of taste, it taste like a regular chinese braised pork belly that my dad used to make topped with black bean sauce in a regular jjangmyun (korean black bean noodle). The weird part about it, is that for something that’s called ‘braised’, the pork belly doesn’t really fall apart and melt inside my mouth. The chef probably tried to retain that fatty goodies inside the pork. Eccentric choice, but not too creative. I think even though they’re trying to sell ‘eccentricity’, food should taste good first and foremost. The chicaron tastes like it doesn’t belong there. I know that they’re both pork and the chef probably want to balance out the softness of the braised pork belly with something crunchy, but when I ate it together with the pork belly, the bitterness just ruins the nice fatty belly and it’s amazing sauce.
Dessert: Pumpkin pie + candied kumquat + crystalized sage + ginger toffee + lemon sour cream ice cream
The dessert feels like the cheapest out of all the food that I ate that night. The kumquats and crystalized sage look and taste like something you can find in china town. The surprising minty spiciness don’t mix very well with the pumkin pie/​ginger toffee/​lemon sour ice cream. It is interesting when I noticed that the kumquats and sage had a hard and tough texture, while the other three were very soft. An interesting play of texture.
Overall, this place is just too pretentious and tries too hard to be Alinea. Seriously, before doing what you called ‘gastronomy’, you should think about them as food first and that people are going to eat them.

came here for the Last night of Winterlicious 2013!
Must say the dark door with blue lighting makes you feel like you’ve entered into a different, culinary world. The service as soon as we walked in was efficient, with a quick coach check and escort to our table. Just the ambiance alone sets the romantic, intimate and chilled out mood.
appetizer:
Pickled Irish organic salmon + crème fraîche + avocado + puffed tapioca + yuzu vinaigrette
–cooked to perfection, and culinary presentation was spectacular, the crème fraîche and avocado complimented the salmon since salmon’s bland flavor absorbs the complexity of flavors.
⁵⁄₅
entrée:
Striploin + celery root + pickled burdock + fried spinach + yu choy
–medium cooked, though I would have preferred to have used a steak knife, i made use of what i had. The celery roots crispy texture complimented the steak much like a vegetarian frites, the fried spinach was alright, but was an unneccessary addition to the plate, and it was bland. I would recommend Rappini to definitely offset the flavors to give it more robust character. Yu Choy and pickled burdock suited the dish overall.
4.5÷5
Dessert:
Pumpkin pie + candied kumquat + crystalized sage + ginger toffee + lemon sour cream ice cream
–mmm pumpkin pie in the middle of Feb was a surprise, and the crispyness of the ginger toffee really added that well needed crunch to the dish. With all its orchestra of flavor with the lemon sour creaam and candied kumquat, it added a diversified final touch to the dessert.
⁵⁄₅
…note to others… mm their glass of Late Harvest is a nice way to intensify the dessert platter

We went for winterlicious. We were seated by the door at a high top table with stools that had low backs — not comfortable at all for long seating.
It was so incredibly dark, we had to use our iPhones to see what we were eating.
Service wasn’t super attentive — we weren’t asked if we wanted coffee/​tea before dessert, we sat with dirty plates in front of us for a very long time.
Food was a bit meh. Nothing special — except the desserts! Whoever does their sweets there is doing a fabulous job.
The big mystery is what kind of restaurant is this? The décor is very Scandi-​sparse, the music was Brit-​pop, and the food is Asian-​inspired.
Strange. And expensive. Not a great combo.

Ended the year 2012 with a 9 course tasting menu at Colborne Lane:
For $ 99 per person, I was comfortably full at the end of the meal. We were there from 8:30 till about 11PM! The bread to start was warm and fresh, accompanied by honey butter, which was delicious! A woman needs her carbs!
Okay, so here’s the menu:
1. Oyster — The oyster leaf actually tasted like oysters with fish roe on top and the nori snow had a hint of onion to it. It came out on a log, which the oyster shells fit onto perfectly.
2. Tom Yum Soup — the soup was poured from a separate tea pot and has a tinge of coconut to it. There’s two large pieces of prawn, braised baby turnip, straw mushrooms and a piece of tofu, but the soup itself was not spicy enough.
3. Foie gras mousse — comes with warm bread and hibiscus & cherry purée, along with candied walnut + brioche. Wasnt a huge fan of this — the combination was a bit weird for me. I would have just preferred Foie Gras by itself and not in mousse form.
4. Caramelized Carrot — with sliced radishes and carrot cake crumble & crystallized ginger. Pretty much like a salad and kind of like a dessert.
5. Arctic Char — crème fraîche + charred scallions & side of miso cream pomme purée and homemade potato chips. The fish was very good and cooked just right with the middle a little raw. The mashed potato matched well with the filet. One of my favorite dishes!
6. Braised Beef Short Ribs — smells amazing! Salsify + side of celery root purée + fried aspiration + pickled garlic scape. The ribs were super tender but way too salty. Not a fan.
Dessert:
7. Chocolate Orange — a chocolate truffle with huckleberry gel and icing sugar. When you bite into the truffle an cold explosion occurs. Definitely a cool experience!
8. Rocky Road — roasted marshmallow Ice cream made with liquid nitrogen + caramelized peanut brittle + cocoa + huckleberry. Very cool show to see the server making the ice cream at your table!
9. Tiramisu Bomb — They sure use a lot of liquid nitrogen! We were instructed to place the truffle into our mouth and suddenly the vodka and Kahlua just pushed out of the chocolate coating.
When my date went for a washroom break, our server practically ran over to fold his napkin and change our cutlery. Wow, talk about good service ! He even also offered red wine on the house! (not sure if it’s because he saw me drafting this review)
Wow, this is long!
Okay, the TDLR; Great presentation & service, but the taste of the food itself wasn’t amazing. Extremely loud inside, have to yell across the table. Would visit again to bring guests for the experience!

This review of Colborne Lane is based on my Summerlicious 2012 experience.
For $ 45, you do get a taste of what Colborne Lane offers and the meal is really delightful. The menu is just like a math equation with ingredients and sauces adding up to create your dish with artistic /​interesting plating. We ended up trying:
Appetizer:
popped corn soup + pork belly + double smoked bacon + crème fraiche = a curry like soup reminds me of Khao Soi and the only missing thing is the noodle
cured salmon + ponzu vinaigrette + radish salad + soy sauce snow + pickled ginger + puffed tapioca = a great mix of different texture and different taste, the puffed tapioca reminds me of rice crackers!
Main:
striploin + smoked parsnip + puffed wheat berries + black garlic + watercress = tender and the only more fulfilling dish for the night…
rock hen + romesco sauce + hen of the woods mushrooms + gnocchi + stuffed torpedo onion = interesting combination and love the gnocchi, hen cooked nicely with the crispy skin
Dessert: = Best part of the meal as usual
caramelized banana + peanut butter + hazelnut + dulce de leche = an orgy of different texture, temperature, taste. Definitely an adventure for my taste buds!
warm chocolate cookie + milk ice sorbet + cocoa nib + wild blueberries = meh… Cookie a little dry and crunchy
Food portion definitely small but everything nicely prepared.
Talking about the noise level of Colborne Lane! In order for my date to hear me, I have to shout at her even she was just sitting right across from me. Definitely don’t come here for a romantic date…
Service is decent under the circumstances during Summerlicious.
I definitely interested in coming back for their tasting menu which is quite interesting and unique.

One of the best food experiences of my life. This place turned me on to reading about El Bulli and other mystifying restaurants. I was wowed and my taste buds were sparked. What an amazing family dinner this was. Always to be remembered.

Colborne Lane sounds like a mysterious street in a steamy romance novel, but here in Toronto, it’s a trendy little restaurant with creative tasting menus. For those who aren’t quite ready to dive into an expensive tasting meal, Summerlicious is a great way to check out the place first. Too bad they don’t have their nitrogen ice cream included!
We were seated in the center of the room at the communal table and it sure was loud! So, be prepared to shout a little. If you want a bit of privacy, you may want to ask for a separate table.
The drinks aren’t cheap, but they sure are tasty! I had the Playing Coy, which was sweet and refreshing with ginger, orange juice, and vodka. If you are wondering how a drink costs so much, it was the liquid nitrogen-​frozen blackberry and raspberry cells that will do it!
I think almost everyone was here for Summerlicious.
Also, almost everyone here was a chick or a dude trying to impress a chick.
The portions here are super tiny. If you bring a normal sized dude here, he’ll starve to death.
We ordered different Summerlicious items to share:
The popped corn soup with pork belly and bacon was creamy and heavy with a strong curry base. I sort of felt like I was drinking sauce for Thai noodles. The curry over-​powered the bacon, but I liked the fatty pork belly.
The striploin was tender but salty.
The rock hen was saucy, the tomato flavours were mild and sweeter than expected.
For dessert we had the cookie with milk sorbet and the caramelized banana with peanut sauce. The cookie was a bit hard from sitting too long. The banana dessert was good mixing nuttiness and caramel.
Overall, it was one of my better Summerlicious meals. To be honest, the food wasn’t stand-​out (even for Summerlicoius standards), but I did enjoy eating here and I think it’s more about the interesting plating and the experience. I am curious about the regular menu, I may be back for more science-​infused food fun!

4 words: Ten Course Tasting Menu!
If you love food and you’re not a fussy eater (read: you don’t need to know what’s on the menu or tell the waiter a long list of food you won’t eat) then do the tasting menu. Everything was so well presented and delicious. Plus, Spoiler Alert! — they made ice cream at our table for dessert!
Sadly though, this restaurant doesn’t make it onto my 5 star list as the atmosphere just isn’t quite right and the service was very good but not excellent (staff were efficient & friendly but nothing special for this type of resto).

A friend from out of town called me, said he was in Toronto and wanted to take me to CL. who was i to say no???
first of all, the staff was great — the bartender was tons of fun and we were having a grand old time with our roses at the bar when a gentleman (employee) came up to us and basically forced us to our table. we were the last seating, he explained and that the chef kept asking when we were ordering because he wanted to go home. it was a quiet restaurant, maybe 3 tables before us and one after so i can understand why he might want to go home. but it was also incredibly offensive.
the food made up for our treatment. i won’t remember everything — the bartender (i wish i got her name) was incredible and made suggestions — that we maybe have 2 apps each and then a main, that the servings weren’t huge. we decided to share 3 apps and 2 mains. which was the perfect amount of food for us.
apps — beet salad — gorgeous presentation. i took pictures of everything, hopefully i will be able to post them. i really didn’t want to eat anything as it was so visually pleasing.
i didn’t understand the radish in the beet salad but it was great. dungeness crab with… i think we were on our wine at that point, something lovely that Doug picked from WaWa washington (a wine he imports where he comes from and i was happy for the introduction– the winery i believe was called K).
for the life of me i can’t remember the third app, even after looking at the photo…
sorry about that.
mains were incredible. i had the short ribs and doug had the lamb, which included sweetbreads, which were to die for. the short ribs were my favourite of the night though. i called a friend the next day to tell him that he had to try them. that they were as good as Nick’s (ex Niagara Street Café)
desserts we had a poached pear with caramel ice cream and the house favourite «chocolate bar». i’ve been off sugar for months and back off today but i’m so glad i gave into temptation today.
so yes, i would go back. love the atmosphere, the food was delicious (we even made our bartender ask Andrew the chef to come see us after — he was so kind — we just really loved our dinner that much!) and the staff (other than feeling somewhat rushed to leave) were welcoming, knowledgeable (Even though it as a new menu) and fun!

One of the most culinary let downs that I’ve ever experienced in my whole life. So I made reservations on my friend’s recommendation through open table for a Tuesday night and called them the day of to make sure that they received it. I also asked about sharing the tasting menu and they assured me it was not a problem.
So we arrive, were seated in a corner booth after they put our coats away. When I asked about the sharing the tasting menu, the waiter told me that this could not be done. I told them I didn’t want that much food and that a friend of mine had shared the tasting menu at this restaurant. They simply would not accomodate and insisted that we both had to order the 8 course meal. I couldn’t understand this situation as I noticed throughout the night three women at the table next to us eating the tasting menu as well. They simply could not make four portions instead of 5?! Even worse, they would not tell us what was on the menu and said that the Chef likes to make it a surprise. So we had to decide without knowing what we were going to order. Strike no.1.
The first course that came out was a salmon sashimi dish. Mine was not even well plated but the fish tasted fresh with a sheet of seaweed and some other egg roe garnishes. This was the best dish of the night.
The second course was a fried ball of goat cheese served with a bunch of different sauces and a few strands of watercress. I don’t like goat cheese so I gave the cheese ball to my friend. Strike no. 2
The third course was a tom yum soup. A single large cooked shrimp, enoki mushrooms, served on a soft tofu slice, immersed with a broth that was extremely salty, and nothing «Tom Yum» about it. Doesn’t anyone taste the food when its cooking to make sure that its edible?! Strike n. 3
The fourth dish was beet dish with a bunch of non-​impressive sauces on the side. All the beets, although looking fresh, tasted all the same and were non-​descript.
The fifth course was a halibut served over lentils and a small decorative potatoe mash. The fish was good but nothing else about this dish was spectacular. By then, I started to feel full so my eating pace slowed down quite a bit. Although I had not even finished half of my entre, they brought the next entre advising me that it was coming out and that I had no choice. What restaurant does that?! So I told them to put the dish on the table while i finished my halibut. Another strike.
The sixth course was a pork tenderloin. The consistency was good and flavor was fine. Again, nothing spectacular or amazing about this dish.
The seventh course was a lime jalapeño sherbet over top mango chutney and two slabs of sesame flavor cake, topped with freeze dried pinapple flavored meringue. It tasted very weird. Another strike.
The eight course was an ice cream that they made in front of you by pouring liquid nitrogen and cream into a metal bowl. It tasted like frozen yogourt and was served with some chocolate meringue crunch, and more beet jelly/​beet sauce.
I must say everything about this experience food-​wise was pretty mediocre. We asked for a glass of wine to be paired with the last dish and they brought us something that tasted like cheap table wine. I could taste the strong alchohol in it, which is not a great sign. Another strike.
The wait staff’s tune seemed to change when my friend went to pay for the meal with an American Titanium card. I don’t think that they should have been rude to us, unaccomodating to our request to share the tasting menu (when others have done so in the past) — we were so full by the end of the fifth course that I felt annoyed on not only this much food being imposed onto us and that we were rushed through each one, not to mention serving us cheap wine, along with the culinary hodge podge of ill-​matched flavored foods. Granted it was a Tuesday and they were trying to make money, but all i have to say is that with this experience, I am definitely never going back, nor would I recommend this place to anyone else that i know. The ambiance was actually very nice — the décor impeccable and modern, but I don’t care to pay close to $ 300 for poor service and food that is mediocre, if not un-​edible at best.
Total disappointment. Totally overrated. and Totally NOT going back. After more than 3 strikes (6 strikes) you’re out!!!

Ahh the glory of the tasting menu.
Amazing food, interesting and well priced (10 courses for $ 110).
I actually heard about this restaurant while i was in New York and was embarrassed for not having been there.
Service was excellent and waiters were very accomodating (though my date swore that she had the opposite experience last time and it was simply because the waiter seemed to like me).
All in all, the tasting menu is the only way i would go at Colborne lane. It’s playful, experementative and unqiue gastro food.
I ended up having 16 courses at this place (there’s a story behind this but i’m not going to get into it) and after eating that much, i have to say that roughly 70% was an amazing hit and 30% was a terrible terrible miss.
But that being said, even the 30% miss was still interesting (really, olives with my nitrogen rock brownie sundae?).
It’s an expensive place with the booze and food in the end, but don’t expect to have your life changed. Instead, appreciate the creativity and uniqueness and it’s a good time. Also, be prepared to eat for 2.5 hours like you do in europe :)

Everything tastes pretty good but nothing that is all that memorable that makes you say «wow» or want to come back.
Expensive, overpriced food. The wine was ok but I was expecting more from 5 oz. glass that was $ 17.
The microgreens had some fresh and yummy greens on them that gave them a unique flavour. Lamb was mediocre but cooked to perfection but didn’t have any flavour that impressed me. Everything was pretty good but not for this price point. Espresso was good, except for the part I had to ask for sugar, but it was raw sugar that came in a cute holder, which made up for it.
The place looks very nice and fancy. Service is pretty good but it was interesting to see that absolutely no women were working there (from what I could see). A little fake pretentious and inattentive at times, but for the most part pretty good.
I wouldn’t come here again.

Pretentious and cliché attempt at avant-​garde /​molecular gastronomy — a near total waste of time and money.
Pros:
— smoked pork loin was very tasty and beautifully presented /​plated — despite one of the pieces being a big piece of fat
— pretty much all of the dishes ordered were beautifully presented /​plated
— nice décor
— food quality is top notch
Cons:
— Indifferent and superior wait staff, who seem as if it is a bother to serve the patronage
— Wait staff that had no clue how to properly pair wine with our food, their suggestions were completely off
— Automatic 18% gratuity, 4% of which goes to the owner, who never even bothered to show his face at our table of 8 (large spend)
— Prices have increased 33−50% since the restaurant opened in 2007, they are now out of line with reality, $ 16 for a small tepid bowl of soup?
— I suppose the 3 year old reviews that pop in front of your face on the website justify the price jump?
— The service was incredibly slow, there was a gap of nearly 60 minutes between our starters and our mains
— The portions are very small and relatively unsatisfying; order a minimum of three dishes for every two people
— We had to ask our server for bread, at which he seemed quite put off
— The dishes seem like the tired, old, and cliched attempts (luke warm poached eggs, liquid N, etc.) at molecular gastronomy you’ve seen on foodtv for the last 10 years, way to move the game forward
— Some dishes work well, others are a terrible combination of flavours that seem oddly miss-​matched (the scallops were perfectly prepared but the flavourings were horrible together), and still others just plain bland or boring (the miso black cod)
⁷⁄₈ of our party left disappointed — fueled by the minimal creativity and originality of the food and the apathetic hospitality. We left hungry and feeling ripped off, and not because we opposed to this type and cost of cuisine; but because it failed to deliver on everything that it is supposed to be. When spending $ 100+ per person, you should expect to feel welcome and appreciated, not like you’re a bother.
I suppose, this is a very polarizing restaurant… you either really like it, or you do not; there is no middle ground. I applaude the effort for trying to raise the bar for dining in Toronto, it’s too bad it doesn’t live up to the hype.
A quote by the Caludio Aprile sums up his pretention and arrogance (albeit, this is in relation to Origin, not CL):
«If you can do a better job than me and my staff, then why aren’t you doing it?»
Is he saying that one must be able to prepare food as well as or better than him in order to have an opinion? Wow.

Wow — for $ 400 for two people, you’d expect the tasting to be close to perfect. I don’t have a problem spending this kind of money, however it better be worth it. Based on my experience, it was far from it.
Service — waiters have a very snotty attitude and don’t really pay attention to the guests needs. If you ask them for a condiment, they forget to bring it OR you indicate that a menu item is not to your liking, etc…
Food — not much variety. Everything is on ice, using liquid nitrogen, which is extremely boring and was overdone in 4 of the 6 dishes. My tongue was so cold from all the ice! Portions were terrible and inconsistent. I ordered a scallop dish and received 1 mere scallop, where the guy next to me ordered the same thing and received 3. The salad came out wilted and the crisps were a bit stale.
Please don’t waste your money at such a terrible restaurant.

A new potential fave… but then at $ 350 for 2 its blooming well should be. Great bar and quite cosy dining space. The bar would be good place for a group for drinks. However on a Fri eve it was DEAD… wtf? THen we understood why… the cocktails were not really that great. Flavours were off and too sweet ot another too sour.
Back to dindin and the meal was great. Wonderful tastes if a little sparse. I went home feeling a little underfed. and for $ 350 that should not be the case.

Easily the most disappointing culinary experience of my life. With high expectations, my girlfriend and I were super excited to dine in such a highly regarded establishment only to leave feeling robbed, nauseous and hungry.
We both ordered the tasting menu, hoping to get the full experience and range of the Chef’s abilities.
The most delicious dish served to us was the brioche at the very beginning of our meal (we ordered seconds). From there it steadily went downhill. Chef Aprile attempts to wow his customers with the use of liquid nitrogen at every opportunity instead of serving them a tasty, fulfilling meal. It’s unfortunate because I’m sure some of you will read this and assume that I’m a closed minded gastronomical buffoon, incapable of appreciating such delicacies, but when your 5^th course of a tasting menu is a bland beet salad incorporating foam and dehydrated «beet dirt», one can only be wondering «when am I going to be fed?».
My latest experience with molecular gastronomy was in Hong Kong at Alvin Leung’s ‘Bo Innovation’ and even though he’s ventured into the same shock and awe territory as Chef Aprile, I found myself blown away by the intricacies of his flavours, textures and often satisfying tapas. Things that sparked conversation and general excitement about the next dish and how the Chef would dazzle us.
At Colbourne lane I felt like I was just waiting for the ride to be over so I could leave.
It’s a beautiful thing when food and art combine, creating something truly memorable. But when your food becomes an array of molecularly broken down ingredients, pretty little dots of purée with zero cohesiveness it just feels like you’re doing those things for the sake of proving you can.
$ 450 (2 tastings, wine + tip) is pricey, but if it’s worth it, it’s worth it. In retrospect, a hotdog on Front would’ve made me happier.
PS. Our waiter was fantastic. Too bad we couldn’t give HIM the whole bill.

I feel really conflicted about this review and my rating. I am going to break it down by pros and cons as I normally do, but there will also be another ‘I don’t know’ section as well, and you can decide on your own how it all fits in.
+++PROS+++
1. It is a very unique dining experience, and you will likely have vivid memories of a few of the dishes’ presentation
2. Staff is excellent, very knowledgeable
3. You can say you’ve had molecular gastronomy!
4. It is a neat conversation starter with people; I’ve already talked to all my coworkers about it as well as a couple of clients
—CONS—
1. It may have been an off-​night, but there seemed to be a lot of dishes that contained crème fraîche. I am lactose intolerant, so I am very glad I downed a bottle of lactaid prior to dinner. This act likely prevented me from peeing out my ass.
2. A couple of dishes were just off. One was a beet dish (love beets) and it was just very bitter, I don’t think the dehydrated beets worked in that dish. Another dish, the fois gras, wasn’t really edible. It was a chunk of fois gras served on brioche with blueberry. The fois gras wasn’t grilled or anything, it looked and tasted more like a pâté. Neither of us could finish it (barely could taste it in small doses). I’m a fan of mystery meats and call the Black Hoof my second home, so I think this says something about this dish.
3. I don’t really fit into a place like this. Even with a nice suit on a pretty lady at my side, it just didn’t feel right. Maybe it’s because I hate rich people?
4. The tasting menu online is nothing like what it is the night of. I don’t know if they change it up often or not.
±+I DON’T KNOWS-​±
1. We had the 10-​course tasting menu. It was $ 109/​pp.
2. The bill was over $ 300 with no alcohol. The water was $ 8 (note: opt for sparkling since it will cost the same as the flat, though it was Fiji)
3. The meal took nearly 3.5 hours from beginning to end.
4. I emailed Colborne Lane post-​meal to tell them a couple of the dishes were off. I said I enjoyed the experience immensely but a few dishes were barely edible. I also mentioned about the difference in tasting menus as well. They responded and didn’t really apologize or offer us incentive to come back.
Overall, for $ 300 without alcohol, I would expect a 5-​star place. Colborne Lane gets ⁵⁄₅ for the experience but only ³⁄₅ on the food. I weight the food more heavily than the experience, so the overall rating is 3.5 (I rounded down to three, sorry).
A pictoral review of my meal can be found on my Facebook photo page at
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Cute location in a (nice) alley in Downtown Toronto. The atmosphere is romantic, but not intimidatingly so. I loved the flavorful, fresh dishes which involved a variety of complimentary flavors. The vegetable tart had lightly braised cut veggies (carrots, beets, asparagus) in a mashed sweet potato base, all in a yummy crust. There were some glazes on the side which also added to the complex but natural flavors. Presentation here is great. A neighbouring table had smoking dishes (probably dry-​ice) and seemed to be as excited as kids in Disneyland when the waiter brought each steaming treat by.
Wine was excellent. The only complaint I had was the cheescake which wasn’t really a cheesecake, but a ribbon of goop on a plate with crumbled crust in mounds on the side.

Full review with pictures in the blog — 10 course tasting highlights below:
All in all I’m of mixed feelings about «molecular gastronomy.» While the best meal of my entire life was at Alinea and many consider El Buli to be the best restaurant in the world I have to say that I was largely unimpressed by Cantu’s Moto and while the food of Jose Andres was good I imagine it would’ve been better using traditional cooking techniques. Planning out my visit to Toronto I’d heard good things about Colborne Lane and since I was visiting many decidedly «safe» choices during my visit I decided to give the local ‘mg’ outpost a try, it was particularly convenient that unlike many of Toronto’s best they are open on Sundays. Additionally, at $ 109 for a ten course tasting the menu looked like a veritable bargain and on communication with the restaurant I found event coordinator Allie MacDonald quite pleasant and helpful.
Scallop — clotted coconut + sweet chili dressing + citrus fruit + nitro crème fraiche arrived next and proved to be the first «wow» moment of the evening. A single large scallop anchored this dish and was absolutely flawlessly prepared — caramelized on the outside, raw at the center, fresh and sweet as can be. Accompanying the scallop was a dollop of sweet and creamy coconut cream atop a pile of tangerines and grapefruit, dehydrated coconut foam flanking the dies, a sweet and mildly spicy dressing, and small balls of liquid nitrogen frozen crème fraiche. Despite using starkly contrasting flavors and textures this dish was absolutely brilliant and no component went overshadowed while each contributed to highlighting the quality of the scallop. Most impressive I found that the combination of the two forms of coconut plus the citrus fruits created a taste and mouth feel similar to a «floating island» meringue.
Kicking of the proteins was perhaps the best dish of the night and perhaps the best fish dish I’ve had outside of L20, Providence, and Guy Savoy in the past year. Titled East Coast Halibut — sweet potato + lychee + tomato and lime chutney + coconut broth the dish was presented as a flawless filet of fresh halibut topped with tomato/​lyme chutney served over a smear of creamy cinnamon sweet potato purée. Again finished tableside, this time with the addition of a warm coconut and champagne broth I was immediately struck by the tenderness of the halibut flesh and the crispiness of the skin. Having become somewhat disenchanted with the homogenous sous vide texture propagated by Thomas Keller I quite appreciated the variance in texture.
Next up on the menu was another great dish, and this time featuring an item I’d never before tasted. Lamb Loin — cannelloni + quinoa + licorice yogurt + medjool date + borage at first seemed somewhat standard — well prepared lamb, a purée of sweet dates, chewy quinoa, and borage. The two things that separated this dish from average, however, were the dehydrated licorice and creamy licorice yogurt plus that incredible cannelloni stuffed with roasted lamb neck. Featuring a level of fattiness akin to foie gras, pork trotters, or sweetbreads the cannelloni was absolutely bursting with flavor and texture while the contents simply melted on the tongue releasing the very air of spring lamb.
Waiting only approximately 10 minutes while enjoying some Red Hot Chili Peppers and REM my server soon appeared with a true masterpiece of innovation — Foie Gras — orange + huckleberry + foie gras parfait + hot foie brioche. Featuring a generous portion of seared foie gras (perfectly cleaned) atop a split piece of grilled brioche accented with orange the dish was further embellished with dollops and streaks of orange and huckleberry purée, a hemisphere of foie/​fruit parfait, and dehydrated almond butter with the overall «feel» of the plate being that of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Having had a dish remotely similar in the past I can say without doubt that this preparation was vastly more effective and the foie textures and flavors were beautifully complimented by the accoutrements — even the manner in which the dehydrated nut butter soaked up the juices from the foie seemed intentional and decadent.
An interesting restaurant to be sure. While some dishes were astounding others were merely good and it was as though someone thought that by adding «tricks» people would think them better. At $ 109 I have to admit the tasting was a bargain since I got the foie, but I personally feel that if you advertise ten courses the amuse and mignardise should not be counted in those ten — Keller doesn’t do it, nor does Kinch, Cimarusti, or Gras — if you want to count it, don’t call it an amuse when you serve it. While it might sound nitpicky, I really do believe that Colborne Lane has the potential to be the best restaurant in Toronto with a few modest refinements — the chef is clearly talented while the front of the house is attentive, witty and effective.