Ottawa Foodies

My husband and I got married in September and had our post-reception dinner with family at Allium. Through the whole process of planning the set menu and preparing for the event, the staff and owner where incredibly helpful and accommodating (providing lots of vegan options for me).

On the big day, the service was great. The staff was attentive and very helpful.

The food was amazing!! Our families can't stop talking about it.

We had some trouble deciding where we would have this dinner, and boy, are we glad that we chose Allium.

Went again for Tapas (Monday nights only). Wasn't as busy as the other times we've gone for Tapas. This time we had grilled shrimp, seared scallops, calamari, flat iron steak on crostini, creamy mushrooms, and a chicken skewer with garlic/& something dip. All very delicious, only a few point to make, the steak was all presented very well on the toasted bread, but you look like a total idiot trying to take a bite out of it like an appetizer, and really the meat needs to be cut because it is a tough cut...maybe it's just me..maybe everyone else was cutting theirs!! not sure, but anyways. Same comment as before about the Calamari sauce, it's kind of like a tartar sauce.

The chef is very inventive with the types of salsas and accompaniments for each item that you order, for example the seared scallops are on a white bean type salsa, very delicious and not something I would ever think of doing myself. The creamy mushrooms were very good, only one tiny piece of bread provided though, so we just ate them with some other thing we had ordered. I might be wrong but I think the prices may have gone up a tiny bit, because $5,6,7 mostly approx now for each tapas plate.

For Dessert I had cheesecake it looked like a vanilla with 1/4" of lemon on top. The man had olives for dessert which he loved, they are in warm oil with herbs I believe. The coffee is delicious also.

Towards the end of the meal, dessert time the items took a long time to come, but I believe it is probably a back up in the kitchen due to the amount of small plates they have to produce at one time and the many ingredients in each tiny plate.

Without Wine and taxes it came to $44. We had six small plates, then the dessert and olives. So if you are not big drinkers it's a good deal!

And here's my main: Local maple-glazed quail breasts, with wild rice cakes, Mariposa chard and kale, raspberry jus, lemon-butter-glazed Mariposa beets, and crushed toasted pecans.

I enjoyed this thoroughly. A great combination of different tastes and textures (crisp rice cake, soft quail, crunchy pecans, etc.)

The breasts were boned (i.e. bone removed), but the wings were kept on. I perhaps enjoyed those wings a little too much, because I happily crunched away at them with my bare hands. They were like delicious, savoury after-dinner mints!

I had this with a Rhône wine (Syrah-Grenache) that I completely forget the name of and isn't on the web page. The wine pairing was a bit less optimal than the Riesling, I thought: I thought it needed a bit less sweetness and a bit more peppery spice in order to really hold up to things. In my mind, it would have been the "tang" component of the meal, because the dish was really savoury but without much sharpness.

We were sadly too full after our mains to get dessert. This upset me.

Fantastic time, with great, unobtrusive wait staff. Total bill for two appetizers, two mains, and four drinks came to about $140 before tax and Entertainment coupon. Well worth it.

Ugh, so blurry. (I guess I was aiming at the table in front of it!)

Lake Erie white bass filets, with crispy skin, heirloom tomato salsa, creamed broccoli and onions, truffled potato puree, and fresh herb and lime dressing.

The fish was fairly strong, what with it being lake fish and all. A bit overpowering, even with the strong accompaniments. Still good, though.

Here's my appy: Crab two ways.

On the left, chilled crab salad with mango, lime cream, and tomato relish. It was a great combination. The mango and lime stood out and was a great foil for the crab.

On the right, panko-crusted crab cake with guacamole and pickled onions. This one I liked a bit less, simply because the frying detracted from the crab flavour a bit. It was still delicious, just less crabby. Maybe some more pickle on the onions would help balance it out?

I had this with a Riesling that . . . oh bother, it's not on the web page. I want to say that it's "Gründerloch" or something similar. It was an off-dry styled Riesling that married with things perfectly. Accented the tropical flavours in the salad, and increased the savouriness of the crab cake.

Went to Allium on Saturday for our anniversary (dating, not marriage) and had a great time.

Ordered a couple of drinks to get things started: she, a raspberry mojito (delicious); me, a glass of Domaine Cassagnoles Sancerre (also delicious, more minerally than most of the Sauvignons Blanc I've tried.)

Appetizer #1: mushroom tart. St. Ambroise cheese, portobello, oyster, and cremini mushrooms, roasted garlic, Ian’s greens, herb and lemon dressing, and truffled parsley cream. Savoury and peppery and lemony. Great crust on the tart.

Had another successful dinner at Allium Saturday night. There is nothing better than knowing that when you feel like going out for dinner you have a place that you know everything will be fantastic and the evening enjoyable. That's what we felt like doing Sat night.

I started with a Kir Royale and Mr.KSW had a Beau's (on tap). Our apps were:

Beans on Toast: oyster, Portobello and cremini mushrooms, roasted shallots, riopelle cheese, roasted garlic puree, greens, charred onion and maple dressing, and some truffled white beans

and

Crab Lollipops: spicy with cilantro and jalapeno, chili aioli, guacamole, mango salsa, panko crust, sweet chili glaze

Both were delicious and perfectly presented.

Our mains were:

Richelieu Wild Boar Chop wrapped in bacon and roasted Mariposa garlic, sautéed organic beet tops and spinach, truffled broccoli and raw milk cheddar mac and cheese, honey and black pepper jus

Mr.KSW had this with the suggested wine pairing of Chablis (not on the site so not sure where from). He had never tried Wild Boar before and said this meal was outstanding.

and

Surf and Turf: crispy skin wild sockeye salmon, cilantro and lemon emulsion, black olive and mango salsa, marinated cucumber -grilled beef flat iron, onion, cauliflower and potato hash, spiced heirloom tomato bbq sauce

I had this with the suggested wine pairing of Zinfandel, Z52 Agnes Vineyard, 2002 California. This wine was amazing and paired perfectly well with the beef and salmon. The beef melted in your mouth as did the salmon.

I really wanted the lemon tart for dessert but was too full so we shared the flourless chocolate cake and got a banoffee pie to go which we enjoyed the next morning with coffee.

The meal was flawless and although we noticed that wait staff seemed to be all different than all our other visits, the service was very attentive and polite.

Total bill came to $144 minus $18 for our Entertainment coupon and plus tax and tip.

Went on a Monday night for a birthday for their tapas night. Had six small dishes plus a dessert and three glasses of wine altogether, for two people. Came to a pretty reasonable $60some dollars without tip. Ordered the scallops and beef tenderloin...the scallops were good but not seared perfectly like the previous review, but tasty all the same. The beef was medium/rare, which I find hard to eat, so you might have to specify if you cant eat raw looking meat. It was very good too, tender and tasty, I believe it was served with a type of aoili and worked well with the meat. Homemade potato chips with dip, the dip seemed to be the same type of dip they served with the calamari we had there before on tapas night, more of a tartar type sauce, doesn't go well in my opinion, but other person didn't agree. Asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto and cheese, I'v never had prosciutto before but the other patron said it was the best proscuitto they've ever had. The mini burger took the longest to arrive it was a flakey bun, light, and seasoned meat inside with some cheese (can't remember type, old I believe) and had a homemade few fries on the side, fries were good but I personally don't think I'd order the mini burger again~you might like it though...It wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me. For Dessert I tried the banoffee pie after reading on here about it, I was good, but I think I'd go with the chocolate flourless cake again next time. The banoffee pie has graham type crust and bananas and a thick almost pudding like filling and whip cream on top.

We'll be back again on a monday, it's a great selection of well made plates. It gets pretty busy in there on Monday's, there was only two tables free around 8.

Went for an anniversary dinner. Reservations 8pm. Place was pretty empty, Tues night, guess a lot of people in that area go out earlier. On the weekend it's probably busier at that time. Started with Scallops appetizer. Perfectly cooked scallops and good serving size with nice sauces/chutney/salsa type. Ordered as last reviewer said Kingston Estate Shiraz which I fell in love with last time I went here and you can't get in LCBO. Main dishes were Wild Boar and Beef Tenderloin. The boar was loved, although I wouldn't have been able to eat it cause it didn't look cooked to me...but if that's the way you like it!! It was served on bed of garlic type mash with oyster mushrooms, fiddle heads, all was very good. The beef tenderloin had griled asparagus, and tower of potato rounds. and all plates came with delicious sauces that married well with the ingredients. Dessert I had the lemon tart and it was homemade tasting lemon pie, Not as sickly sweet as people are used to be good. Server forgot coffee, but we didn't remind him either, so that was fine. It was a pretty pricey night all in all. But we will be back for another 'special' night

My wife and I went to Allium for the first time last night, and had a great meal. Service was quick and efficient, always there at the right time. I started off with a Steak Tartare, which was great, served with some homemade chips. The wife ordered a crab duo starter, which was a crab cake and a crab taco, both were tasty. I had a rack of boar main, served with a great mashed potato that had a bit of lemon taste to it, which was quite nice. Wife had the steak frites, cooked very nicely and served with a chipotle aioli. No desserts this time, but we did enjoy a nice bottle of Kingston Estates Shiraz. The wine menu was all quite reasonably priced. All in all a great experience, we'll definitely go back.

For a place that otherwise seemed happy to emphasize local and seasonal items, it was surprising to see only a few Canadian wines (2 red, 4 white, all from Niagara). Otherwise, the wine list seemed concise (like the menu) and well-balanced -- something for everyone.

I had the vegetarian lasagne currently on the menu (without the cheese). I was layers of grilled veggies, wild rice pancake, tomato sauce and something crispy (pasta perhaps?). That night, the butternut squash and apple soup was vegan, so I had that to start. I certainly didn't have the problem that I sometimes have when there aren't many veggie options on the menu where I come away hungry! I was offered a fruit plate for dessert (since none of the desserts were vegan). It was definitely plentiful and interesting in presentation with lots of variety of fruit. The raspberries were incredibly fresh and flavourful for this time of year.

In the two different menus I've seen, Allium has had at least one creative vegetarian main; I tried one (with tofu served like a risotto layered with various vegetables). Appetizers, however, showed less creativity -- last time I went, only the soup and salad were vegetarian.