We have really enjoyed the summer patio at Actinolite since they started doing it during the pandemic. The menu is a bit simpler than the tasting menus at the indoor version of the restaurant, but the mainly local ingredients are high quality and the flavours pure and of the season. For some reason, we didn’t end up going last year so we corrected the mistake by going recently. We ordered one wine pairing that we shared.
First wine:
Lambrusco, Podere il Saliceto ‘Falistra’ NV, Italy (Chardonnay/Pinot Meunier/Pinot Noir) - light and refreshing.
First course:
- Bread, Brodflour einkorn - crunchy crust, pillowy interior, loverly flavour.
- House pesto of garden herbs, beerwort, and sweet potato gastrique, pumpkin seeds, dill.
- Young beets, with blackberries, fennel pollen, anise.
- Barese cucumber and eggplant (brined, raw or compressed) - some of the tastiest vegetables we’ve had this summer.
- House prosciutto.
Second pairing
Chasselas/Chardonnay, Macatho ‘Chachamo’ 21, Chilé Frontenac Blanc, orange - complex, with lots of mineral.
Second course:
Salt Spring Island mussels, steamed and smoked and basted in butter, Ontario red and yellow tomatoes, yellow plum, sauce of fermented yellow plum with clarified tomato water and “Mexican herbs” over top - plump and smokey mussels in a light and tangy broth.
Third pairing:
Riesling, Nell-Breuning ‘Ruwer’ '21, Misel, Germany, feinherb - touch of gasoline, great balance with acid and sweetness.
Third course:
Boreal Ontario chanterelles, lobster, sweet corn, blackcurrants, fresh tarragon leaves, and apricot butter - a great combination of sweet, sour, herbal, umami for the fresh lobster.
Fourth pairing:
Sacramento Chenin Blanc in foudre (steamed oak), full malo - dill pickle notes.
Fourth course:
Perth County Farms pork leg, slow roasted, seared belly, pork jus with redcurrants and costata romanesco zucchini, marigold petals, with a side of blanched potatoes and green beans, on scallop roe (we couldn’t pick it out), and mayo-shiso vinaigrette - delicious pork (fat and all) with smokey grilled zucchini and a rich jus.
Fifth pairing:
Lighthall, The Fence 2023, Milford, PEC sparking rose - fun and fragrant of rhubarb.
Dessert course:
Bayberry leaf foam, lavender sable and lavender mousse, with Ontario blueberries and cosmo flowers - very floral and herbal, and not too sweet.
Digestif:
Mead Blanc 2022 from Rosewood - mainly a wine with some honey added in.
