I first went to Scaramouche with my family in the early 80s, back when Jamie Kennedy and Michael Stadtländer were the chefs. To me at the time (a young teen), it seemed like the best restaurant in Toronto, with fancy nouvelle dishes and a beautiful view of the downtown. Over the past 40+ years I have continued to go semi-regularly. While it was no longer cutting edge, it was a place I could rely on for a quality experience.
We recently returned with friends, where the priority was having a comfortable meal in a setting where we didn’t have to shout in order to have a conversation. Scaramouche delivered. It was a fine meal, not an amazing or exciting meal, but generally enjoyable and well-executed. Service was attentive but not intrusive. And we could hear each other.
We shared a bottle of 2020, Cuvée du Boulanger, ‘Riesling Mèthode Traditionelle’ by Charles Baker. It was off-dry, but had plenty of acidity to balance it and nice fruit and bread-y hints.
We started with a special of Dutch white asparagus, with a deep fried confit egg and very thinly shaved fennel - fresh, fun (particularly the egg), and suggesting a transition from winter to spring.
Another lovely starter was the Northern Shrimp Salad with lemon herb mayonnaise, shaved fennel, English cucumber, Kaviari trout roe, pickled red onion, crispy fingerling chips, and buttermilk chive oil dressing - light, refreshing, and well-balanced.
We then had a half-portion of farro, grilled broccolini floretti, hedgehog mushrooms, spinach, graced with an herb chimichurri - like a chewier risotto, with rich mushroom flavour.
The one slight misstep was the Sicilian-style lamb ragu (also a half-portion) - perfectly done cavatelli pasta, but a bit overly salty ragu flavoured with cumin, coriander seed, chili, white wine, tomato, with an orange gremolata and manchego cheese. A bit less salt and this would have been great.
The halibut though was excellent - perfectly done fish, tender fingerling potatoes, double smoked bacon, scallions, artichokes, parsley leaf, quick pickled shallot, and a rich fish beurre fondue, plus sherry vinegar veal jus reduction.
By mistake, they brought us a basket of Blackbird baguette with a chick pea puree. We didn’t complain and they admitted the error and didn’t charge us.
For dessert, of course we ordered the coconut cream pie - not-too-sweet coconut custard, light chantilly cream, flowing white chocolate shavings, and a dark chocolate sauce, on a light pastry crust - outstanding as always.
For a bit of contrast, we also had the roasted hot house rhubarb over soft meringue, blood orange, whipped Tahitian vanilla ganache, and rhubarb syrup - very nice, if not as remarkable.
