Canis Restaurant, Toronto

Chef Jeff Kang looks for ingredients that are seasonal or regionally Canadian to be inspired. I found, for the most part, the dishes well composed and thoughtfully creative.

Crusty bread from Clarke's is served with fresh cheese topped with chimichurri sauce and churned butter topped with diced chives.

Cauliflower felafel topped with charred eggplant puree, snipped dill, bits of pickled cauliflower and cilantro. The felafel itself was made with cauliflower, chick pea flour, bulgar wheat, garlic and feta cheese. A very good tasty rendition of the traditional Mediterranean version.

Dehydrated beets, pickled beets and ribbons of blanched beets, draped over goat ricotta, chopped almonds and mint create a refreshing dish of lovely flavours, particularly enhanced by the concentrated flavour and sweetness of the dehydrated beets.

Slices of albacore tuna tartar and diced pickled jalapeno peppers, topped with thinly sliced pickled daikon radish and shiso leaves. The liquid from the pickled jalapenos and daikon were a very tasty complement for the tuna.

Ricotta stuffed pasta, confit of raw egg yolk, with raw sliced and cooked maitake mushrooms, kelp oil and mushroom broth was pleasantly rich concoction I thoroughly enjoyed.

Julienned raw celeriac and celeriec cooked in caramelized whey, with nasturtiums and delightfully complementary sharp tasting, grainy mustard seeds. 

Perfectly cooked sablefish, sour cabbage, enveloped with a potato scallop cream, all topped with shaved bonito. This was the one dish that did not work for me. The creamy sauce was overly rich and overwhelmed the experience with the fish. The bonito shavings, however, were highly appropriate.

The presention of the fabulous whole, honey roasted duck. The duck had been dry aged in hay for 2 weeks, prior to roasting.

The presentation of the normal portion served to an individual.

Sliced roast duck is served with delectable roasted jerusalem artichokes that had been cooked in duck fat (my partner jumped the gun before the photo and one is missing!) and wheat berries cooked in duck stock mixed with pulled duck confit and onion puree, all topped with sliced pickled daikon radish. What a delicious combination of elements on this plate. The duck sauce, served tableside, was an emulsified blend of foie gras, duck jus and duck liver. This was the whole duck sliced for just me (my partner was too full. I left half for her to take home, although, the whole experience was so good, I could have polished off the whole duck!).

This duck was the best roasted duck dish that I have experienced in a very long time. The duck skin was beautifully caramelized and crispy, the meat perfectly juicy with a delicate, tender texture and perfectly cooked on the rare side. The flavour was very good, considering that it was not wild. The sauce was a perfect marriage for the duck, wheat berry mix and jerusalem artichoke. This was a perfect dish!!

 

Quince, toasted koji ice cream with a thin, crispy almond streusal like topping. I liked this dessert a lot.

Milk chocolate mousse with buckwheat ice cream, all drizzled with honey, under thin pieces for brick paper candied meringue. The toasted flavours of the grains went well with the mild chocolate flavour of the mousse.

I don't typically talk about service, since one can't eat it, but the servers were very knowledgeable and ingratiating.