Had an early Valentine’s Day supper with my sweetie and we went to Primal. I’ll preface this review with I am a genuine food snob that enjoys being a massive foodie and pretending I’m a Top Chef judge in my spare time. Yes, my review is long, as was the dining experience. To make a long story short for those that don’t want to read it all, 10/10 amazing experience!! Worth the once a year ridiculously costing dinner outting. Effectively 7 courses with wine paired with all of them = $460 with tip.
Now on to the review…
We had a reservation for 6pm and they managed to get us in early, so that was awesome! The hostess was pleasant and followed the vax passport rules giving them a quick check then bringing us to our table. Our waitress was so great! She gave us a tour of the menu, explaining a bit about the restaurant and their goals of keeping ingredients local, using hydroponics in the basement and gardens in the summer to keep herbs fresh, and of course using Saskatchewan grain to made in house pasta daily!
She explained the specials and we went with the 5 course paired meal. 5 course meal is $75/person +$45/person for the wine pairing. As I never get to go out anymore, we splurged and added a few courses. I’ll start by saying I did not catch all of the wine varietals so I’ll just say she did an absolutely amazing job pairing the wines. They were definitely types I historically don’t like, or would never have picked and everything complemented the dishes SO well! Of particular note, they offered an orange wine that was dynamite with my main course.
First course (we added this)- beautiful PEI oysters – I think she said Sandy Hill oysters. I absolutely LOVE oysters and was excited for these. We got 18 and they were all almost perfectly shucked! One small fragment of shell in one, but it is to be expected. They tasted so fresh, which is always a challenge in SK. They came with house made red wine vinegar mignonette and a horseradish vinaigrette. So good! But the serving vessel for them was a little challenging once we got near the bottom (couldn’t use the supplied spoon anymore and just had to pour). Both condiments brought out the beautiful briny flavours versus covering up the oyster, great combination! This was paired with the in-house bubbles. Classic pairing of oysters and champange. Can’t go wrong!
Second course – pan fried bread with caesar salad and a beetroot goat cheese salad for the hunny. I was a big fan of the caesar salad, loved the homemade authentic anchovy taste! The beetroot salad was divine, perfect for my man who isn’t a fan of lettuce. Both were perfectly dressed.
Second course addition – we added the bone marrow to this course! The ciabatta was the perfect vehicle for the well cooked bone marrow. Often times, I get overcooked marrow and it’s basically vanished (melted away), this cook was nailed! The added prepared horseradish was exactly what was needed to balance the salt and fat. Portion size was perfect for 2 people, even 3 honestly.
Third course – bison carpaccio! Man, I love a good carpaccio. I found it to have a lot of aggressive seasoning (in a fantastic way). Traditionally dressed with arugula and garlic aioli with grana padano cheese. Great portion size for a 5 course meal!
Fourth course – pasta time! I had a squid ink puttanesca and my man had the scallop and prawn arrabbiata. Both were fabulous! I was surprised by how much heat there was in the puttanesca while I was expecting salt and brine. In comparison, I expected spice with the arrabbiata as a traditional spicy tomato sauce, but I swear my puttanesca had more heat! The squid ink and capers add this beautiful briny flavour to my dish which was soo good (if you like briney flavours).
Fifth course – the main! This was the most disappointing course. We had had such beautiful flavours, so well developed and balanced up until now, and we both found this course just didn’t have the same magic. My man got the beef striploin and I got the black cod. Although both the beef and black cod were cooked beautifully, there was nothing special with the beef, it was just a slice of beef with potatoes, carrots and spinach. Unfortunately, we also got a slice of just pure fat, I’m fairly confident that was not supposed to hit the plate. My cod was perfectly cooked; however, too buttery on its own. The squid ink risotto was quite tart on its own and really needed the pickled beet in the bite to cut into the it (it’s the sweet from the beets I was craving). I was left a bit confused with the balance. I could see what they were going for, but unless I had a perfect bite of beet, risotto and cod, I couldn’t get the balance I needed. I kept thinking if I had a drizzle of the pickling liquid from the beets on top, it would have been perfect… However, I think because of my previous choices that were all fairly heavy, I didn’t help this course out – 2 squid ink dishes back to back likely wasn’t a smart progression. Anyway… I digress. It was still tasty! Just didn’t balance as easily as the other dishes in my food snobby opinion!
Sixth course – dessert. I had the last piece of tiramisu (kind of surprising as we had a 6pm reservation when the restaurant opens at 5pm) and my partner had the haskap berry cheesecake! Both were great!! Although I usually have a bit more moisture in tiramisu, still amazing and a great way to end the evening.
Primal made the Top 100 Restaurants in Canada on OpenTable for a reason. This experience was phenomenal. The staff were so sweet and the vibe in the restaurant is perfect for Saskatoon. Perfect balance between casual and elegant. Bill came to $460 with tip.
I have no shame posting this grotesquely long review, dripping in food snobbery. I hope you enjoyed. 🙂
Missing from pictures is the beef striploin and cheesecake. Also the cod dish I dug into before grabbing a picture.
The Saskatchewan Foodie 