Well now that Hearth is open for lunch, I of course, had to check it out. I’m currently pregnant, so no boozy delight reviews today. I had the Saskatoon Berry lemonade, my mom had the rose lemonade. They were delicious!! Not too sweet which was perfect. The menu is nicely designed for a light lunch, although not a vegetarian, I opted for the Peas and Carrots which was beautiful! The dish is tortellini, filled with a very light carrot puree, topped with buttery, savoury peas cooked perfectly, pea tendrils, and my favourite part was dill! The dill was exactly what the dish needed to make it pop! My mom got the breakfast sandwich which was their special for the day. The seeded bun was topped with a fried egg cooked medium/hard, perfectly cooked bacon for a breakfast sandwich and jalapeno cheese. It was glorious, it was her first time in a while that she didn’t have an “egg patty” in her breakfast sandwich (yes low bar I know), but it was SO good, not too salty either. It was contrasted perfectly with a light salad with a beautiful vinaigrette and potato cakes which were expertly cooked, soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. What was unexpected is I didn’t need ketchup for it, it was seasoned so well! I am a lover of ketchup/gravy/sauce for all things potato, so when potatoes don’t require some sort of sauce I’m always pleasantly surprised. We ended our meal with 2 sticky toffee puddings. Folks, this is worth going for all on its own. It had the BEST toffee sauce, filling the cup which made it so moist (obviously), but the cake didn’t disintegrate. I have eaten a lot of sticky toffee pudding, this put every other one I’ve ever eaten to shame. We were so happy we each ordered one and didn’t have to share. Phenomenal!!
The atmosphere was top notch as expected in the Remai, perfect for a mother, daughter date or a work lunch, or a lunch with a friend. Not too stuffy, not too casual so it meets all needs. Absolutely 10/10 recommend for a meal on the lighter side.
Note: there definitely were heavier items on the menu like a delicious looking grilled cheese, crispy chicken sandwich, or roast beef, but I didn’t venture into it – I will be upon my return.
Opening for lunch — smart move Hearth, well played.
One thing I am always on the hunt for is the BEST sushi, the best Japanese, the best Asian fusion and when I heard the soft opening for Moto Restaurant, sister restaurant of Sushi Raku (in Saskatoon) was on my 34th birthday, I made it my mission to head on down there, and I managed to snag my dad to come along with me!
I walked in at 11:59am and asked if you needed a reservation for the soft opening, I received warm smiles and was told no! Just pick a seat! So I did. We sat down and reviewed the menu. As it was lunch time, we opted for lighter options, ordering the beef tartar, the hamachi and salmon ceviche and omakase sashimi (which I’m pretty sure is an offering on the Sushi Raku menu or similar).
First up came the stunning ceviche. While many may think of ceviche in the traditional sense (cubed fish cured in citrus), this appeared more like a spin on tataki without the searing. In essence, beautiful, delicate sashimi slices with a very interesting garnish of a soy jelly which I imagine was done with agar agar or gelatin. I was initially a bit perplexed, could “soy jello” be good? Well, let me tell you, I was eating those little jello pieces off the plate long after the fish was done. The fish was perfectly paired with crispy onion, scallions, some nice greens with a ponzu drizzle and a dash of some sort of chili or cayenne pepper across the top. The contrast of jelly to fish would have been overwhelming if it wasn’t for the crunch of the greens and onions, the combination of all the garnish is what made this dish absolutely incredible. You wanted to eat the dish all together, a piece of everything in every bite, and the way it was plated, Moto delivered on this. The umami flavour stood out, and frankly, I’d go back 3 times a week for that dish alone. We ended up ordering another serving of this dish at the end of our meal because it was just that damn good, and so unique! I always thought when restaurants played with molecular gastronomy it was always fruitless with no real purpose or function in the dish — Moto proved me wrong. My dad and I talked about this dish for a solid 5 minutes after while we patiently waited for our next item.
Next up came the beef tartar. Of course, the spelling led me down a mental path to look up the difference between tartare and tartar. Tartare would be the correct name, but as it is spelled tartar on the menu, I will continue with their terms.
The tartar was extremely unique, the beef and vegetables were a perfect brunoise — I haven’t seen that precision anywhere in Saskatoon recently. I would say in terms of ratio, the dish could have used a bit more beef, but what needs to be talked about was the delightful addition of what I’m fairly confident was chopped octopus! The texture variation was excellent with the addition of the creamy egg yolk, cured meat, and crunchy veggies all served with perfect taro chips, it made for a very interesting experience! Not traditional beef tartare at all! I will admit, I would have liked the beef to be seasoned, I did find myself looking for salt which was exclusively provided by the taro chips. My North American palatte just needed a bit more than that, but I will chalk that up to the fact that our culture loves salt and probably anyone else would have found the dish balanced.
The final dish for our fantastic lunch was the omakase sashimi. The presentation was jaw dropping. Three pieces each of salmon, hamachi, tuna, and spot prawn. One thing to note about spot prawn is these prawns are safe to eat raw! Another thing, feel free to crunch down on that prawn head! It is a fun palette cleanse and texture provider! They nailed the fry on that prawn head, so I was a happy camper! Now back to the sashimi. It was SO fresh, and sizeable pieces! We heard through the grape vine they just got in their tuna and salmon that morning, so as fresh as Saskatoon can get! Woohoo! The rumours were true because that sashimi was perfect. The salmon sashimi made me giggle as they added some salmon roe garnish which added a great pop of flavour every bite!
For my birthday, I did get the dessert for free. It was a creme brulee. This stood out as odd to me based on the type of restaurant, and honestly, it wasn’t a show stopper. Unfortunately, the cream/eggs had cooked a bit too much and the texture was off, though it had a great crunchy top (properly torched) and the flavour was spot on. Perhaps they’ll have more Japanese offerings in the future.
Of note, I had a quick chat with the server. The menu I post here is temporary, it will change next week and then eventually grow to be a significant offering. I cannot wait to watch this place become a go-to Japanese/Asian place in Saskatoon.
So why is Moto different than other places? Moto is providing a wide variety of fusion dishes, what I didn’t try was the plethora of Korean and other Asian offerings. Those are more “supper time” choices for me, and you bet I’ll be back to try those out! The point is if you and your friends are all over the map for likes under the large Asian cuisine umbrella, Moto will cover you. Your sushi lovers will be happy, your bibimbop lovers will be sated, hot pot and noodle lover? Moto has your back.
I would highly recommend heading down to the old Leyda’s location on 20th and checking out Moto. You will not be disappointed. I am SO happy I got the honour to be Moto’s very first customer, bucket list item checked off!
We paid just over $100 for 2 beers and 4 dishes. Well worth it.
One thing since COVID is the new requirement to provide an amazing experience with take out as well! Restaurants are using biodegradable or reusable containers to send take out home in, writing special notes, packaging nicely or adding special touches like gifts of appreciation including treats or reusable bags. Granted, not all are doing this, but I have seen a new level of “take out”, I shall call it, glamour take out. I define it as a restaurant that is taking into consideration the eating experience their dine OUT diners will experience.
That being said, here is my glamour take out experience provided by Hearth Restaurant
First, as I live out of town, I chose to do pick up. I scheduled my pick up for 5:00pm and unfortunately, they were not ready, at all. So there I sat in the restaurant waiting for my items. First thing that occurred? A big, sincere apology and an offering of a splash of wine while I wait. Well, it’s Saturday and my spawn is at home with the man, so yes! Gimme that adult grape juice! I asked for something similar to a Sauvignon Blanc and was provided with what I believe was their Gruner Veltliner a beautiful dry white. I was delighted, it was perfect.
I received my bags and for takeout, they were adorable! Even had a little tag with my name on it AND a little treat delightfully wrapped and waiting for me! Spoiler alert, they were their handmade truffles!! Each item and sauce was labelled individually with adorable little tags, it was organized well and nothing had been destroyed on the drive home. Clearly care and attention was put into packaging and it was not lost on me.
Now I only purchased appetizers and dessert from them as I had no idea what to expect. I ordered the mushroom appetizer, the bison tartare and the trout cakes and finished with the caramel chocolate tart.
Let’s start with the mushroom dip. Packaged in tin packaging to make it easier to bake should it get cold. This was a beautiful rich dish and presentation was still great despite not having the cast iron pan to serve in. A beautiful mix of various mushrooms, salty and rich melty cheese and omg the bread. I ordered extra as was recommended on here and I’m happy I did. It tasted like sourdour which was perfect and necessary to balance the richness and saltiness of the cheese. I was pleasantly surprised that mushroom was a predominant flavour as sometimes.it can get drowned out by the cheese. Great pairing! Definitely a perfect appetizer as it leaves you wanting something else (in a good way).
The bison tartare. This is legitimately one of the dishes I’ve been dreaming of for months. I absolutely love bison tartare and this was perfectly prepared. Packaged in clear plastic containers, labelled to pair properly, none of my chips were smashed and my tartare didn’t leak. In terms of taste, I was almost disappointed as when I tried the tartare alone I found it under salted. I then reminded myself where I ordered from and put it on the homemade chip provided. That did it! Restaurants do not add food on a plate without reason, and Hearth clearly considered this when choosing how to season both the tartare and chips. The chip seasoning PERFECTLY balanced the fresh tartare. The tartare itself was well chopped, only a couple pieces were still connected. Beautifully hand chopped and consistent in size, clearly done by a skilled hand. It was creamy from the egg yolk, and perfectly balanced with shallots, parsley and capers, while the chip was both salted and had some form of sour, perhaps a mid salt and vinegar chip? I was so happy with it!
Smoked trout cakes. These were packaged in a reusable container with the tartar in a separate little container, separately labelled. In terms of taste, I was satisfied with these; however, probably my least favourite of the three appetizers I ordered, but still excellent. I found a few chunks of potato in it, I would have been happier if they were chunks of trout. I unfortunately did not taste much smoke, I had more taste of potato. Adding the tartar sauce and lemon was perfect. I was not disappointed with the cakes, just the only two dishes were so exceptional and well balanced so it paled in comparison.
Finally the chocolate and caramel tart! The whipped cream came separate which I appreciated, it was great! The best part was the beautifully seasoned toasted pecans! I loved the flavour, I want to say cinnoman and nutmeg, but I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time and only stopped to consider the flavour on my last pecan. If it were me, I would have put more whisky caramel on, but that is because I’m a caramel addict.
Of course the little treat of two handmade truffles was wonderful! The bitter cocoa outside and rich chocolate interior was perfect and totally unexpected! I did not taste sea salt, but that may have just been me.
Overall, my takeout experience was a solid 10/10, the personalization and little details just shows they want to make your at home experience with their food just as exceptional as their in house experience.
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.
Went to Chop Steakhouse & Bar for birthday supper last night. We had a reservation for 630, but we finished our activities early in the city and popped over at 5 to see if they could accomodate and sure enough no problem! I will make a note that for a Wednesday night (albeit before a stat), by 630 it was absolutely PACKED. We got a bottle of wine and a couple appetizers – the tuna tataki and crab cakes. Both were fantastic!! We gobbled them up before I could take pictures. Next up we ordered Steak Oscar ordered blue rare (not interested in turning this into a debate about how to eat steak, deal with it) upgraded with the lobster chowder as a side, and Steak and Lobster ordered medium rare with a baked potato. The steak Oscar came out PERFECT. Beautiful sear and easily looked like a solid 7 oz top sirloin. The chowder was so awesome, not too creamy and lots of lobster chunks. The steak and lobster came with 2 lobster tails (smaller) and unfortunately the steak was a tad over, closer to medium but still had some pink in the middle so my man was happy. The baked potato was massive while the steak looked smaller than the promised 7 oz so that was a bit disappointing. Overall though the flavour was spot on.
We did comment for a Steakhouse we were surprised there was no bread. That’s when I noticed the community bread on the menu, so we ordered it for $2! So heads up if you like having bread, you’ll need to order it – but it’s for a good cause 🙂
Because it was a birthday we did get a free dessert, we got the mini trio and it was perfect! Cheesecake, torte and a creme brulee.
Finally we night capped with B52s. Now we ordered the coffee version and out came 2 shots. The server knew it was a mistake but decided to ask if we wanted the shots on the house and go get our coffee. So we ended up with 2 shots and 2 coffees.
Our bill game to about $250 including the $60 bottle of wine. Not bad for a special night out! We loved the decor, particularly the top hats turned into light decor. Very cool!
I love sashimi, and did not have a vehicle while in North Battleford, so I opened up a local delivery app (no STD there) and found Fuji Sushi. I ordered the deluxe sashimi – 18 assorted pieces for $24. My expectations were very low (expected shrimp, tuna and salmon). I was pleasantly surprised!
To my delight, I got prawns (the good ones, not the shrimp I frequently see), scallops, octopus, snapper, tuna, white fish, salmon and surf clam. It was marvellous, zero fishy smell and huge portions. Even if you hate sushi, you gotta appreciate that presentation via delivery no less. The blank spot was 3 slices of lemon, I had already squeezed them onto the fish before I remembered to take a photo!
I will definitely check out more of their offerings next time!
Went to Bon Temps for my birthday as they have one of my fav appy’s in the city – Some Like it Raw, a combination of beef carpaccio and 3 fresh oysters on the half shell. Well, I wish I hadn’t gone.
To start the night, I asked the server why I didn’t receive my birthday gift certificate (in fact, I have never received anything via email from them, and I signed up for their rewards program when they opened). She didn’t really have an answer, wasn’t really interested in finding one, but, said she’d honour $15 off. I thought this was great!
So to summarize what happened next: Appies ordered, we ordered oysters 12 – 6 of each kind. The waitress didn’t write anything down, and asked out of our table of 4, 2 of the appy orders over again. Not a deal breaker, but we were worried she didn’t get our order right. oysters came out only the one variety, and I know my oysters, they were old. No oyster juice, still sellable, but old. I said we had asked for half and half, she seemed a little annoyed or maybe she was stressed when I asked, and they brought out 3… (the BC Ship Points were much better) the Piggy Bank dish we ordered was inedible, they doused it with the habanero sauce (it was supposed to be brushed on) and my poor partner didn’t want to wreck my night from complaining so he ate it. I never got my $15 off (I didn’t know until my partner told me after the fact as I didn’t pay the bill) They never took my rewards card (Even though she had it) to give me points for the fairly large bill we just had.
Pros: Great atmosphere, someone was having a boil there so it was nice. Drinks were tasty! We also had oyster shots – very cool!
For the record, yes – you can in fact have incredible oysters in the middle of Saskatchewan and I do have high standards as I have had many in this province that are beautifully fresh. They were obviously capable as the BC ones were great.
Overall, I was fairly disappointed, thank goodness for good company!
Went to Odla (Saskatoon) last night for their Oyster night with Canoe Oysters and it was wonderful! I was with another foodie friend of mine and we got: – Lamb Tortellini w/ pickled grapes – Beef Tartar – Oysters from PEI shipped in fresh! – Poached Trout Special – Squash Gnocchi
Odla does a great job pushing boundaries it had some theoretically good pairings, but some didn’t quite hit the mark (for me). We had the lamb tortellini dish, that was paired with pickled grapes, caramelized onion and finished with breadcrumbs. Theoretically the pairing made sense with the pickled grapes to balance the richness of the lamb, but it didn’t quite work (for me) the way I think it was intended. I’m not against funky pickle pairings as we had the trout dish special that included pickled mussels that was awesome! The trout was poached in and then the poaching liquid turned into a mayo that it was mixed with, it acted as a spread (almost like a tuna tartare). They clearly know how to balance flavours as the homemade bread provided with the trout dish was perfect to balance out the fishy (in a good way) taste of the poached trout. Without the bread I found it a bit overwhelming (still good, but it needed the bread vehicle). For the oysters I wish smoked salt had been present, it would have been perfect with the brininess of the oysters. We did drop in some champagne to one of the oysters and that was quite yummy! I’m a fiend for salt though, and just a sprinkle always seems to make oysters even better. Although the chili infused vinegar they provided was quite delish! Oysters overall were fantastic, there is a reason they were not “buck a shuck”. We had squash gnocchi, and we added the braised lamb. The only issue with this was that it became fairly rich and I was looking for some relief. Their beef tartar was amazing though, best dish of the night. Couldn’t believe the knife skills on it! Worth every penny (or do we say nickel now?). My friend and I are absolute foodies, so we were being tough on it, honestly, overall I’d say one of the best farm to table experiences I’ve had in the city!
Sorry no pictures, we didn’t even think of it until after 😦
The Saskatchewan Foodie 