"The next station is Richmond, Richmond Station"
(said in the TTC lady's voice)
In my world, a mid-week pick-me-up includes good company, good food, and laughter.
Richmond Station is opened by Top Chef Canada Season 2's winner, Chef Carl Heinrich.
Not only have I heard amazing things about this restaurant, but I have a thing for daily chalkboard menus.
It just screams 'We use fresh, seasonal ingredients!!' - and what wrong can that do?
(just an example - this wan't the chalkboard menu when I visited)
When you first walk in, you're greeted with a narrow seating area, with a large bar space on the right and diners on the left.
There is also an upper level section where we were seated at the Chef's Table.
So not only did I get to watch all the chefs cook and plate the food, I got to watch a Dinner Service happen in real life! (Yeah... I'm clearly watching too many cooking competitions right now.)
It was really amusing to watch the orders come into the kitchen and being placed on the tab, with the chef yelling (okay no, he was just reading) what needed to be done.
Priding themselves of being ingredient focused and technique driven, I could definitely see that when they were preparing all the meals for the tables.
It also felt awesome to get to be served by the Chef himself.
To start, we ordered Rabbit & Crackers.
It had an oily top and the texture of the rabbit meat was a little dry. Is it supposed to be like that? I'm not sure, as I've never had rabbit (poor bunnies!!) But it reminded me of canned tuna. It did not taste like how I expected, but it was nothing to complain about.
For our mains, J and I decided to both order the two specials on the chalkboard menu.
I ordered a Brown Butter Poached Halibut with a squash puree, glazed vegetables, basted sunchoke, shiitake, and hazelnuts. It was cooked beautifully. I loved watching them pour the puree onto the plate first, plop the sides on, and then delicately place the halibut on top with a sprinkle of cilantro.
J ordered the Grilled Sirloin Steak with glazed celtuce, turnip mash, radish salad, capers, and gherkin crème fraîche. I tried a strip of it and it was super juicy and flavorful.
Overall, I had a great experience here and very glad I stopped by. The food and the staff was great, and I cannot wait to go back to The Station and try their famous stn. burger!
