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The Delicious Winterlicious Alternative
Winterlicious comes but once a year, but there’s no reason the more financially-challenged can’t eat like kings all the time. Case in point: Siegfried’s Restaurant.
Located on the premises of George Brown College’s renowned chef school, this restaurant is your opportunity to taste the delicacies of Toronto’s future five-star chefs at *almost* student-dining prices.
Going there may feel like you’re back at school or showing up for parent-teacher interviews, but this is a classroom in a restaurant, set up to look and feel like a “real” dining experience.
The menu is much like those you’d find on the Winterlicious lineup. Open for lunch and dinner seatings on certain nights only, the changing menu offers a choice of four appetizers, four entrees, and three deserts. There’s a full wine and beverage list that’s all for real at very normal prices. The restaurant is staffed with students, dressed to be fine dining wait staff.
Basically, expect nothing less than you would at your average restaurant. Heck, you can almost expect more, as these are Toronto’s next “it” chefs — the presentation of food and quality of cuisine confirm that.
The only thing you won’t get that you would at the big “high class” digs you pay the big bucks for, is high class service. Torontoist warns the service might only work for the patient and humourous at heart, cause the tension and anxiety emanating from the nervous waiters is almost palpable. But, if you’re willing to sit through painful moments as your waiter-in-training breaks the cork in your bottle of wine or screws up your order, it’s definitely worth it.
This week the menu offered up quite the assortment, options for a starter were a salad, three-spread veggie option, a butternut squash soup with grab and ginger cream or a suspicious chicken liver parfait. Starters range between the three and four dollar range, so it’s hard to go wrong. Well, not THAT hard, as Torontoist waiter had a tough time writing our orders down, therefore we didn’t EXACTLY get what we asked for, but no matter.
Entrees are pricier but still a steal for the quality and presentation. For $14 you can get a HUGE portion of oven braised lamb shank in a red wine and thyme jus partnered with a rosemary and white bean ragout. For less than that you could order the pan seared atlantic salmon with avocado and tomato salsa, and Torontoist fully recommends the chicken with pancetta and fennel wrap served with a pancetta herb vinaigrette—mmmmm. Apparently the herb-marinated sirloin of beef with a cracked peppercorn cabernet reduction was good too.
Then, the kicker: the sweet stuff. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t turn down a fabulous desert that will cost you less than five bucks. Be it the molten chocolate cake with berry compote and mango coulis or the vanilla creme brule with almond biscuits, the desserts are to-die-for.
It’s far less difficult to reserve a spot at Siegfried’s than it is to land a seat at a Winterlicious venue, and in this case, the deal is on year-round.
Siegfried’s is located in the Centre for Hospitality and Tourism at:
300 Adelaide Street East
Toronto, Ontario M5A 1N1
Fax: 416-415-2501
416-415-5000 ext 2260