Montgomery's - Toronto

A unique dining experience to be sure. Went with 2 other people and we essentially sampled the entire menu. Each dish had an interesting backstory and tasted incredible. Excellent selections of wines as well.

Great dinner and atmosphere. Service was very good and informative in explaining the dishes. I will be back for sure.

Any place that looks like a bit of a construction site from the street has to have some special passion that's driving it.This place is a work in progress, and the staff and customers love it. The cooking is innovative: lentil dip, crispy freshwater shrimp, lettuce broth, breast of drake (male duck not the singer) are what we ate. The wines are delicious, all from places an ordinary person would never have access to.But the performativity is what nails it. The story-telling from staff adds enormously to knowledge about the food and enjoyment of the evening (it does stretch into an evening, BTW, as you get into enjoying the full experience). This may well be where food service is heading, to a place where staff at a restaurant are there not so much workers who move goods swiftly and politely, but tour guides and food literacy teachers.Our wine advisor had studied at Slow Food in Italy and had toured many of the French, Italian and Niagara wineries supplying the place, and had a story to tell about each choice, as well as good advice as to what to pair with what. Our hostess had a story about each of the ingredients -- the grapes she had foraged last summer that ended up in the cabbage dish, the tallow in the table candles from fat provided by their butcher's shop, so no parts of the animal would be wasted, not to mention that artist behind some of the wall hangings, whose work is now showing at the Louvre in France, and so on -- all said in the course of conversation, with no sense of being precious.When the industrial revolution began, work and workplaces were segregated from society, taken away from main streets and relocated in so-called industrial parks, and put in shops behind closed doors. The same applied to food establishments, even at home where -- moms, servants and restaurant staff were all kept apart, in a different place than where people dined. Kids should be seen but not heard, but work should be neither; consumption is the entirety of the experience.It may be that what we're witnessing with the food movement generally, and Montgomery's as a highpoint, is the re-integration of food production and consumption --post-industrial dining! The cooks are working right in the open at the entrance, and everything they do and cook from is pretty transparent for anyone who cares to walk over and look. And food, which does come with hundreds of stories of human work and culture interacting with nature in real life, comes to you that way at dinner too, if you choose to engage people in a conversation.The price point means that we can come here only for special evening, but it sure was a special evening.

Montgomery's is a wonderful restaurant at Queen and Ossington approximately 2-3 km West of downtown Toronto. The dining room is a beautiful, intimate space for dinner.The meal is built around sharing plates. The duck and pork terrine, lettuce broth, mushrooms with truffle, cabbage, and trout were enjoyed at my table. Every item was a "wow" moment. For dessert I had an equally delicious honey cake and shared a financier. Sharing plates range from $8 (lettuce broth for 2) to around $28.A few thoughts..*Portion sizes are reasonable, not huge. One person should be able to eat three items.*A vegetarian or carnivore can have a delicious meal here.*The wine list is a bit pricey. Most glasses of red fall in the 15-18$ range. They could use a good 10-12$ glass of red.* service is excellent.* the scene here is of an intimate restaurant. There is no adjoining loud bar, it is simply a warm, elegant space.

Montgomery’s is a special restaurant at the top of its game. Tonight we started with something simple that they made out of the ordinary – lovely rye and wheat bread with dandelion garlic butter. Then grilled black oyster mushrooms with a buttermilk soubise – a nice contrast of earthy flavours with a sauce with just the right amount of acidity. Our main course was “drake” with turnip. Which sounded a bit strange but turned out to be perfectly cooked male duck with very thin slices of turnip in a light reduction. It worked very well together as the crunchy vegetable combined with the flavourful meat. We had two vegetable dishes with the duck. First, sautéed leeks with whey. The tender leeks were beautifully complimented by the sauce. Then roasted sunchokes with water buffalo fresco, green apricot and fava leaves! We finished with an apple tarte tatin – caramelized to perfection; and pecan financiers (little cakes/cookies with a strawberry coulis). It was one of those meals where everything just flows along and seems to lead naturally to the next dish. The wine/beer/digestif list is focused and well chosen. We started with two bubblies – a Prince Edward County traditional method from Huff Estates and an Emilia-Romagna natural wine made from barbera and bonarda grapes. Then a unique and special Italian beer – by Loverbeer, it was made with wild yeasts and fermented with Freisa grapes. In the “sour beer” tradition and could have easily been mistaken for a natural wine. It went beautifully with all the dishes. And finally an excellent apple brandy from Brittany (Gorvello “fine Bretagne”) and an unfiltered, rustic amaro (Amara dell'Erborista). Hours later we’re still savouring the experience!