Heard many great reviews about Origin at St Lawrence Market but I did not get a chance to try it until now. I am a great fan of its big brother restaurant, Colborne Lane and consider it as the best restaurant in Toronto. I hope Origin can exceed and succeed… Here is my experience at Origin…
The hostess sat us at the counter in front of the kitchen area. At first, I felt weird about the setup but once I settled in, I loved my experience at the kitchen table. I’m an addict to all reality cooking shows (Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, Master Chef etc…). It was wonderful to see how our orders made from start to finish…
- Waiter took our orders
- Orders came out as receipts in the kitchen
- The head chef called out the dishes… Starters blah blah blah, Next blah blah blah, Main blah blah blah (She called the orders so quickly I couldn’t understand what the dishes were at all.)
- The rest of team responded back ‘yes chef’ (and her team actually understood the orders.)
- Chefs preparing the dishes. Put all the components beautifully right in front of us.
- We got to witness one of the order got messed up and there was a small argument that led to the whole dish got thrown out and re-fire (Unlike Hell’s Kitchen, there was no swearing)
- The head chef double checked the dishes before they went out
- And ta-ta the dishes placed in front of us
- Our food…
- Spicy beef or tuna or mushroom hand roll + apple + shiso + miso mayo + amaranth
- Burrata + pesto + eggplant + roasted red peppers
- Chorizo + manchego rice + poached egg + salsa verde + dried black olive
- Miso glazed black cod + soba noodle salad + ginger vinaigrette + miso broth
- Hot chocolate cake + candied citrus + soft serve
- Smoked cod croquettes + saffron aioli
- All the dishes were original and creative. The taste was slight at the salty side but I liked the strong favor.
Overall, the food is great, the service is satisfactory and the ‘chef-watching’ experience is one of a kind. I will definitely go back.
