Story & Photography | Renée S. Suen
In a market driven by quantity and convenience, quality and care may seem rare. Having a taste for excellence, destination diners are aware that an ambitious dining experience is just an hour’s drive away from Toronto, in Niagara region.
The culinary adventure begins with a trip down Restaurant Pearl Morissette’s driveway, where guests are greeted by its distinct red bird sculpture.
Restaurant Pearl Morissette, ranked as one of the best restaurants in Canada, can be found in Jordan Station, located in Niagara’s prized wine region. Identified by the red bird sculpture off Jordan Road, the restaurant’s sleek black barn home is surrounded by Pearl Morissette winery’s low-intervention vineyards, peach trees and ponds.
Identified by the red bird sculpture off Jordan Road, the restaurant is surrounded by Pearl Morissette winery’s vineyards, peach trees and ponds.
The ascent to its airy and elegant dining room is rewarded with picturesque views of the 17-hectare property’s regenerative farm, plus the expansive vegetable, herb and flower gardens against its Niagara Escarpment backdrop. Floor-to-ceiling windows make it easy to admire the calm and rustic charm of the surroundings from the second-floor perch above Pearl Morissette Estate Winery.
Opened in November of 2017, the restaurant has taken the flavours from the Niagara region and created contemporary seasonal French-inspired farmhouse dining. Guests are greeted by an everchanging, prix fixe menu brimming with ingredients sourced from the winery’s own backyard gardens, working with exquisite ingredients like wild mushrooms, tangy pineapple sage and pristine greens.
The ingredients are sourced from the winery’s own backyard gardens.
Foods that aren’t grown on-site are supplemented by meats and regional goods from local sustainable farmers and fishermen, the latter supplying quality products like crisp and sea-sweet B.C. geoduck that’s been grilled and served with pickled spruce tips with kohlrabi. Or, there’s sweet and succulent B.C. Dungeness crab that might be harmoniously paired with yogurt and crisp cucumber or radish, then finished with tender citrusy sorrel from the restaurant’s garden.
A starter might feature grilled West Coast geoduck wrapped around kohlrabi, pickled spruce tips and sorrel.
Those lucky enough to secure a coveted reservation will be treated to meticulous service. The ever-changing tasting experience might start with silky slices of Mahone Bay scallops that are christened with preserved pine, dill and bathed in green strawberry juice. Dishes such as grilled Lake Huron burbot might be served with a purée of elderflower and onion with smoked whitefish roe one night, or come with garden-grown leeks, butter lettuce, lovage and licorice-like sweet cicely later in the season.
Grilled Lake Huron burbot might be served with a puree of elderflower and onion one night, then over wintered leeks under an airy frothed sauce christened with butter lettuce, lovage and sweet cicely on another.
If the grilled Nubian goat with overwintered parsnips still leaves you craving more, there are delicately composed final courses. This might include a refreshing cantaloupe sorbet hidden under a dome of light and creamy pineapple weed mousse that’s brightened up with candied immature pine, then followed by a plum blossom tart dressed with blackened paw paw caramel.
General manager Tony Alfarano shows off the evening’s main dish, the grilled Nubian goat.
However, it’s the pork fat-fried fritter—on one occasion made with over winter parsnips; another with sunchoke—with its aromatic and mildly sweet crumb that bursts through a thin, crisp crust–served with meadowsweet or whiskey cream, respectively, that will stop everyone in their tracks.
But the true treat is the house’s best seat: a one-table-a-night private Chef’s Table in a tucked-away room next to the restaurant’s open rear kitchen. Besides having a dedicated service team and the attention of an in-house sommelier who will serve a unique selection of wines and garden pairings, guests can partake in an extended, (on our visit, 15-course), tasting menu that’s guided by the restaurant’s chefs. The three-plus-hour experience might take the proverbial cake.
A multi-layered vegetable cake showcases the kitchen’s laborious skills. It’s made from long ribbons of celeriac that have been painstakingly rolled into a tight spiral to take on a tarte tatin-like form. Gloriously caramelized, the cake is pan-roasted with brown rice sake lees from B.C., cut into a wedge and generously topped with Acadian sturgeon caviar.
The celeriac that’s been rolled into a tight spiral, pan-roasted until caramelized and topped with Acadian sturgeon caviar.
Naturally, dining at an award-winning winery does entail a thoughtful spotlight on exceptional wines. In addition to offering the best cuvées and back vintages produced by the family-run winery, there are also international offerings. These might feature tipple like the aromatic Irrévérence, a zesty, orange wine with plenty of structure, silky texture and delicate tea-like complexity.
The final courses begin with a refreshing sorbet that could feature combinations, like this cantaloupe sorbet that’s topped with pineapple weed mousse and candied immature pine.
Teetotallers and drinkers alike will rejoice in the restaurant’s nonalcoholic garden pairings that are meticulously crafted from various combinations of fruit, vegetables and herbs which might show up as pours of tart and tangy apple juice that’s been injected with rhubarb and sage to earthy matcha-honey-mushroom kombucha.
One of the night’s dishes might feature intricate dishes, like this celeriac that’s been rolled into a tight spiral, pan-roasted until caramelized and topped with Acadian sturgeon caviar
Dining Room tasting menu experiences start at $176 per person, while the Chef’s Table begins at $225 per person for parties of two to six. Visitors can prebook wine tastings and garden tours.
Pro-tip: You’d be remiss if you were to bypass RPM Bakehouse, the restaurant’s bakery in nearby Jordan Village that sells slow-fermented loaves and flaky butter-rich pastries, as well as wines from the bottle shop shelves.
RPM Bakehouse is packed on the weekends.
RPM Bakehouse in Jordan Village is popular for its casual, farm-fresh fare and ample selection of fresh-baked goods. Best to go early before everything is sold out.
Restaurant Pearl Morissette
3953 Jordan Rd. Lincoln, ON L0R 1S0
905-562-7709
restaurantpearlmorissette.com
