C5 - Crystal Five

Sunny originally emailed this restaurant review to us months ago, but for some reason it never arrived in my inbox. Here is his second submission to Vanity Fare, a review of the new C5 Restaurant at the Royal Ontario Museum.

An architect friend of mine recently chastised me for calling it “The Crystal” when I mentioned my interest in trying C5. He noted that the budget was originally set for a glass structure before they ran out of money (and apparently, because of donor tension over the initial design) and eventually “settled” for the current version. “It’s not a crystal because it’s not transparent like a crystal,” he exclaimed. A majority of it isn’t even translucent. Regardless of his opinion about what the addition represents, I was merely interested in verifying the positive C5 reviews I’ve been reading in all the local papers.

Daniel Liebeskind’s addition to the Royal Ontario Museum was like one of those movies you see previews for but hold out on going to until the time feels right. Not because it looks particularly unappealing but you just want to save the experience for the appropriate time. Maybe a special occasion or a long weekend? I hardly even gave it a good look when I drove by on several occasions.

I finally caved and booked an 8 PM reservation for the Friday before the Civic Holiday for Kirsten’s birthday. Since she was also recently promoted to the Chief Editor of her magazine, I felt it was the grandiose venue necessary for our celebration.

The first thing I noticed when entering the ROM was how ridiculously difficult it was to get up to C5. Like a customer service inquiry to Rogers Wireless, we were re-directed all over the place. The C5 sign doesn’t even point to the actual entrance to C5. The last rep we spoke to finally gave us those awful metal ROM tags to attach to our collars but I wasn’t going to poke holes in a perfectly good shirt. After chucking them, we rode the dusty, unfinished elevator up and entered C5’s lounge.

A fence of phallic stones separated the lounge from the restaurant. The beautiful wood bar was accented with sharp edges, blacks, slick leather and metal. Our host brought over a special C5 martini made with vodka and bourbon while Kirsten sipped a champagne and raspberry cocktail.

Halfway through the second round, our table was ready. We entered the walkway to the restaurant to find an impressive space filled with impeccably-dressed patrons. An open kitchen boasted 4 angry little kitchen apprentices chopping and chatting with the passing servers.

It wouldn’t be fair to do this review without highlighting my favourite part of the set-up: my knife! On a lizard skin placemat sat our oblong plates, polished silverware and two cutting knives that stood on their sides. ON THEIR SIDES!

C5’s one fallback is the lack of a great view. Since the restaurant faces the back, patrons are subjected to a beautiful sky being flanked by smoke stacks, dirty roofs and electrical wiring. Aside from the disappointing vistas, we were still excited to be eating inside a translucent misshapen wing of a museum.

Since we were starving, the tiny slices of olive bread were not sufficient. It also didn’t help that the bread and blueberry butter was the best thing I’ve tasted in a long time. I didn’t think the butter would be as good as it was. The blueberry taste was very faint and the bread was especially full of flavour. We asked for more and our server brought over only one slice each. A big thumbs down for the meager bread delivery.

Our server brought over an amuse bouche compliments of the Chef: a horrible dollop of bitter smoked salmon on a stale crostini. Were they trying to make us leave before dessert?

First course, Kirsten chose a crab salad that tasted of fig and other naturally-sweet elements to balance out the saltiness. I had the raw platter (apparently one of the must-haves at C5) and almost had to choke a few of the pieces down. Appearances can be deceiving. Beautiful and fresh looking, I started with the beef tartare topped with a quail egg. Delicious, rich and perfect. Continued with some of the fishes and gagged on the dirty oyster. The oyster and salmon was smelly, fishy and borderline filthy. I should’ve sent it back but I’m such a pussy with complaining. Finished the plate with the delicious ahi tuna to save the course. At $20 a plate, I expected a little more than something that tasted like I just licked one of the ROM’s sea fossils exhibit.

Our mains were incredible. Kirsten had the meaty rack of lamb layered with a “just like Mom used to make” stuffing. I think I would’ve been happy with just a bowl of that stuffing. I chose a roasted Quebec squab topped with seared foie gras on a bed of couscous. The couscous was bigger and bouncier than usual and it swam in a pepper reduction, slightly spicy with a hint of curry. I find that some chefs will often overcook or burn foie gras to leave a more bitter taste. This piece was fatty and retained its natural juices.

Surprisingly stuffed, we skipped a course and dessert. We ordered more drinks instead. Our server overhearing that it was a dinner for Kirsten’s birthday, returned with 2 mounds of chantilly and chocolate mousse. Not a fan of dessert in general, I offered both to the birthday girl. She happily inhaled the incredibly rich spoonfuls and paired it with a glass of port.

C5 also seemed to attract a milieu of kooky characters. Businessmen with their extremely blond wives. Rich Jewish couples with their skinny daughters in sundresses. Beside us was a mixed race gay couple dining with Asian parents. Dad ate his squab and happily chatted between bites. Mom was attached to her glass, downing her merlot like a champ. Two more glasses and she would’ve had her top off, giving the surly kitchen boys a half-time show.

All in all, a good meal with an above average main course selection. C5 has some elements to work on as do most new restaurants. The service was perfection from the host to the bartender to our lovely French waiter. It’s rare to have zero complaints about service. A return visit is definitely in the works. Hopefully by then, the menu and some of the space will be fine tuned so that it can be the dynamic restaurant it has the potential to be.

Damn, I should’ve stolen one of those nifty knives.

-Sunny

(read Sunny’s Sushi Kaji review here)