Also on Saturday we wandered to a few Doors Open Toronto venues with Paul and Karen, including:
- the Flatiron Building (which incidentally pre-dates the Fuller Flatiron Building in New York City);
- Berkeley Castle (where both G and Blee both once had offices and which is owned by uber-architect, Jack Diamond);
- Distillery District
- St. James Cathedral;
- Carlu
Afterwards, we headed to the Club Lounge at the Sheraton Centre (which incidentally has been completely redone) for cocktails and hors d’ovurers before trying C5, the new restaurant at the Royal Ontario Museum.
2 & 3) the inside courtyard at the beautiful Berkeley Castle
4) Karen and Paul in the courtyard; 5) more Berkeley
6 & 7) what on earth is this at Distrillery District … reminds me of a Tolkien character
8) the altar at St. James Cathedral
9) laying new track for the streetcars on Church Street; 10) the view from the Carlu lookin up to Bloor/Yonge
11 & 12) instead the Carlu … if you ever get to attend an event here … GO!
13) awaiting the crowds at the theatre in the Carlu
14 & 15) VW Bug maddness at Yonge/Dundas Square
16 & 17) the views southeast and southwest from the Club Lounge at the Sheraton Centre
18) the new Club Lounge – very nice compared to the old one; 19) yummies in the Club Lounge
20) the Royal Ontario Museum; just outside the weird after hours entrance to C5
Heading up a dedicated (industrial) elevator gets you into the restaurant proper which is at the top of the crystal and was designed by the uber-hip design firm II by IV. It’s all black (the bar and lounge area) and white (the restaurant with open kitchen). Service is polished and professional and there is a hearty wine list with plenty of Canadian content.
So, the food. Good but certainly not worth the price and, frankly (and arrogantly) G and I can cook just as well. The stars here are the C1, C2 and C5 courses and if I go again, I’d simply saddle up to the bar/lounge for drinks and dessert. On ordering lamb, G and Paul where not given a choice as to how it was to be cooked, and same went for Karen’s beef tenderloin dish. Strange? Especially when the lamb, in particular, comes rare and as Karen so rightly noted, “could have done with another few minutes on the flame”. How’s that for understatement?!
However, my oysters served three ways – tempura, baked and raw ; G’s tuna and foie gras risotto and Paul’s charred octopus with squid ink were outstanding. My crab ravioli and halibut C3 course with brown butter sauce was also exceptionally good. Dinner for 4 with one drink each, tax and tip – $360.00 … you can decide if that is expensive or not.
21) oysters three ways at C5; 22) tuna and foie gras risotto
23) halibut and crab ravioli; 24) lamb
AppsScraps 
Nice weekend in town! I do agree that the restaurant food is quite ‘pretentious’ and expensive too! **Love the street scene and buildings photos!
Interesting review of C5. I always wanted to go there but I guess I’ll save my pennies for somewhere else. :P
The lamb is very rare (raw?). Thanks for the review – I haven’t eaten there yet but now I know what to expect.
Yeah, that’s bordering on “mighty expensive” and my expectations get pretty high at that point.