Metropolitain Brasserie

$$$+

This is a great restaurant to bring business associates or friends from out of town. It's smack dab in the middle of Château Laurier and the market. My father-in-law's wife was in town this evening attending a conference and she had a couple of hours to dart out and have dinner with us. Since she was staying at the Westin, we figured this would be a great spot to go.

I started off with a Guinness, my husband a Stiegel and Brenda with a glass of white wine. As I perused the menu, I got stuck on two dishes – Steak Tartare and Venison Ravioli. Luckily they both sounded appetizing to my husband as well, so we decided to share.

We all started off with salad. Brenda ordered the Endive salad with pear, walnuts and Roquefort (although she omitted the cheese), and my husband and I shared the Metropolitain Salad with shaved fennel, haricot verts, endive, red onion, greens and Dijon sherry vinaigrette. I found the vinaigrette to be quite weak flavour-wise, but the ingredients on the salad were very good.

Brenda's endive salad was tastier.

Next came our mains. Brenda had the Oysters Michel (actually sold as an app), 5 East Coast oysters baked with chanterelle, romano and lemon crème fraîche. I didn't try these but she did seem to enjoy them.

The tartare, topped with a quail egg and served alongside some baby gherkins, was good, although the crisp baguette toasts that came with it were a little overpowering because they were so salty. To someone like my husband though, that's a good thing!

The best part of the meal was the Venison Ravioli Chasseur with duck confit, mushrooms, tomatoes and fresh herbs in a rich wine and demi glace – if you have the chance, go there and order this dish, it's quite scrumptious. My husband thought the pasta was a little undercooked, but I found it to be just fine.

We finished off sharing the Flourless Chocolate Cake with some coffee. I think a big glass of red wine would have gone even better. It was sooooo chocolatey, you didn't need more than a bite or two to be satisfied. And every bite begged to be left to melt in your mouth.

Thanks so much for treating us Brenda!

The service was efficient but not rushed and very friendly. Apps range from $7 to $20 and mains from $18 to $36. The food is good but slightly overpriced for the quality.

www.metropolitainbrasserie.com