Matignon Restaurant Toronto
This fall we are featuring fine French restaurants,
and an excellent midtown choice is the Matignon located at 51 St.
Nicholas St. in Toronto’s Yonge and Bloor area. On our recent visit we
had the $20.95 fixed-price three course dinner. The three of us ordered
different dishes and the starters consisted of either
Vichyssoise (which
was great -- just like they make in France) or vegetable puree soup or
their fabulous Terrine Maison, a chicken liver pâté with Cognac and
fruit, or a house salad. All these starters were
excellent.
The fixed-price mains included a daily seafood
selection (pictured - click to enlarge & return) lamb shanks -- also a good choice, or chicken. These were
all expertly prepared and very good.
There was a
choice of two desserts including a French fruit cake or a traditional
French chocolate cake. They were both good choices.
Restaurant review update, December 2002
Unfortunately, our most recent visit at was a
disappointment.
This time we tried a selection
from the regular menu, rather than the fixed-price three course meal,
and in most cases we were disappointed. The pheasant, ( "Le Creation du
Chef" or "Evening Special"), in particular, was quite dry and lacking in
any type of traditional French sauce - definitely not as the French
would serve it. We selected appetizers from the regular menu and found
these to be less than spectacular and not at all worth the 9 dollar plus
price ticket. Actually these appetizers were not nearly as tasty as some
of the fixed price items like the daily soup special or the nicely
presented, pâté de la Maison. We also noticed that daily fish specials and lamb shanks
(on the fixed price menu), are as
good, or better than anything on the regular menu.
Dessert was chocolate
profiteroles, (nothing special), and coffee. Naturally the service is
always swift and the owner is charming and quick witted. But even this
kind of charm does not make up for a lackluster meal
Perhaps another complaint is the fact that they
recently raised the fixed-price menu to about $26 from $21, but
recognizing that taxes, utilities and other restaurant expenses are
climbing quite rapidly, price increases can be forgiven, but not with
this type of inconsistency.
Matignon
51 St. Nicholas St.
Toronto, ON M4Y1W6
Tel: (416) 921-9226
Fax: (416) 921-2119
Rating 3 Stars
