Last spring, after a very successful three-and-a-half-year run in modest quarters on Collingwood’s main street, husband-and-wife team Jeremy and Cassie Austin moved operations to Creemore. The new space, a converted garage on the main road into town, is bright, spacious and minimalist — a fittingly neutral space for chef Jeremy to spin culinary tales rooted in his years of cooking in Italy, Hong Kong and mainland China. There is seating for 24, with six at the chef’s counter. Twin 200,000-BTU commercial woks allow the chef to fully embrace the wok hei — a technique that imparts smoky flavours by applying extremely high heat to cooking oils. The 14- to 18-course tasting menu features dishes like steamed egg custard with bone marrow, fermented cabbage, chili sofrito and whey emulsion. Send the Rice Down is flat-iron beef tartare with pickled celery, doubanjiang celery-leaf emulsion and green radish. The French Concession is a nod to a neighbourhood in Shanghai. “Just like you have a French neighbourhood in the middle of a Chinese city, you have a French dish in the middle of a Chinese menu,” says chef. In this case, sourdough roasted in kabayaki and browned butter with foie gras ice cream and sour prune jam. While most culinary techniques here are contemporary Chinese, the ingredients are emphatically local. The concise but judiciously chosen wine and drinks program is focused on Ontario, newly rounded out with international options.
An IMPECCABLE journey! Natalie Goldenberg-Fife
Beef tartare with pickled celery, doubanjiang celery emulsion.
Chef Austin.
Beef tartare with pickled celery, doubanjiang celery emulsion.
Chef Austin.
