Now firmly established in a converted garage on the main road into Creemore, husband-and-wife team Jeremy and Cassie Austin have been carefully expanding their vision of what The Pine has to offer. There is seating for 24, with 6 at the chef’s counter, the bright minimalist décor a fittingly neutral space for chef Jeremy to spin intricate culinary tales rooted in his years of cooking in Italy, Hong Kong and mainland China. Customers choose one of two tasting menus, both seasonal and focused on the bounty of Canadian land and waters, one of them involving more luxurious ingredients. Hen’s egg soaked in black tea, for example, is filled with smoked mustard devilled egg and garnished with Acadian gold caviar. An inspired take on Shanghai’s jianbing breakfast crepe stuffs the wrap with snow crab, bee pollen, crab brain caramel and smoked sturgeon. While most culinary techniques here are contemporary Chinese, Canadian ingredients feature prominently, as in The Pine’s take on classic Sichuan boiled fish, which uses B.C. albacore tuna, elderberry capers, marigold leaf and sweet alyssum, as well as chili doubanjiang and Lao Gan Ma emulsion. Three wine and beverage pairings pay homage to the building’s past life — 86 Octane offering refined non-alc options, 90 Octane highlighting cool-climate choices and 93 Octane digging deeper into the rare-wines cellar.

Truly worth a special journey.” Steve Molnar