Restaurant Pearl Morissette — Restaurant in Lincoln

Annual Joint Brother-in-law Birthday Bash, 2024

With weather still unseasonably warm and comfortable, it is nice to take advantage and venture outside of the normal GTA core for an occasional chowdown or two.

For me, PM is the only trusted out-of-town, fine dining establishment featuring a tasting menu option that is within reasonable driving distance from home. Most of all, their offering reflects the quintessential in ‘ farm-to-table’ dining, incorporating a total culinary package that is always consistent, assuring and exceptional…..and now the trademark of a double Michelin Red and Green stars recipient!

It has been almost a year since I last drove out to PM and savored the wonderful and ever-changing creative cuisine of PM’s ‘ dynamic duo chefs ‘ - Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson…….not to mention visiting their flocks of free range chicken and ducks, grass fed cattles and the impressive vegetable and herb garden!

For the past three decades, due to the close proximity of our birthdays, my brother-in-law and I had been holding regular annual, husband-only, joint birthday bashes at different venues all over Ontario and Quebec. Fine dining establishments with tasting menus and wine pairing offerings were our preferred venue options. This year, meeting our primary criteria with ease, we decided to pay PM a long overdue re-visit!

Our luncheon culinary experience started off with a walk around the restaurant complex, a close encounter with some free-run ‘ Silken Chicken ‘ and a sampling of Chardonnay grapes from the 2024 harvest! Very ripe and sweet! IMHO, it could be a very good vintage year!

As in the past, after climbing the challenging ‘32 steps‘ flight of stairs to the spectacular upper level dining room, we were welcomed warmly by both chefs, outside of the open-kitchen. This time, with added significance, since we are shaking hands with Michelin star chefs!

In light of growing health and safety concerns, we have decided to pass on the wine pairing option. In lieu of, we both settled for a glass of their house-special Champagne plus a glass of their very aromatic, 2019 ‘ Irreverance ‘ ( Orange Riesling, Chardonnay & Gewurztraminer ).

The creative dishes of our 12-course ‘Omakase’ tasting menu were visually impressive and relishing. The masterful menu was well thought of and conceived, featuring a balanced and diverse offering of dishes with a focus on seafood and pasture raised fowls and animals. Most dishes feature major components with complex and muti-dimensional taste profiles, augmented with an interesting array of vegetable sides. The ‘ too beautiful to disturb and eat ‘ artful plating elevated to an even higher level than before. Again, some never before seen or tasted, uncommon ‘organic‘ ingredients adorned our plates ( eg., local ‘Golden’ Strawberries, ‘Autumn’ Petit Pois! )……the advantage of owning a herb/vegetable garden and close proximity to local farms! To reflect their recipient of the Green Star, I was told by the chefs, ALL ingredients used from now on, especially the vegetables, will be organically grown either in-house or locally. The protein, local, organic, wild or free run!

Coupled with impeccable, warm and friendly front-of-house service and care, our near perfect meal was once again foodie and praise worthy. My only VERY MINOR AND SUPERFICIAL criticism pertains to the slight ‘overhanded‘ use of salt in the delectable sauces of a few dishes….the Lobster, the Cod and the Duck.......No big deal! Part of living in an imperfect world!!

Looking forward to returning for...

The food at this restaurant was excellent and, with the following caveats related to atmosphere and service, I would highly recommend giving it a try.

The restaurant is on the second floor of a renovated barn. It was raining the night we attended and the private driveway required navigating thousands of mud-filled potholes, something that didn't bother me too much but seemed to irk some of my elderly party, which I can understand. In these conditions, passengers must be dropped off at the door because the parking lot boasts just as many muddy potholes. Drivers should wear hiking boots! (haha). Our table was situated in the middle of the open dining room and, unfortunately, had very little light. Until they came with a extra light for the table, we had to use the light on our phones to read the pairing menu. In contrast to us, it seemed like the tables on the sides of the room had sufficient lighting to adequately see the food they were served. The other issue we had, particularly the older folks in our party, was that the room was very noisy. Some people in our party even had trouble hearing the host/server when they were standing on the other side of our table. While, ascetically, the dining room was fantastic, they need some sound-absorbing material to prevent acoustic amplification. It would be a good place to have a concert. ;)

The service was excellent and each dish and pairing was explained thoroughly by knowledgeable staff. My only comment here is that they tended to go on quite a long time about each of the dishes and wines, to the point, somewhat comically, where it was a challenge to have a sustained conversation with anyone at the table. I totally understand that this designed to be a food 'experience' but I think it just requires a little reading-of-the-room, so to speak. Again, they were great and super informative and the service was, otherwise, top notch.

Finally, we did find it a little funny that the reason they gave for not having an expresso machine was because coffee beans do not originate from Canada, despite the fact they served drip coffee (as well as international wines). All food is local or Canadian and they stay true to that, which is fantastic, but I would be careful about taking it too far, such that the philosophical approach begins to lose a little...

This place was fantastic overall. We booked for my wife's birthday, and she had a great time.

First and foremost, I will say that the thing that most impressed us was the service, the staff are exceptionally well trained and go out of their way to make sure that you are having an amazing time. As a result we absolutely did. They even changed her mail on the fly when they asked her about the lamb, which she wasn't particularly fond of.

I absolutely love the ambiance and was very much digging the vibes and music selection - definitely added to the already awesome experience we had.

Finally, the food - I will admit it was just overall not as good as I expected, even though I'm a big guy who can appreciate small food. Highlights from the menu in my opinion were the scallops, the strip, and the epic multi-honey dessert, but the other dishes seemed to lack that extra bit that sent these particular dishes over the top. To be clear, this means that I would rate the food a 4.5 or 4.6 rather than a 5, all the dishes were still very very good. We did get the garden pairing, which I absoloutely highly recommend, these beverages themselves had an amazing depth of flavour and definitely also elevated the experience.

The absoloute best thing on the menu has to be the bread - I would dedicate this whole review to the bread if I could, but I can't so I'll just say I will drive the 20+ minutes on a regular basis to go to their bakehouse and grab a loaf.

Overall, the experience is absoloutely worth waiting for a reservation and absoloutely worth the money. I will suggest this to anyone looking for a special night out, you will be wined and dined, and you will be talking about your experience for a long time to come. I will definitely be...