Perch Restaurant — Restaurant in Ottawa

Liked it but wanted to love it! A few dishes just didn’t hit the marks for our group and we left feeling slightly unsatisfied food wise. The ambiance/drinks were fantastic however and it was a very fun experience.

We started with turnips. I thought it was a perfect dish to prepare the palate. Fresh, acidic, great texture on the turnip.

Next came the macaron which to two members of our table was the star of the show. The macaron itself was incredible - slightly chewy yet still crunchy so it held together great. The mousse was delicious.

This was followed up by the salmon which our table didn’t enjoy. The cauliflower pudding was more on the frozen/iced side, which texture wise contrasted a little too much with the salmon. The salmon itself was also not my favourite as it was a bit on the fishier and smokier side, although one person at our table did really enjoy the salmon itself.

The chawanmushi was next which again wasn’t greatly appreciated by any of the table. It was good, the pork was tasty and the clams had a great texture. It was a very subtle dish - maybe it wasn’t greatly appreciated just due to the flavour being more on the mild side and it wasn’t very warm. Think we would have appreciated a warm soup or hot broth following the iced pudding dish.

The following raviolo was a big hit. Flavour wise it packed a punch, the mushrooms added a great texture, and all of its components felt cohesive. We did think however the aerated sauce here didn’t seem to contribute to the dish, but it was greatly enjoyed nonetheless.

The following tuna was perfectly cooked as well. The char on the bok choy contributed well and the crunch of the cucumber gave a nice addition. Only complaint here was the sauce was a bit too much on the buttery side. I think following up the flavour bomb that was the raviolo sauce we would have appreciated a more fresh and acidic dish here.

The caviar & beef was amazing. Loved to finally try a take on the famous French laundry cornet. The matane shrimp cone texture was perfectly crunchy yet not to the point of falling apart. The tartare was flavourful, with the caviar adding a nice topping.

The lamb was good. Maybe a bit under-salted and unfortunately the knives provided proved difficult to slice the lamb and near impossible to slice the Swiss chard. The barley risotto and puffed rice here were excellent components. All members of our table enjoyed the dish however we maybe were be hoping to be wowed by the final dish.

The dessert was just okay. Quite subtle flavour wise and the ice cream was almost too cold for the cake - as the rye cake itself was also on the colder side. It would have been better with a hot cake to contrast the coldness of the ice cream.

Overall the takeaways from the group were that another fresh acidic style dish would have been appreciated as in general the overarching flavour theme seemed to be more on the umami and savoury side. The flavours were more subtle with the dishes that packed a punch flavour wise (Raviolo/Macaron) being the standouts. For a cold winter night I think we would have wanted a warm heartier dish at some point as well. The chawanmushi I suppose maybe tried to fill this role but it wasn’t very warm. The sauce components that contributed to the dishes were either cold or room...

Went for my bday on Friday with my wife and son. Have to say this was a wonderful experience. Every aspect of the dining experience was realized. Firstly the food was compeling and delicious to say the least. Each course had its own creative genius.

The amount of pre mis en place prep to expedite this level of food is something you need to understand. In a sense when you dine there, it almost seems so fluid and easy as the kitchen and dining room are so calm, yet the amount of work the kitchen does ahead of time is what really makes it work.

The plates here are true works of art and the complexity and harmonizing of flavours and textures are spot on.

The breads from Amanda were equally delicious. Her knowledge of each component in each dish was amazing!

The decor and layout with open concept kitchen was very well thought out. Really like their vision of sustainability and how they implement that philosophy into food, drink and menus.

Shannon's cocktails and wine pairings were equally compelling, tasty and accurate. One course we had a tequila cocktail matched to a custard quail dish. It was amazing and it showed the depth of knowledge and care taken into matching food and wine.

Service was quick and attentive, Chef Justin even had time to explain some of his dishes to us.There were a few touches that I have had service wise at other restaurants of this caliber, that were missed however.

He is a very creative passionate Chef who's culinary vision is truly realized when eating his food.

My only critique or suggestion would be to possibly give diners a choice to eat his food off his taster menu but possibly just 2 or 3 dishes in a slightly larger portion. They could still offer the 5 and 9 course for the entire tables that chose to go this route, but I feel some foodies in ottawa are missing out because of the price of the tasting menus. I hate to see restaurants like this be a one off celebration place. A talented Chef like this needs to be able to have a full restaurant nightly. Perhaps this will be something they may rethink.

This is another great fine dining experience in Ottawa and Perch deserves its acclaim. I wish them further success. I hope they have full capacity as this is a...

This was the best restaurant experience I’ve ever had and I feel bad it took me so long to write this review. My husband and I came here to celebrate our anniversary back in August. I’m pregnant and at the time of this visit and was having horrible nausea(this will become important later in this story)

first, let’s talk about the food. It was delicious AND unique. I have done every tasting menu in this city and sometimes the dishes are a unique concept… but the flavour is just not it. Not hating on the other tasting menus, but some of those other experiences do highlight how well rounded this menu was in my opinion. Our favourite dishes were the pasta and the duck. Everything was cooked to perfection.

Along with the food, we got the drink pairings. My husband did the alcohol version and I did the mocktails. This was a highlight for us and we’re so happy we did this. Shannon has such a creative mind. The drinks paired well with each course and tasted amazing. I was especially impressed with the mocktails he curated. They were not your typical 3 juice standard blah mixes. There were hot and cold teas, house made syrups using local ingredients, and some dealcoholized wines. You could tell a lot of thought and intention went behind his choices.

Lastly, the fantastic service from all staff. This was the cherry on top. Unfortunately, during our stay, someone walked in with really strong perfume and it set my nausea off about half way through the meal. everyone went above and beyond to help me. Offered to move our table, changed the mocktails on the fly to include stomach settling ingredients, let me take stuff home(even though they aren’t really set up to do that). The restaurant is very open so I could see them in a team huddle thinking about what they could do to help including the chef. I have never experienced anything like that before so I thought I would share and extend a thank you to everyone who helped me that night.

Definitely an anniversary meal to remember and we...