Taline — Restaurant in Toronto

The banru ($16) was described as a three-cheese dip, in which I could decipher two – cream cheese and feta – creating a thick, smooth but textured spread reminiscent of a cheese ball. It’s salty with a ting of spice (from Thai chili jam) and was topped with three circles of charred carrots that provided a neutral finish. The spread was served with hot toasted matnakash, an Armenian flatbread that’s soft but surprisingly dense so a slice was enough.

Taline’s fattoush ($28) eliminates lettuce and uses roasted squash, cucumbers, sweet persimmon, and microgreens instead. Tossed with a well-seasoned pomegranate and shallot vinaigrette, the salad was almost salsa like – sweet, salty, tangy – all things good on a fork. In lieu of pita, chunks of toasted matnakash create croutons that soak up the salad’s juices.

Taline should consider reordering how appetizers arrive as the mante ($30) needs to be served first. Being a more neutral dish - simply seasoned with sumac, mint, and tomato consommé – it seemed bland compared to the other flavourful starters. For me, the meat screamed for seasoning and a tomato sauce (instead of a consommé) would be more flavourful and stick to the wrapper, which was a bit hard and could benefit from being softened.

Still, I liked that Taline’s mante doesn’t rely on tons of yoghurt, just a bit of it at the bottom, and instead focuses on the actual dumpling – beautifully made containing an ample portion of ground beef. Once I smeared the mante with banru and topped it with a few vegetables from the fattoush, it was delicious. So, maybe you need to eat the dumplings in conjunction with other starters.

Lamb chop fans must try the vochkhar ($58). Its spice rub creates a flavourful but not overly salty crust that’s delicious plain or with a smear of the garlicky herbed yoghurt sauce. Cooked to a medium/medium rare, the lamb was deliciously tender served with pearl couscous that soak up excess meat juice. Yet, at first bite, you wouldn’t know the chops are tender as the “steak knives” were so dull that a regular serrated butter knife would work better. Please Taline, switch out the knives.

As the maitake jasmine broth was poured over the dikranagerd pilav ($30), an intoxicating aroma flooded the table. And while I loved the soft flavourful mushroom studded rice, the overly thick dough wrapped around the grains detracted from the dish. It doesn’t need the dough, served with a thick smoked labneh and bright barberries the rice on its own is enough.

Dining at Taline does require patience, especially during the busy weekend dinner service. It takes a while to get a drink (our cocktails arrived after the first appetizer) and we were never asked if we wanted a second. Even water refills were slow, finally picking up after half the tables left. While not deal breakers, if you’re a thirsty table, I’d recommend ordering a bottle of wine and asking for a...

We had the chef's curated menu for 2. So we didn't know what kind of dishes to expect, as it was also our first experience with Armenian cuisine. But we went in with open minds!

We got a tuna tartare dish (Kibbeh Nayeh) as part of the starter which we absolutely loved! It came with lettuce leaves to wrap it in and it was really flavourful and colourful!

The other starter was a dip sampler served with fresh and warm in-house bread. Bread was my favourite part! There was hummus, baba ganoush, and one with cheese and chilli peppers. Dips were really good but nothing out of this world. They weren't not too salty as lot of dips tend to be which I appreciated.

For the next course we got Manti (dumplings) and a salad. Manti was alright, specially the pastry around it. The filling was also nice when i tried it on its own but something was missing from the combination, maybe not enough filling. The salad was simple, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and some leaves with dressing (i think balsamic reduction)

For the main course, we were given a braised cabbage dish and a Branzino. Cabbage dish was quarter of a cabbage, braised and charred on one side. It was topped with hummus and some pomegranate seeds. I ate all of the hummus and pomegranates but I could not stand the cabbage. I had read positive reviews about the cabbage, and I don't normally mind cabbage or its smell but this I just couldn't have more than half a leaf. I didn't find it flavoured at all and the charred parts were not edible. Maybe just a personal preference at the end of the day. Fish is never my first choice at a restaurant so when the waiter appeared with the branzino I tried to keep an open mind. We gave the fish a shot but it wasn't to our liking. I tried the turmeric sauce on top of it but I liked it less than the fish 😅 we barely touched our main courses.

For dessert we were presented with one portion of soft serve ice cream with sesame paste.

I gave the food 3 stars for a few reasons: it didn't meet our expectations of a Michelin guide restaurant. I found that Cabbage and Fish were odd choices in a chef curated menu for main courses. it would've been nice to be given options or even a heads up for our main course, so we could decide accordingly, specially because they are known for their lamb chops. Dessert could have been nicer too, or at least two portions 😅 rest of the dishes were good but not enough to cover for it, specially at the...

My sister took me here as my surprise bday dinner. Walking in I was so excited seeing the Michelin mark outside and the restaurant full of patrons.

As we headed upstairs, we asked the hostess if we can sit at the table by the window, she said it was reserved. Didn’t we also make a reservation? I didn’t make a fuss because I thought maybe the other reservation had a special occasion such as a proposal. Turned out they had a speedy dinner where they both played on their phone and rarely talked to each other.

The night got increasing disappointing as it unfolded. While our server did all the expected service eg checked in on us and topped up our water she was not personable. It was a snowy night and both of us didn’t want to drink much so I asked if I can order 1 cocktail pairing with our set dinner, she said no. When I responded why can’t I order it for myself and decide to share the cocktails with my sister, she went quiet.

Food took way too long, our dinner was 3 hours long. Everything was vegetarian except for the lamb that we requested. First round was good with dips and persimmons salad. Second round was confusing, they ran out of mante (dumplings) so our substitute was kale salad and a carrot/celery lettuce wrap. This was tasteless and confusing. Third course, fish was brought out by accident but they left the cabbage side dish on the table while they cooked the lamb.

The worst thing about this whole experience is that the table next to us is close by so we can hear each other’s conversation but they also ordered the set menu and they were 1 course ahead of us so we saw everything they ate including the better looking dishes they received vs ours eg mante and the different side dish to compliment the lamb.

It was noted on our reservation that it was my birthday and our dessert didn’t come with a candle. At this point we were just ready to leave. I had to walk up to the 3 servers just standing by the bar chatting to ask for the bill. The bathroom was freezing and out of paper napkins while 3 servers are just standing right outside.

Really disappointing...