Dining Out: Attractive dishes at Norca Restaurant & Bar can wow or disappoint - low calorie dishes at mexican restaurant

30 Daly Ave.
Second floor, St. Germain Hotel, Ottawa, 613-691-
3218, lunch from Monday to Friday at 11: 30. m. to 2:30 p. m.
Dinner from 5: 30 to 10 on Monday to Saturdaym.
Small plates $14 to $21, large plates $25 to $44 to the elevator on the second floor of the Norca restaurant bar, the fashionable new restaurant "northern cuisine" on the second floor of the lejeman Hotel Ottawa in Sandy Hill, canadian ingredients "is the motto and mission behind the name.
However, in terms of quality and service, if not geographical location, my recent experience of eating in the Big Threemonth-
The old boutique hotel in Sandy Hill is everywhere on the map.
Norca is clearly not only a tourist in Ottawa, but also a great place for local cuisine.
It offers attractive and interesting (and expensive) dishes to attract with premium and récherche ingredients, a technical boom and some bounty of the Canadian wilderness.
For example, the sour dough pasta here is seasoned with spruce tip extract.
But in my opinion, in the sense of Scandinavian cuisine, the "northerners" here don't seem to be very Nordic (although the pasta also includes the cultured whey ), closer to "" This is the adjective that Montreal and Quebec City have chosen for restaurants that are wild and local --
Whether it's berries, plants, games or fishpride of place.
Some of Norca's atmosphere is also connected to the natural world.
There is a neutral color palette in the room and a lot of wood, extending from the table to comfortably holding the branch of the bill at the end of the meal.
But Norca is a more luxurious place than this.
Or, rather, a collection of some smaller spaces, from long copper bars to high tables and short tables on the wall --to-
More secluded, comfortable ceiling windowsof-
All the tables were surrounded by sofas and chairs.
An admirable
One thing that Norca appreciates is that even if jazz or groove music is played, it's not a loud place to hear the conversation.
Working in Norca is chef Dominique Dufour, who has worked in Montreal in recent years and has started her culinary career from there, then wandlust sent her to cook in Vancouver, Toronto for ten years in Yukon, Spain and the UK.
The first time I tasted Dufour was at lunch when the food was more traditional but still delicious.
A lamb and bacon sandwich ($17) was softer than expected, smoked before seasoning, but the taste was interesting.
Salad and thinseasoned, un-oily duck-
The chips are also delicious.
Video of my friend
However, the cooked beef ($24) is an undisclosed one, and although it is warm for a long time, the taste is still strongwater bath.
In addition to the sorbet and pescotti, the lack of dessert for lunch surprised us.
The same is true of this rather perfunctory service, which lacks the brilliance of the surrounding environment.
The service for dinner is more attractive and knowledgeable.
For dinner, there are six small plates on the menu, four large plates, as well as snacks, luxury plates and family packages.
More is the style dishes.
First of all, a fun entertainment
Bouche kicked off with a surprise.
I would just like to say that there is a compelling, pleasant liquid center in the cocoa butter shell, instead of destroying it completely.
Since then, the composition and operation of small plates, large plates and desserts are very heavy.
The best of them panicked, but some failed.
The consensus on our table is four small plates, a composition built around Delicata squash, foie ($19)gras-
Ground Morchella, other wild mushrooms, delicious high cheese
Fortified pastries), beurre blanc foam, and even a part of tomatillo is the best, offering a bite after a harmonious novelty of fun.
A good dish.
Crab dumplings ($21) also impressed us, even though I thought the rich sweet corn was creamy frozen, barley-flavored o brown butter, and even a wisp of fried shredded corn --stealers.
The other two small plates are lovely but may not have reached their potential.
Zucchini flowers ($22) were flooded with their mutton stuffing and goat yogurt, although sumac in the bowl did sing. The Mexican-
Inspired braised beef cheek appetizer ($20), served in smoked corn crust, not bad, not looking at the sum of the interesting parts.
A larger plate of boneless quail meat ($27) filled with smoked egg yolks and smooth pork musarlene, great and full of flavor from start to finish, from its center to eggplant puree to sunflower seeds.
Dukkah (a drama about the Middle East, nuts-
Based on condiments ).
But the lobster in the seafood, the scallops on the shells and the Humboldt squid ($44) were pretty but disappointed.
Its lobster could have been tender. scallops have passed.
Salty, its seafood distribution may be larger, and the Green spazle tastes bad and is mushy rather than elastic.
What's better is a plate of striped bass ($49) that's for two people, that's right --
The size is moderate, the taste is moist and clean, and there is a proper potato "balance", which is a delicious and bright sauce vierge and fried parsley.
Norca's desserts have raised expectations with a $12 Label and creative ingredients.
Although they were thoughtful and sophisticated, they did not really do it.
In a dessert, hay ice cream and sumac-
The Cherry was crushed,
The leaf inflatable cake is not so noticeable, and the oatmeal crispy tile has not improved the baked oats.
A dessert made of a dense genetic cake, Clover marshmallow, haskap berry gel, tarragon ghee and sugar gourd tarragon doesn't come together and seems more creative than enjoying it.
There is more direct fun on Norca's wine list, emphasizing natural, organic and Canadian bottles and grouping them according to the impression they give, from "strong and earthy" or"
Forward and refresh "red" to "clear and clean" or "weird and wonderful" white.
Cocktails and cocktails coincide with the Northern theme, featuring the popularity of Sumai, bee pollen, roasted barley, clover, Sorrell, sea cucumber, etc.
Almost all options for craft beer are in Ontario.
The last gift of maple candy is sweeter than our dessert.
One night in Norca, the concept of Dufour and the attractive advantages of cooking are obvious.
If the climax of this meal is more consistent.
Consistency, however, should not be out of reach.