The Elm Tree Restaurant

Came here for a celebratory dinner with my mom and we were so thrilled. Great service, amazing food, fantastic ambiance. We will definitely be back. Had the carpaccio, risotto, and cornish hen, and took home the pistachio dessert, as we were too full to continue eating at the restaurant. My pictures do not fully show the quality.

As a local, I have always avoided restaurants that are fairly close to hotels just on the basis that it "might" be an overpriced tourist trap, and hence avoided the area around Elm street. Luckily, a food event brought me to The Elm Tree Restaurant, and I have to say I am a fan of this place! For our dinner, we had a sampling of their winter menu dishes, so we had smaller portions that usual (so ignore the portion size of my pictures). They are now at their Spring menu, but some items will probably still be there. - Pan Seared Scallop: This was perfectly seared and scallop was not overdone. The sunflower seed pesto was great with it, as is the confit tomato. - Beef Carpaccio: This is a great starter and I loved the truffle oil with the beef. - Grilled octopus: I tend to be picky about octopus and hate it when it is not done right. I am happy to say it was quite well done here. Love the giant caper berries and the chorizo salsa with it. - Pork belly: This item has all the other reviews raving about and I can see why. Pork belly needs to be tender to be good and this one is tender! It comes with sauerkraut which is not my favourite, but a good dish nonetheless. - Cornish hen: While not an overly photogenic dish, it is quite decent and I like the roasted brussels sprouts that came with it - Duck breast: This dish was a slight miss for me. While the duck breast is perfectly cooked (pink in centre) and has great flavours with the pistachio rumble and duck jus, the cut of the breast was not good and there was a hard ligament within the meat. It took us a bit of effort to chew. YMMV on this one. - Herb crusted rack of lamb: This was my favourite dish. I loved the combination of the lamb and herb crust, and the parsnip puree was so good with it! Overall, I really liked The Elm Tree Restaurant and the prices are not too bad considering the location (Yonge and Dundas very close to Eaton Centre and TTC; $20 to high 30's for mains). I think this is a great dining option in the very competitive downtown Toronto scene.

We went today for a work anniversary and the food was amazing. The waiter was funny and made us feel at home. Had the scallops as an appetizer and the mushroom risotto as my main. One of the best risotto I've ever had! The scallops were so delicious, I was sad when my plate was empty. Great place with amazing food. Will definitely be going again!