C5 at the Royal Ontario Museum

100 Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON

416-586-8000

Type of cuisine: Bistro
Date of Review: June, 2010

Overall Quality Ranking: Excellent

Cost: Expensive 
Gluten-Free Menu Options: Somewhat restricted 
Gluten Free Diner Comfort ranking: Cautiously comfortable

Description:  Heading to a place like C5 at the ROM brings expectations, and these were largely met, with a couple of minor food demerits.  On this Saturday evening, the restaurant was fairly empty, although it is a good size restaurant.  The menu has a good variety of options with a few restrictions for those who must go gluten free.  Some group offerings are also included, although we did not partake.

For the GF lovers, the bread was rated highly, and looked great.  Good tasting bread often looks good too, it seems.  The amuse bouche this evening was pickled watermelon rind with watermelon juice and watercress.  It sounds odd, but it worked, and I’d love to pop one of these guys after a good run.  Appetizers were varied.  Two of us chose the charcuterie, which had  a nice variety of meats and pates, although the GF eater’s marker of a really good restaurant—a bit of GF cracker or sliced apple in lieu of toasts—was not provided.  The mushroom green salad with mushroom puree was a hit, and the soft-shelled crab salad was delicious without being oily.  For a bottle, we opened with a Gruner Vetliner Austrian white, which was full bodied and worked nicely against any lingering Austrian wine bias.

We sampled some breadth of the mains.  My boar on the fatty side even for non-industrial beast.  Nevertheless, it was delicious, not overly gamey and came with a soothing pear and maple celeriac hash and salty-zippy little boar pancetta bits and wilted greens.  I’d do it again.  One fellow diner had the bass, which was good and garlicky.  Another had the lamb two ways with a yummy goat cheese mash.  The lamb chops were a bit tough but the braised lamb was rich tasting and wonderfully tender. Our fourth member went with the surf and turf, which appeared as prawn terrine and steak with a bright piri piri dressing (a parsley, chili, and onion salsa encountered in Argentina, but reportedly more of Portuguese or Mozambique origin); it was ranked highly.  The accompanying wine for this round was an Argentinian malbec with a fruity nose but which was thin on the palate.

With great fortitude and in the name of research, we hit the dessert menu.  The chocolate log with dark chocolate and rhubarb did not last very long.   The chocolate and butterscotch pudding with little donuts contributed to silence at the table while the lemon olive oil cake with honey sorbet and marscapone cream was graded delicious.  Two of us also shared a cheese plate with fabulous Quebec numbers accompanied by addictive candied nuts and dry fruits.

The wait staff was very friendly and helpful, from dietary issues to wine recommendations.  Service moved along at an appropriate clip.  The physical space, were it studied, might actually prove good for the brain.  As the upper part of the Libeskind’s Crystal, the walls bent off at wonky angles and the windows were large and afforded great light and satisfying local views.

C5 puts a hip name on a hip space.  The service is great and only a couple of minor food slips keep the restaurant from being outstanding.