This week ( at least Mon to Thurs), we are kidless. That means 4 evenings of touring different cuisines that Ottawa has to offer.
DId you know there are lots of restaurants that are closed on Mondays and if not, most close by 9PM (at least in the suburbs) even in the summer.
Our first evening, we went for Thai food in Bells Corners…no not the usual Sukothai but a new little restaurant called Thai Flame. It is in the strip mall beside the Baron’s Inn and the Shell Gas station. Apparently the owners are from Laos so the taste and offerings are a bit different from other Thai places.
Chicken Satay at Thai Flame
Pad Nard La
We ordered the chicken satay appetizer. Well worth the money…5 skewers of marinated chicken with a coconut peanut sauce for dipping. The chicken had a nice kick to it as well as the sauce.
The service was excellent especially since we arrived at 8:40PM. Our waiter was very attentive. Apparently I should have asked for hot sauce on the side as they make their own.
Basil Beef
This is a place I would like to try again to see what the other dishes taste like.
Tuesday was the Italian night. We bought a groupon for La Cucina in Kanata on Hazeldean. This is a small Italian place. The groupon allowed us to try quite a bit of the menu. Warning…the dishes are large. For appetizers I had the mussels in spicy tomato sauce and my husband had the calamari. The mussels were cooked well. The tomato sauce wasn’t very spicy even if it did have pickled hot peppers strips in the sauce. I did find the tomato sauce over seasoned with salt. The calamari plate was large…perfect size for sharing. The squid was tender; however the batter was light but thick on the squid. My husband said too high of a ratio of batter to squid.
Mussels in Spicy tomato sauce
I had the classic veal marsala which came with fettucine alfredo. The alfredo sauce was sweet and tasty without the heaviness of the cream. My veal was tender and again the marsala sauce was over seasoned with salt…otherwise ok.
My husband ordered the veal gorgonzola. It was veal with a gorgonzola sauce with penne pasta in a tomato sauce. The penne was done perfectly. The gorgonzola sauce was rich. There was no skimping on sauce.
For dessert, we both had the chocolate Fondant cake…man that was to die for…cake and chocolate ganache….rich and very yummy.
The cappuccino that my husband ordered did not use good beans and not ground fine enough as he found coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup.
My green tea was Stash brand and very tasty…with a oolong flavour.
Service was very attentive. The bread was warm and fresh cut from french stick. There were bottles of olive oil and balsamic on each table and also a pepper grinder on each table.
Way too much food for one sitting. Their most popular dish is the homemade lobster ravioli in a saffron cream sauce. The pasta plates looked huge. Thinking of coming back to try their pasta.