In the spirit of veering away from our usual sushi outings, my friend and I decided to try North 44 for a change of scenery. Conveniently located in the Yonge and Eglinton area, North 44 offers diners an eclectic variety of food in an elegant environment.
It took us a good 20 minutes to figure out what to order because everything on the menu sounded absolutely amazing. In the end, we ordered fresh oysters (I’m obsessed) and tuna carpaccio to start and then herb crusted ostrich and braised beef short ribs as mains. For dessert, we shared the Mignardises, which was a selection of sweets and cookies.
Before I go on to describe how utterly unbelievable the food was, I would like to highlight the impeccably fast and courteous service. Our waiter was surprisingly pleasant, making small talk with us and cracking jokes while we tried to figure out what to order. This was a great change of pace from Marc McEwan’s other restaurant, One.
Now, back to the food; everything we ate was perfectly cooked (or very fresh when it comes to the raw oysters and carpaccio). The carpaccio was served with with greens, Japanese pear, jalapeno, coriander and yuzu, while the ostrich was accompanied by sweet onion ravioli, swiss chard, brussel sprouts and caramelized parsnips and finally the beef ribs were served with spiced cocoa rub, soft polenta, sweet pepper caponatta and natural jus. Each dish had contradicting flavours that made the dining experience quite unique and interesting. Realistically, I would never think to pair jalepenos with pears or spiced cocoa with sweet pepper caponatta, but you know what? It really worked. Everything was absolutely mouth-watering and such a refreshing change from the food that my 19 year old self is accustomed to eating. I stepped out of my comfort zone and was pleasantly surprised.
In terms of price, I would say that this was one of the most expensive meals that I have ever paid for. Customers are looking at roughly 20 dollars for an app, while the mains run anywhere between 30 to 55 dollars and deserts range between 10 to 15 dollars. For a 3 course meal, with drinks, a dinner would probably be around 200 dollars. However, I would adamantly recommend this restaurant to others because the food is just that wonderful.
