Amuse Kitchen
500 Eagleson Rd., 613-880-8883, amusekitchen.ca
Open: Monday to Wednesday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m., Thursday and Friday 11:30 to 2 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday 5 to 9 p.m.
Prices: mains $27 to $36
Access: no steps to front door, washrooms
It makes this restaurant critic’s heart beat faster to learn of a restaurant that’s visibly ambitious about food, with a menu that surprises with ingredients, techniques and transformations that go beyond the usual.
That’s why I was up to try the Amuse Kitchen in Kanata South, which opened in late March in an Eagleson Road strip mall. There, a salad that combines crab and watermelon is intriguingly described as: “brown butter-roasted snow crab legs, macadamia-oil-tossed frisée, riesling reduction-drizzled watermelon, pickled watermelon rind, grated grilled halloumi (and) fresh mint.”
But my three visits to Amuse have been marked by too many dishes that failed to deliver on the adjective-rich menu’s promises. And their shortcomings stung all the more because of the lofty prices that Amuse charges.
The restaurant, which is under the same ownership as Must Kitchen and Wine Bar in the ByWard Market, is a narrow, new place that seats 30 or so, with blue banquettes along its long walls that are preferable to its hard seats. Splashy abstract paintings alternate with mirrors along the walls. The ceiling is high, and Edison lights dangle.
Service has ranged from matter-of-fact on a weeknight to more hospitable and attentive for a weekend dinner. We did appreciate the complimentary amuse-bouche offerings at dinner, which were baguette slices topped with something savoury, even if such pre-meal freebies are usually smaller and more refined.
At that first visit, we found that the appetizers outshone the main courses. Best was a plate of four smallish lamb chops ($17), a bit unevenly grilled, but bolstered by a rich and tasty curry-like sauce that made us ask for some bread to sop up its remnants. Scallop tartare ($18) was a mellow dish of minced raw seafood on a maple-sweetened garlic mousse, with pecorino-enhanced crisps for scooping.
We liked the crab and watermelon salad, but it would have been better if every component listed on the menu had been detectable, or at least present, especially for $19. While enjoyable, the dish needed much more evidence of its flavour add-ons — brown butter roastiness, macadamia nuttiness and the salty punch of halloumi cheese. Plus, the pickled watermelon rind never made it onto the plate.
The mains that followed let us down. They seemed haphazardly plated, with gnocchi as their their common starch and proteins that were somewhat overcooked. Again, some advertised ingredients were missing or in very short supply.
Citrus-cured duck breast ($36), with a duck demi-glace sauce and too-crisped duck skin as a garnish, was cooked to medium and lacked finesse. Flank steak ($34), also cooked to medium rather than medium-rare, lacked the artichoke stuffing cited on the menu and its sauce was too salty.
Tuna ($36) was cooked beyond rare, and, worse, tasted unpleasantly fishy, far beyond any redeeming power of its saffron cream sauce. The menu mentioned “crispy leeks” as part of the dish, but there weren’t any.
For dessert, we had the bananas “Mojito” foster ($10), which needed much more minty brightness, and “S’mores” ($10) — a pleasing warm chocolate brownie with burnt marshmallow ice cream and white chocolate sauce. Oddly, there was no Graham cracker component or a suitable stand-in.
A few weeks later after that seemingly off night, I returned for lunch, when Amuse serves salads and sandwiches with gourmet aspirations. Then, the flank steak, in both a salad ($18) and sandwich ($16) was very chewy. As involved as both dishes were — the fully-loaded sandwich boasted that it included peaches, caramel, field greens, onions, goat cheese, crushed almonds and chipotle hoisin mayo — the bottom line was overly chewy meat.
Our final visit, a dinner for two, found Amuse fortunately raising its game somewhat.
We re-tried the crab salad and were surprised to see the meat, minus the shell, mounded on top of the greens and watermelon. While the presentation was less striking, the salad this time was more generous with its crab, which was also tastier. But we wondered again if the dish could have been improved with a truly meaningful halloumi kick, since that salty cheese pairs famously with watermelon. And still, the pickled melon rind was absent.
On the second go, the tuna main course was much better — clean-tasting and not overcooked (we’d made a point of asking for it to be rare). The chicken breast main course ($28) was satisfyingly moist and nicely seasoned, perhaps the best thing I’ve tried at Amuse. Too bad that the assortment of vegetables with both dishes was sometimes punishingly salty.
Chocolate hazelnut pâté ($9), while dense and rich, could have used more hazelnut.
At least at this last visit, Amuse came closer to hitting the mark. It will require more consistency and care from the kitchen and, perhaps, a menu with fewer complications, for the place to justify its prices and live up to its name.
