Union 72 first popped up on my radar when I was looking for a restaurant to celebrate a birthday last year. I love French cuisine and I liked that the menu at Union uses only produce from locally grown, Ontario farms.

Atmosphere: The feeling inside the restaurant is cozy. It feels a touch rustic with linens, an exposed brick wall, a full painted wall mural, lots of natural textures and heavy plates. The seating area was tight, we were very close to tables on both sides and it was a squeeze to leave without disrupting our neighbours. Lighting within the restaurant was intimate but they’ve tried to let in lots of natural light with the glass storefront and keeping a glass back door in place.

Service: I really liked our server, she was very helpful with suggesting wine pairings and could make a personal menu recommendation (which I always look for). She swayed us on ordering the crab tartinette over steak tartare, which isn’t always on the menu. I love finding out pieces of additional information like that and it really does sway how I order. We didn’t have to wait long between courses, and plates were cleared promptly. The only hiccup was trying to see a dessert menu at the end of the night. It took more than ten minutes to get someone’s attention. We weren’t in a rush so we weren’t trying too hard and it was more comedic at how difficult it was to get noticed.

Food: For dinner, the BF and I split a Crab Tartinette as an appetizer; he ordered the Cassoulet with duck confit, pork belly and blood sausage while I had the Seared Pickerel. We both really enjoyed the tartinette. The bread was toasted dry, buttered and really held up to the crab’s saltier dressing. I audibly “mmmm’ed” after the first bite. The was dish was heavy handed on the salt, I don’t think I could have finished both pieces on my own.

As for entrees, the pickerel was amazing, seared to a soft, buttery texture and lightly seasoned. The beets, potatoes  and swiss chard served alongside with the mustard sauce were also flavourful and still held their own textures. I could have easily eaten spoonfuls of the sauce. We were both disappointed with the cassoulet. The pork belly was too fatty, not all of the fat had glazed yet and the skin was too tough to cut. The duck confit was fine, as was the sausage but the meat was a bit tough and the beans were really greasy. I wouldn’t order this dish again.

All in all, Union was a little hit and miss. I’d like to go back to try the Elk Sliders and their Steak, but for the dishes I had this night I would put them in the list of “nice to try but underwhelming”.

Keriwa Cafe had been on my list of restaurants to try for over a year now, however when they switched from a la carte to a tasting  menu format in October, the price range was a little high for a non special occasion dinner. So when I heard that they were switching back to a la carte options, I made a reservation with the first excuse I had.

Atmosphere: The interior of the restaurant was very spacious, there is a lot of wood texture and the space is well-lit. I liked the large pieces of art on the wall, with an industrial feel using metal and dark colours. Much of the serving ware was also natural wooden pieces and clay pottery.

Service:I had originally made a reservation for 2 at 6:30. It had begun to snow pretty heavily that evening and both my friend and I were running late. I called Keriwa at 6:00 to advise them of this and they said, not a problem, but to be aware that our table was to be re-seated at 8:00. That was fine and we made it through the door at 7:00 sharp. I have no issue with our table having to be re-seated, and the hostess did let us know that when 8:00 came around, we had the option to move to the bar but that we could “figure it out when the time came”. She advised us to order only one course because of our limited time. We were a little disappointed there but it was understandable.

Coincidentally, the table next to us were 2 friends that we knew. We were able to push our tables together and try a lot more dishes, however we were again reminded that we had to leave at 8:00, and that the tables would be billed separately, again totally understandable. Except, 8:00 came and went, people came, were seated and no one needed our table, yet we were still rushed with the bill, we weren’t even offered the dessert menu but waited long enough to pay that our friends’ dessert order arrived. Our server rarely checked in on us and didn’t refill wine or water glasses. All in all, I felt like I had to scarf down my food unnecessarily, and then when it came time to pay, we sat and waited, when we could’ve been enjoying our own apply crumble. The servers seemed spread thin and the service wasn’t all that I expected.

Food: My table ordered the Duck Confit Dumplings, Pork Confit Belly (served on rye flat bread) and Bison Jowl. In addition we were able to sample from our friend’s table, the Smoked Trout, Brussel Sprouts, Whitefish, Smoked Hen and the Apple Crumble for dessert.

The stand out dishes for me were the dumplings, bison jowl, brussel sprouts and apple crumble. The broth the dumplings came in was very flavourful and the dumpling wrap was thin and chewy. The presentation of the bison jowl was unexpected, it came almost like a giant ravioli and was very creamy. The white cream sauce on this dish was amazing, we were ready to lick it off the plate, it was so creamy and buttery. This was my first time having brussel sprouts, and if they always taste like this I’ll need to have it more often. The sprouts were crunchy, fully cooked and buttery (that’s probably what made it), with candied walnuts and pear.

All of the dishes we had were great and the bottle of rose went well with everything. I loved the apple crumble dessert with toasted marshmallow topping and buried berries. The balance of sweet and sour was perfect.

I definitely need a re-visit, one that will allow me to savour and enjoy the meal at a more even pace.