happy birthday

it was the boy's birthday and we celebrated with a dinner at bymark during winterlicious. we got a great table and had an ah-mazing meal!

we started with a couple of cocktails. the boy was drawn to the high tea and i nearly started salivating when i read the description... tanqueray gin, cucumber, camomile, soda, lime (if i remember correctly). so we both ordered one. that's one each. this was probably one of my favourite cocktails ever - it was totally up my alley. i sucked it back like i hadn't had a drink of water in two days.



here is what we ordered... sorry for the crap photos. i swear, the food was beautifully presented and very very delicious. we only had our point-and-shoot camera and it was like a bat cave in there.

me: duck confit poutine - golden gnocchi, aged cheddar & oregano tapenade. ohmygosh, this was so so so so excellent and also extremely filling.



the boy: yellow fin tuna tartare - charred pineapple, chilies, avocado & sesame crisp. nice presentation but the boy told me there was coriander in it so i only tried a piece of the sesame crisp. it was good. :)



we both ordered the dry aged p.e.i. striploin & slow braised short rib - tomato passata, soft polenta & roasted squash. a nice sized portion but my striploin was overcooked so it was a little tough. the short rib made up for it though... so tender and flavourful! i've decided that i'm not a huge fan of polenta. still, i ate it all.



for dessert, i ordered the gingerbread cake - sweet potato mousse, maple walnut fudge. the boy ordered the apple crostata - caramel crunch ice cream. when i made the reservation, i told bymark that it would be the boy's birthday so they added a candle and happy birthday message to the boy's dessert!



you probably didn't get a close enough look at the boy's dessert so here is a better photo.



by the way, the boy's name is not david. it is nothing close to david. it's not dave, davidoff, danny, or daniel. it doesn't even start with the letter d. i have absolutely no idea where they came up with that name but we thought it was funny. all in all, a fantastic night. happy birthday david! :)