Finally, I’ve tried 5th Elementt. A few times I have been forwarded with some special promotions of this restaurant. A few times I was gonna go check it out, but I never did until last weekend. I never really know where that restaurant is until that night.

Looking at that restaurant, I remember I’ve walked by it a few times… very cold at night. I wonder how long it’s been there. Did I walk by and not notice it? Probably. I know, I’m thinking too much again.

Last weekend, we came to this restaurant for VN’s birthday. They are currently having this special: Dinner for 2: $39.99

(I think on the website, it now only says Dinner $39.99. Maybe they’ve changed it.)

Here’s the menu:

*****
Amuse

Horny Apple & Butternut Squash Bisque
with Cabbage Pate

Appetizer Choice of

Half Shell Oyster
Turkey terrine | Californian greens

Baby Lettuce Salad
Smoked Italian tomato | Fresh buffalo mozzarella

Mango Clementine Salad
Julienne of mango | Clementine | Masala dressing

Gratinated Veggie Samosa
Marinara Sauce | Mozzarella cheese

Tandoori Shrimp
South African pepper salsa | Tender greens

Main Course Choice of

Grilled Bengali Salmon
Bengali mustard curry sauce | Pilaf rice

Braised Lamb Shank
Mashed potato| Feta cheese

Quebec Artisan Tandoori Red Chicken
Butter chicken sauce | Pilaf rice

Almond Crusted Cottage Cheese
Green pea tomato cream sauce | Pilaf rice

Tri Color Cheese Tortellini
Green & white asparagus

Dessert Choice of

Peach & Lychee Mousse
Kiwi lime sauce

Pistachio Kulfi
Rose gulkand

*****
Around 8:30pm, we arrived. From outside, we could see a bit of the interior - quite simple… overall orange/amber color theme. While waiting for the birthday guy, we looked at the menu they presented to us - a white one (as shown in the first picture). It said $39.99 (for 1 person). Around 9pm everyone was there, so we mentioned about the promotion that we saw online. Then they right away gave us another menu - orange in color - the only difference was that on the top right corner it said $39.99 for 2. We started ordering. Service was quick. Everyone ordered from the orange special menu.

The Amuse - Bisque was ok - but i kinda like the cabbage pate - a bit spicy but refreshing.

Appetizer - Half shell oyster - was ok fresh. Could be better. Tandoori Shrimp was good. The pepper salsa was very appetizing. Some of us ordered other options but I’ve only tried and taken pictures of these two.

Main course - The lamb shank was a popular choice. I think they did a pretty good job on this one, but surprisingly the tandoori chicken was also very tasty - the sauce wasn’t overpowering and we could still taste the chicken - pretty darn good. I guess Indian fusion is their expertise there.

Dessert - Personally, I wasn’t especially fond of the desserts (compared to the main course). If I had to pick one, I’d probably go for the Pistachio Kulfi - This dessert gave me a very meaty - fulfilling satisfaction… it was made of milk and pistachio. Very rich but I kinda liked it. The mousse, on the other hand, wasn’t very inspiring and i couldn’t really taste the lychee.

Overall, it was a pretty good dinner. Food was good - considered the price - it was very good value. Service-wise, nothing to praise or complain about. We didn’t have any wine for the night. The total after tax and compulsory gratuity came to about $300. Now, you know what I mean by very good value. It was easy to find parking - there was a parking lot right beside Bistro 990 - $10 flat rate. Dress code? It was smart casual.

FYI: 5th Elementt
1033 Bay Street, Toronto, ON.
Tel: 416-923-8159

“Hey. How are you doing?”
“Doing ok… hanging in here.”
“Haven’t seen you for ages!”
“Yah. I know!”
“Do you wanna have dinner some time?”
“Sure, let’s do it!”

An inaccurate transcript of a msn chat between me and FC - a friend of mine from high school.

It’s really been a long time since I’ve seen her last time. As people get older, it seems that everyone has his/her own things to do, errands to run. We often have to make appointments long before the meeting day. The “yes, sure, let’s do it now” is quite rare.

Looking forward to seeing FC again after all these years. The restaurant of the night was Tutto Bene, an Italian restaurant located on Yonge Street in Thornhill. Very close to Dante’s. If you drive from the GTA, head north on Yonge, it’s on the right side…near a LCBO. If you see Extreme Fitness on the right side, that means you have gone too far.

Around 6:50pm. I took this picture outside. I thought I’d be a bit early, but FC was already there :p She’s always so prepared.

Looking at the menu, I like it. Not too many options, but all looked pretty good. I’d rather get a few good dishes than getting many options but so-so quality.

Besides the regular menu items, they also had a few specials of the night. I ordered from the menu, while FC got the specials. As for the wine, we got half a litre of 2002 Rief Carbernet-Merlot.

So, here’s the Lobster Bisque for FC. Forgot to ask for feedback. Look is great. (FC, feel free to comment on this if you see this post.)

Here’s my applewood smoked salmon salad w. maple mustard dressing. Really felt like seafood/fish that night. And I like smoked food. The salad was good. Very aromatic.

Entree for FC - Clam linguini with garlic, basil sauce (not 100%, again FC, feel free to correct me). opps. cut off FC’s thumbup. They did put quite a lot of clams in there.

Originally, the “Grilled seafood medley with bouillabaisse broth” caught my eyes - but that was only an appetizer, so I ordered this linguini marinara - with seafood and plum tomatoes. Oh… I have to say… I haven’t had such a good seafood linguini in a long time. The seafood were cooked just right. Very flavourful. The linguini’s texture was great - wondering if it’s made in-house. I haven’t been to Italy, so I can’t say if that’s authentic. I can only say this is really good. Portion was filling.

After the starter and main course, I was quite full. Chat chat chat and finished off the wine. It’s interesting to talk to someone whom you’ve known from high school… when you were younger. After years of school and work, everyone’s kinda developed personal taste and perspectives. We shared quite a lot of common topics and it’s just such a good feeling that you can learn more about a person and feel the click. I guess we may even have more to talk about now compared to 10 years ago.

Finally, we ordered the desserts. It was interesting how the server (or boss?! an interesting Italian guy) asked us once and never came back to take the order. I kinda liked that he was totally not pushy, so we could take our time to chat and drink, but yah, he should have followed up one more time.

Anyhow, here’re the desserts - key lime pie lemon meringue pie - VERY refreshing; and tiramisu - it’s airy and heavenly. FC’s friend was right. I think they make pretty darn good tiramisu. AWW… so full after.

Everything you see here + wine + tax & gratuity. Totally was about $120. It was a very good dinner at a cozy place. Overall servers are really friendly. Overall food quality was very good. Thank FC for suggesting this

FYI: Tutto Bene
8133 Yonge Street, Thornhill, Ontario
Tel: 905-764-0199