• Burrata, aged balsamic, sea salt, bruschetta. The creamy, gooey, molten burrata with crispy chewy Italian bread coated in butter and garlic was a match made in heaven.
• Prosciutto di Parma, apples, balsamic, miner’s lettuce, grana. The accompanying starter of prosciutto (perfectly salinated) with tart slivered apples and shaved grana padano was a nice counterbalance to the richness of the burrata.
• Kale, lemon pepper dressing, pecorino, pangrattato. While it was nice to have a green salad course to cleanse the palate and help pace ourselves, this was just your average kale salad.
• Cappattelli with squash and ricotta and finished with a sage brown butter sauce. This was an outstanding dish that I really hope makes it onto the regular menu. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente: I could feel the tender resistance and gentle pop as I bit into the sweet and earthy center of this flavour morsel.
• Pasta Puttanesca. This classic dish was true to form with its signature taste elements of garlic, capers, olives and anchovy paste, but it was a little too heavy on the fishy and salty side for me.
• Grass-fed veal chop, prosciutto, taleggio, sage. Cooked to perfection, the veal was tender and moist, but was a bit lacking in terms of depth of flavour.
• Pork sausage, gorgonzola, caramelized onions. These were a bit bland and lacking in spice. Just your typical sausages.
• Cabbage & apple, vinegar, pepe nero. I was hoping this side dish would provide an acidic twang to complement the fatty meats, but its flavours were muted and flat.
• Polenta, velvet pioppini mushrooms, grana. Perfectly cooked, the polenta was creamy and velvety and glistening with olive oil. However, it could have used a bit more salt, perhaps by adding more grana (cheese).

Finally, dessert. I was so relieved not to be served the highly overrated and ubiquitous tiramisu. Instead, the desserts were:

• Cannoli, ricotta, citrus, cocoa, hazelnuts. Perfectly crisped pastry cones filled with ricotta cream. The pastry was flaky and light and there was a generous amount of filling bursting from either end. I am not a cannoli fan, but those that were simply raved about it.
• Chocolate tart, olive oil, sea salt, pinenuts. While some didn’t really like this dessert, I really enjoyed it (and I am not a big chocolate fan either). The chocolate was rich, dense and dark and slowly melted in my mouth with every bite. The key to this dessert is the sea salt – be sure to get at least a few grains in every forkful to get the full chocolate flavour experience.

What was truly surprising about this meal was the price – $60 per person (6 of us dined family style). If you are still reading this review, you know that we shared 11 dishes. While some of the dishes fell short in terms of taste, others were simply knockouts. In my opinion, $60 for 11 courses is great value for money, especially in this city. I also added a glass of a very tasty Lambrusco, reasonably priced at $8.

So, would I go back? Yes, actually I would. While there were plenty of hits and misses, the dishes that did hit the mark really made an impression on me. I would like to choose my own items the next time (and forgo the family-style dining). And, perhaps, just perhaps, I might find that I like Italian food after all.