Birthday dinner @ the Hawksworth

My husband sure does know his way to my heart: through my stomach (and consequently his wallet...). Last year we had the pleasure of dining at Le Crocodile; this year, we happily made our way through the tasting menu at Hawksworth.

I opted for the pairings to go with my meal, which came in the form of wine (obviously), as well as a sour beer which was a pleasant surprise. I'm not overly sophisticated when it comes to wine - to me, there are three categories: good, "meh," and "oh god that burns." Our sommelier, however, was amazing and I could actually pick up on the subtle nuances and notes she kept describing. Sure, maybe it was all in my head and I never would have tasted those notes if there was no sommelier, but isn't that all part of the experience?

spring pea buttermilk, poached halibut, mint

This first course was probably my least favourite, primarily due to that spring pea "gelatin" on the top. The texture and the colour reminded me a bit of snot. Pushing that aside though, the halibut underneath was poached to perfection and the crispy skin (see the gray things to the left?) were so delicious. Normally I'm not a fan of fish skin, but I would definitely eat those like chips.

iberico ham cantaloupe, pickled honeydew, crispy rice

In contrast to the first, the second course was my favourite. This dish popped my iberico ham cherry and was the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. If you've never had iberico ham, I strongly encourage you to find some; it will blow.your.mind. The 'champagne cantaloupe' was perfectly sweet, and though I normally think of honeydew as the evil, ugly brother of cantaloupe, the pickled version here was necessary to cut through the umami of the ham. Oh, and that crispy rice? I have been ruined for regular rice forever.

rockfish tempura coconut, lemongrass, sesame cracker

The temptation to lick the sauce off bottom of this [super cute] little le creuset serving vessel was almost too much. The fry on the rockfish was perfectly crispy and not greasy at all. GENIUS IDEA: a bowl of the crispy rice + this sauce. This needs to happen...

roasted duck lemon, passionfruit, green chickpea

I've been happy to see duck appear more frequently on menus around town. When the skin is crispy from proper rendering of the fat, and the inside is cooked to a perfect medium rare (as it was here), I will take this bird over chicken any day.

lamb rack tomato, avocado, pomme purée, roasted garlic

I prefer my meat cooked to medium/medium-rare (not many things worse than an overcooked piece of meat), but here the lamb was a bit under done for my liking. There was nothing wrong with the taste; it was just slightly difficult to cut through and I do not enjoy obstacles in the way of food getting in my belly.

tres leches textures of blackberry, verbena

Behind that "Happy Birthday" chocolate is the tres leches dessert, which was more tres leches (three milks) than cake... but the name of the dish omits the word "cake" entirely, so what do I know? It was delicious and a great ending to a wonderful meal.

... But WAIT! There's more!

While I can't remember for the life of me what these were called, my terrible memory is in no way a reflection of their quality. The fruit gummies were a nice sweet, chewy end, and what I do remember is those cake pieces made my eyes roll into the back of my head.

Now we're done here.