Alo

Three Floors Up on Spadina

4.5 of 5

Spadina at Queen is not where you go looking for a quiet room. The street sells phone cases, dumplings and bubble tea, and the sidewalk moves like a rugby scrum. Climb to the third floor of 163 Spadina and the noise simply stops. Patrick Kriss opened Alo here in 2015, and it runs on classic French technique and blind tasting menus. You do not choose dishes. You choose how long you want to stay.

That means four, six or ten courses, in the dining room or at the marble chef's counter, where you can watch the brigade work. Sit at the counter. Michelin gave Alo a star and wrote up a Koshihikari risotto lifted with dashi, thin slices of wagyu and truffle, a duck breast with white asparagus and stuffed morels, and strawberries and cream under a sake foam. The menus move with the seasons, so read that as a sense of the house style rather than a promise. The style is precise, buttery and quietly confident. Nothing on the plate is there to have its picture taken.

If the long menu feels like a commitment, the barroom next door pours cocktails and serves a shortened tasting, which is the smart way in for a first visit. It is expensive. Of course it is. I spent years billing hours to people who thought expensive meant good, and this is one of the rare rooms where the math holds up. Book well ahead, eat slowly, and thank the cooks on the way out.

Order this: The longest tasting menu you have time for, A seat at the marble chef's counter, The shorter tasting menu in the barroom for a first visit
The damage: $$$$
Go: Tuesday to Saturday evening; book well ahead
Find it: 163 Spadina Ave, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 2L6