Restaurant Review – Weczeria Food and Wine

Weczeria Food and Wine –  616 10th Street E, Saskatoon, SK, Canada  –  306.933.9600

http://www.weczeriarestaurant.ca/

A week ago, my girlfriend Alison and I realized there was a special day coming up on the weekend and were looking for something very special to do. We thought why not try Weczeria Food and Wine. We have heard many good things about this restaurant and decided to give it a go. Their philosophy behind food is refreshing and sustainable. They only (when ever possible) source ingredients from Saskatchewan and/or Canadian farmers. Also, which I found cool, the menu changes daily.

We arrived early for our 6pm reservation and met the Chef and his wife (both are co-owners) outside getting some fresh air. Though they didn’t seem open yet, they were willing to bring us in and feed us. Not wanting to take away from their last few minutes of free time, we opted to take a few steps away to Starbucks to get a coffee fix until 6. We finished our drinks and began our 50ft journey back to the restaurant.

Walking into the restaurant I felt a warmth (no because it was REALLY hot in there) and hominess to it. For fine dining, the décor was refreshingly modest and unpretentious. The floors were aged wood, and the walls were adorned with pictures of the farmers the Chef sources food from. There was also a wholesome and complex food smell coming from the kitchen. The hostess was genuinely friendly and bubbly when we were met at the front door. When we were sat, we did not wait long at all to be met by our server (which happened to be the owner/wife of the chef). She was so warm and genuine in her welcome to us. She began to explain to us the whole concept of their food vision. Instead of menus, Weczeria uses smaller chalkboards at the table to display their items. This makes sense if the menu is changed daily.

All of the items on the menu looked so tasty! Labeled was the protein, and 4 or 5 other ingredients. There were no fancy, and wordy explanations to make their food seem more important… just simple list of ingredients. We were torn by which items to order, but finally decided on the following:

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Starters

Gnocchi with asparagus, bacon and Parmesan cream sauce (there is no picture available because we ate it all before we could photograph it)

Trout rillette with crustini

Entre

Wild Boar topped with apricots, on a bed of wild rice, and surrounded by carrot, asparagus, spiced walnuts, and chive oil

Dessert

Fig and blue cheese bread pudding, topped with homemade vanilla ice cream.

Raspberry chocolate cake

Wine

Inniskillin Cabernet Sauvignon

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The Trout Rillette (pate type spread) was unreal! Alison does not like fish that is too ‘fishy’, so I think she was a little weary when I ordered it. The first taste proved to be perfect for her. It was mild and very fresh. The Rillette came in a mini pickle type jar with crustini and rhubarb compote. The trout was great by itself on the crustini, but was really good with the added rubarb. The sweet/sour of the rubarb cut through the fattiness of the rillette.

Though the Rillette was great, I wish I ordered the Gnocchi that Alison ordered. It was unreal! If you are unfamiliar with Gnocchi, it is a potato dumpling pasta. The sauce was very rich and went well with the sautéed pasta. The Gnocchi was very tender and fluffy, and the asparagus was perfectly tender. It was quite literally one of the best things I have ever tasted!

For our entre, we both ordered the Wild Boar. The meat was perfectly cooked medium rare and extremely tender and juicy. Roasted apricots, asparagus, garden carrot, wild rice, spiced walnuts, and chive oil accompanied the boar. The vegetables were so tender and fresh, and the walnuts were an unreal combination with the boar. The only issue I had with the dish, and it is purely a personal opinion, was the apricots. Though correctly prepared, they did not work well with the boar. I am not the biggest fan of apricots, and I think that peaches or nectarines would have gone better.

For dessert we both chose an item to share (the dishes look messy because we had already dug into them before we could take a picture). Alison ordered the flourless chocolate cake, and I chose the fig and blue cheese bread pudding. Both items were excellent, with the winner going to the bread pudding! The cake was VERY rich and ultra chocolaty. It was a very dense flourless cake with the raspberries baked into it. The only dish that could even attempt to beat out the Gnocchi was the bread pudding. I have never had anything like it! The cheese was subtle and salty, and was balanced by a yummy sweet fig flavour. The pudding was topped with two fig halves, and an incredibly creamy homemade vanilla ice cream. In addition to dessert we had an good cup of coffee. I really like the service of the coffee at Weczeria… it came in a single cup french press. The flavour from the press was excellent.

I would urge you to try this wonderful find! Though a little expensive (not that expensive for fine dining in Saskatoon ), it is worth it, and is a great place to spend a special time. The food was so good, and ingredients so fresh, I would say Weczeria is the best restaurant in the whole of Saskatoon.