The Tastes of Expo 67

-

The Tastes of Expo 67 

"...A first-class treat for the ordinary palate, a feast for the greediest gourmand and a paradise for the connoisseur of haute cuisine."
By Frank Rasky

Finally, at the risk of sounding chauvinistic, I would give my vote to La Toundra in the Canadian pavilion for serving the best all-around meal - in terms of reasonable price, smart décor, fast service and excellent food.
Everything in this 650-seat restaurant is done in an Arctic motif.  Igloo murals on the sea-green walls were created by Eskimo artists from Cape Dorset on Baffin Island. The seats are upholstered in authentic sealskin. Three genuine Eskimo girls serve as hostesses, and the bilingual waiters are tastefully decked out in what is called "high Arctic" style: soft tan jackets with black turtleneck sweaters.
At $3.50, I had a superb meal - beaver tail consommé, roast Ontario turkey stuffed with chestnuts, maple sugar pie and a truly noble cup of coffee. But the pièce de résistance came when one of the attractive Eskimo hostesses served me a $1.15 assortment of inuk titbits - most notable of which were the smoked ilkalu (a delicate Arctic char) and the succulent slices of grilled muktuk (the skin of the white whale, tangy with a dash of lemon juice).
In the words of Raymond Waleau, the Ludwig Bemelmans-like maître d', formerly director of food operations at Montréal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel: "No new discovery has emerged in the food world since the development of Cornish hen. With the introduction of the Arctic whale, Canada may create a culinary revolution at Expo."

Copyright by The Canadian Magazine, June 17, 1967. All rights reserved.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Ann McColl's Kitchen Shop

-
Image
Ann McColl Lindsay and David Lindsay: A Brief History of a Road Less Traveled Hospitality and the culinary arts have always gone hand in hand. In London, Ontario, we have a history of exceptional restaurateurs, chefs and culinary retailers. Among the latter are Ann McColl Lindsay and David Lindsay, the former proprietors of the legendary Ann McColl’s Kitchen Shop, one of Canada’s finest cookware shops. Ann and David met, married and taught school in Windsor, Ontario from 1961 to 1968. They resigned their positions, sold their red brick bungalow, and embarked on a year-long food pilgrimage across Europe while camping in a Volkswagen van. Travelling in the van with a gas burner allowed them to truly enjoy the local terroir. The first six months of their trip , which ended at the French border, is described in Ann’s memoir Hungry Hearts – A Food Odyssey across Britain and Spain . The second volume, Hearts Forever Young, includes their travels in France, Italy, Austria...
Read more

Homage to Toronto's Yorkville Landmarks the Coffee Mill and Le Trou Normand

-
Image
Homage to Toronto's Yorkville Landmarks the Coffee Mill  and  Le Trou Normand U p until just a few months ago, Le Trou Normand remained the oldest operating fine dining restaurant in Yorkville. Coincidentally, The Coffee Mill a venerated European-style cafe which recently celebrated 51 years in business closed earlier this month. Martha von Heczey’s Coffee Mill opened in May, 1963, in the now-demolished Lothian Mews, on Bloor Street. In 1973 , von Herczey  moved two blocks north to a mini-mall with Yorkville Avenue on one side, Cumberland Street on the other. There was a secluded terrace with an expandable awning in the event of rain. The Coffee Mill was practically right across the street from Le Trou Normand and it was one of my Yorkville haunts for over 30 years. Ms. von Heczey’s late husband Laci, a well-known wrestling champion, liked to wander around Yorkville with a tame cheetah on a leash.    Interestingly, in 19...
Read more

Thaifoon - London’s Premiere Upscale Go-To Thai Restaurant

-
Image
Manisay Visouvath and Fouzan (Rafael) Beg are the proprietors of Thaifoon, downtown London’s upmarket Thai restaurant. The restaurant remains a family affair. Visouvath is the youngest sister of Eddy and Alex Phimprhrachanh’s mother, Arounvaty, who is the head chef at Thaifoon and the matriarch of a Thai food dynasty in the city. Several of Arounvaty’s sisters have opened successful Thai restaurants in the city after being mentored in the kitchen by her.   Visouvath was born in the Southeast Asian country and came to Canada with her parents in 1980. Rafael is from Hyderabad India.  (Hyderabadi cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, grains and meat dishes and the skilled use of various spices –  Indian cuisine has a longer, slower burn, rather than the sharper, built-up spiciness of Thai cuisine .)  Thaifoon’s with-it and tasteful take on the ancient Thai culture, with a décor that honours the past while embracing modernit...
Read more