There are some big changes this month at Parkdale’s Keriwa Café, as chef and owner Aaron Joseph Bear Robe will be getting rid of the restaurant’s a la carte dinner menu in favour of a $300 tasting menu that will be served once a week.
Regular dinner and weekend brunch service will continue until Oct. 6. Then, beginning on the 13th, the restaurant will be open just to 30 diners every Saturday for a single dinner service (reservations required) starting at 7 p.m. (there will be a cocktail hour before that). The tasting menu will be roughly 13 courses with bread, amuse bouches, palate cleansers, petite fours, and some treats to take home. The $300 price tag includes wine pairings, coffee and tea, tax, and tip (it’s $200 without the booze).
“We accomplished a lot in the past year here and I feel we’ve reached the apex of what we do here at the restaurant,” says Bear Robe. “This is the next step for us. Being able to bring back a tasting menu to celebrate the produce we have here feels like the next step for me to take professionally. Also, personally, my wife is pregnant with her second child, so I just need to spend more time with my family.”
For the other six days of the week, the restaurant will serve as an event space, though more tastings could take place should there be a demand for it.
1690 Queen St. W., 416-533-2552.
PHOTO: AARON HARRIS/TORONTO STAR
—Karon Liu
