I’m stretching my covid-clipped wings with a few local jaunts. This one was a 45-minute drive west of downtown Toronto, in the town where I began my freelance career. Much has changed.
A downright upscale 2-hour luncheon feast of multiple courses at the brand new Pearle Hotel and Spa in Burlington was a cornucopia of dining delights. The hotel is the first in the Autograph Collection by Marriott International in Ontario.
The premises are almost finished, as a quick walkabout through meeting rooms, pool, spa and Presidential Suite showed a group of travel writers.
Culinary Director Ben Heaton oversees the menus. In the Isabelle Restaurant colourful, exquisitely prepared creations were quickly whisked by attentive staff from a state of the art open kitchen to our tables. I swear the array of dishes outnumbered a Chinese banquet.
Food is themed from the Mediterranean, Middle East and California for healthy ingredients from a direct supply chain (a trendy phrase these days) of true ‘earth to table’ dining from the hotel’s own farm and other local sources, including Niagara wineries.
All those gold colour utensils that came with each dish? As a unique contemporary touch, they’re purposely (and expensively) burnished to be non-reflective.
The luncheon was a complimentary tasting, so you can either take my words with a gourmet grain of salt or do a selfie tasting.
The Pearle https://bit.ly/3HBx7V3
The pictures were made with my Google Pixel 4 phone and Olympus OMD E-M1 Mk III with a Zuiko 30mm f3.5 macro lens. Floor to ceiling windows plus overhead lights provided basic natural light with a tinge of additional warmth. The food is fancy; the photos are simple.
Photos and text
© Gary Crallé 2021
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