July 16: Pangaea ★★★★

$35 Dinner

On the corner of a dilapidated building across a Bay Subway station sits what might at first glance appear to be a small café or pastry shop. Instead, it opens up to a lofty and colourful dining hall. The wavy sky-high ceilings have a nautical and whimsical feel. The shrimp salad looked like a skimpy mess but revealed itself to be a wonderful pastiche of subtle, refreshing flavours, especially the sweet roasted peppers and cashew nuts. The suckling pig was also an unsightly mishmash of weird shapes but the sampling of random pig parts worked well amidst a sweet and sour sauce. The crispy skin held well when combined with the flimsy cabbage while the lentils provided some much needed grounding. Finally, I had the best cheese dish of the festival. Again, the presentation requires work but the honey and dates are a decliciously sweet value-add.

Shrimp Salad
Butter lettuce, tomato, jicama and roasted peppers, cashew nuts in Tequilla and orange dressing

Suckling Pig
Beluga lentills, apple and savoy cabbage slaw, apple gastrique

Artisanal Cheese Selection
Three varieties of local cheese with medjool dates and truffled honey