Eating at the Culinary Insitute of Canada

Wow! Friday night a group of us from school ate at the Lucy Maud Dining Room. For those of you who don't know, the Lucy Maud is the actual restaurant at Holland College. This is not the cafeteria that we normally eat at!

It was an amazing experience! After we were seated the hostess gave us our open menus and laid our napkins in our laps. Well all but mine.....I had already done it! lol

Then our first server came and poured our water and then came back and took drink orders. A couple of us had the bartenders rootbeer. It was a drink with Kahlua, Galliano, pepsi and club soda. And it tasted just like rootbeer!

Then the server came back with our amuse course. An amuse bouche is a single, bite-sized hors d'oeuvre. The term is French, literally translated to "mouth amuser" And an amuser it was! lol

I think it might have been my favorite part! A cherry wrapped in bacon! With a splash of a tomato sauce. A delight!

After the amuse course was cleared the servers brought us over the bread basket and a tray of red pepper butter, hummus and a lemon butter.

Then they cleared the table of any unnecessary silverware and served the appetizers.

My appetizer was the Bannock Panini with Lobster & Peameal Bacon. It was good. I really like the tiny panini. The lobster was overcooked though and a bit rubbery. The salad was amazing. Wish I knew the dressing recipe!

Again they cleared the table and adjusted our silverware needs and served the entrees.

I ordered the Portobello Mushroom Wellington. It had oka cheese and spinach in it. Quite tasty. It was served with asparagus, tomatoes and a red pepper sauce.

Again they cleared the table, then the hostess came and "swept" the crumbs off the table into a tiny dish. The servers came back took our dessert/coffee. Then they came back and moved our dessert silverware down from the twelve o'clock position and into the nine and three spots. They slid rather than picked it up and moved everything was so quiet and sleek. You hardly noticed they were doing it.

They set up our coffee or tea settings and disappeared again. They returned with dessert and coffee. For dessert I had the chocolate orange cake. It was very good!

While enjoying our dinner we watched two servers resetting tables. It was fun to see how they change a tablecloth without ever exposing the actual tabletop. Apparently, no one wants to see a naked table! lol

All in all it was a nice dinner. The experience of having that level of service was fantastic! As culinary students we get meal cards to allow us to eat at the Lucy Maud at a fraction of the price. It is a great opportunity for us! Next year we will be the ones in the kitchen. Actually, we have to put in hours in the dining room as well. I suppose it is so we learn front and back of the house operations. I can't wait!