Greetings,

Today we’ll discuss the important matter of eating lunch at a most distinguished establishment. On Friday, I went downtown with big plans to stroll around Strathcona park with my father talking about life and whatnot before a pleasant lunch at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School in Ottawa, Canada. Naturally, it was raining as the weather here has been lackluster for the last two week so we just headed to lunch…

Le Cordon Bleu is part of an international institution and considered by many to be the world’s premiere culinary arts institute according to its website. It’s also been in business since 1895 “with over 100 years of teaching experience, Le Cordon Bleu network has remained committed to providing a solid foundation in best practices in Gastronomy, Hospitality and Management.” My father used to be the executive chef at one of the bigger hotels in downtown Ottawa, was excited to bring him along.

We arrived for the lunch and we were brought to the dining room, it had an old world feel to it and many of the guests appeared to be from the old school. The lunch menu gave two options for each dish and was a three course meal. I ordered the heirloom tomato salad with burrata, basil & citrus vinaigrette and it was probably my favorite dish. It was well presented and tasted great, the alternative was a golden watermelon gazpacho which sounded nice but I’m not into cold soups.

Next up my father tried the Arctic Char which he was pleased with, I had the Braised short ribs with pistachio crust, potato purree and seasoned vegetables. It was cooked to perfection and flaked off the bone. If you’re not in the mood to take a nap after your meal, suggest you grab the Arctic Char as it was incredibly heavy, so heavy that I barely picked at my dessert which was next… Turns out dessert was a lime tart with coconut, lychee and kiwi. I pecked at it but never really into sweets, my father quite liked it though.

After the meal we made our way for a quick tour of the facilities, at any given time supposedly they have 150 or so students and they offer a variety of different courses. We managed to check out the advanced sugar session and saw some chefs in training learning the ropes so to speak. It seemed like a well setup establishment and the student chefs looked hard at work.

My father and I had a good time at the Cordon Bleu, I’ll be visiting one more restaurant while I’m in Ottawa and that is tomorrow night. Apart from that, SHABL hits the road again on the 14th, can’t say I’m ready to leave but let’s be real, nobody is every really ready…

Thanks to Le Cordon Bleu for their hospitality and Ottawa Tourism for making it all happen.

Tips hat,