Little Venice opens chef’s tables for new acquaintances

Little Venice is offering diners a new experience with Michele’s Mix and Mingle Chef Table.

The concept takes diners who don’t know each other and puts them at the same table to sample Chef Michele’s food.

My boyfriend and I went last Friday night and surprisingly enjoyed ourselves.

We arrived at 7:30pm and were escorted to the back of the restaurant. 

There were already five people seated at the table: a lovely couple from Silicone Valley, CA, a nurse from Vancouver and two Bermudian girls around my age.

They had all started with the wine so Jason and I joined in.

Chef Michele then came out and explained the menu to us and then we put in our orders.

The menu offered five courses for $58.75 or four courses for $49.75 plus grats.

The first course was a choice of a goat cheese flan or roasted octopus.

I ordered the flan and Jason ordered the octopus. The flan was beautiful and creamy and paired with earthy wild mushrooms.

I was very skeptical of the octopus because who eats octopus? I decided to be brave and try it and  was surprised that I liked it.

 I’m not really a seafood person and I expected the octopus to taste fishy but it was similar to the texture of chicken and had a wonderful tomato and wine sauce.

Our second course was a choice of fish chowder or caprese. 

We both ordered the caprese, which was light, fresh and flavourful.

For the pasta course, it was gnocchi, which are potatoe dumplings in a tomato sauce or fettuccini with flambéed salmon.

We both ordered the gnocchi. It was soft and light but I thought it was lacking a bit of flavour.

The main course was sliced fillet of beef with arugula or grilled head-on shrimp with greens.

Again, we both ordered the steak and it was beautiful. My steak was cooked perfectly and it melted in my mouth.

By the time our dessert came, crème brulee and flourless chocolate almond cake arrived, we were both stuffed. The crème brulee was amazing. 

The cake was good.

The best part of the whole night for me was having conversations with people whom I had never met before. We were able to enjoy chatting with strangers for a couple of hours along with having a great meal.

It was a great night and a great experience for the both of us.

The Chef’s Table is available every Friday night at 7:30pm. Reservations are required.