Restaurants
Al Dente Italian Restaurant
Al Dente Italian Restaurant boasts to be "Markham's best kept secret". Situated on the picturesque Main Street in Markham, the restaurant is open for both casual and fine dining, featuring a solarium and patio in addition to the main dining room.
Inside, the decor is classically elegant, albeit a little worn with age. We arrive to learn that the restaurant is normally closed on Sunday afternoons. Luckily, the kitchen is open on this particular Sunday, thanks to a private function that afternoon.
Although the restaurant's website claims to offer both traditional and eclectic cuisine, the menu leans towards the traditional end, consisting of standard pasta and various typical Italian fare. Before deciding on the mains, we test the waters with a classic bruschetta ($5.95), topped with fresh tomatoes, pesto and olive oil. The bread is lightly toasted and pleasantly soft in the middle, complimented by creamy, melted Mozzarella cheese. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar adds sharpness to the toppings, making this a very enjoyable starter. Seconds after arriving at the table, the bruschetta is quickly devoured by our hungry party of four.
My sister has a tendency to order anything with the word "lobster" in the description, so she predictably opts for the pappardelle ($22.95), featuring shrimps, scallops and spinach in a lobster brandy cream sauce. While the sauce is quite delicious and goes well with juicy and fresh scallops, the pasta itself is underwhelming. As a whole, the dish seems rather generic and quite forgettable.
In comparison, the capellini con pollo ($17.95) fares better. Thin capellini pasta - along with strips of chicken, roasted pepper, and toasted pine nuts - is smothered in a delectable pesto rosé sauce. The pesto adds a subtle complexity to the thick, creamy tomato sauce that is surprisingly rich in flavour. On the downside, we all find the strips of chicken breast to be bland and tough in texture. Nevertheless, the other components come together quite well to make a tasty dish, despite the lacklustre chicken.
Our final selection is the veal ossobuco ($22.95 - top photo) - veal shank braised in a wine sauce with shallot and root vegetables, served on risotto. This turns out to be my favourite of the three entrées. In contrast to the chicken in the pasta, the veal is incredibly tender and has a nice, beefy flavour. But for me, the standout component is undoubtedly the creamy risotto. Deliciously cheesy and chewy, the risotto is a great match with the meaty wine sauce. On a side note, I do wish for more vegetables on the plate to counterbalance the abundance of rich meat.
Overall, I do not find Al Dente to be particularly impressive or inspiring. Though everything is executed reasonably well, there is nothing exceptional or memorable about the food. In a city with so many great options for Italian cuisine, being merely good is, quite frankly, not enough to set a restaurant apart. I'm not sure that Al Dente lives up to be "Markham's best kept secret", but the restaurant seems to be appropriate for a nice meal if you happen to be in the neighbourhood. Ultimately, it lacks the wow-factor that would warrant a journey across town.
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