The Prune [Stratford]

The Prune (@The_Prune_) being one of the founding restaurant in Stratford and being the training ground of a lot of Stratford Chefs School graduate, I just had to have dinner here. With Executive Chef Bryan Steele being a senior Cookery Instructor at the renowned Chefs School & local celebrity chef Ryan O'Donnell as Chef the Cuisine, I know we'll be in good hands.

They only offer prix fixe menu of either 2 course at $49, 3 course at $59 or 4 course at $69 but we were told that they would gladly serve any one dish. There's plenty to choose from, the menu consisted of 5 Appetizers, 3 Mid Course, 8 Main Course and 5 desserts plus 4 sides at $6/ea to choose from when we were there.

Butter infused dinner rolls

The Prune offer a very affordable wine list with a glass starting at $8 and a bottle starting at $35 only.

Pinot Noir, "The Duke", Ryan Crawford Project, Niagara, Canada, 2011 $40
Very easy drinking and only gets better when you let it air for a bit.

Appetizers

Chicken Liver Mousse, Armagnac Prunes, Brioche

The front of house manager took care of us that night, love how passionate and friendly he was with amazing recommendation and insisted to give us the liver mousse on the house, so we got an extra appetizer to share. This chicken liver mousse was incredibly smooth and light, even better paired with the not boozy tasting sweet & sour prunes.

A Salad of heirloom beets, chipped local goat's cheese, candied walnuts, apple vinaigrette

Simple and delicious, love the extra crunch and sweetness from the candied walnuts.

Sweet Pea Soup, smoked trout, dill, carrots

Love the soup & love the trout, but somehow didn't like it together. Love the refreshing sweet pea soup, nothing beat fresh and in season ingredients. While the trout was moist and packed with smoky flavors. While the dill was a good attempt to tied the two together, we agree that it didn't work.

Caribou Oysters "Rockefeller"

Mid Course

Risotto w/fresh peas, mint, "feathershire" prosciutto, parmesan

This was least favorite dish of the night, somehow this felt rather flat. The risotto wasn't creamy enough and I thought it wasn't perfectly cook wither with a few hard bits here and there.

Salad of duck fat potatoes hot smoked quail, white garlic purée

 Sort of imagine the dish with at least half a quail all bone in but I am so glad it was pieces of quail meat instead since I would prefer not to be eating with my hands which is how I like eating my quails. This was definitely a much better choice of mid course compare to the previous one. Love the perfectly cooked and perfectly smoky quail with the potatoes and the creamy kick from the garlic purée.

 

Main Course

Grain fed chicken, Chanterelle & Cinnamon Cap mushroom ragout, thyme

The Chicken looked rather dry at first glance but it was actually rather moist & super flavorful which was perfect with the yummy earthy mushroom ragout.

Hanger Steak, Northern Woods mushrooms, glazed cipollini onions, balsamic

 Love to see my steak cook the way I ordered it which is rare since overcooking hanger steak will make it really tough. Perfectly cook, rested and sliced!!! It was so flavorful and well made that I didn't really miss the lack of fat from this cut, Just what I was craving for, so very satisfying!

Whole butter lobster, smoked salt, beets, sugar snap peas
~ $10 Supplement
 No shell, too the work out and mess free but somehow without it the dish sort of look funny to me... Naked Lobster?! (I know, it's just me) Love the buttery goodness but somehow the lobster didn't have much flavors (not very lobster-y) but it was still yummy and perfectly cook nonetheless.

Dessert

Strawberry fruit "salad", cake, green tea & cashew cream
This was not a cake and not a salad either, sort of a deconstructed version.

Warm apple cake, speculoos, toasted meringue, apple kombucha
In case you are like me and didn't know, speculoos is a spiced shortbread biscuit. You know how I like my warm dessert and this one just jumped out to me. Love the light not too sweet toasted meringue which prevented it from overwhelming the apple flavor plus it's just so cute but wish it wasn't in a bowl so I can see the entire dessert. This was definetly the right choice, love all the flavors and all the different texture in each bite. All so perfect together, warm mushy sweet apple with the speculoos crunch and a creamy meringue.

Buckthorn Jelly
Love the tartness of buckthorn, what a perfect way to end the meal

Verdict :
Overall we all enjoyed our dinner, both service & food was amazing
But dinner took us over 3-1/2 hours with rather long wait in between, so please take that into consideration if you have other plans or in a rush.