In Ferno's Bistro
In Ferno's Bistro
312 Des Meurons St.
(204) 2627400
In Ferno's Bistro is run by chef-owner Fern, formerly of La Vieille Gare, so we already know by reputation that his menu is tasty. This bistro serves a mixture of French-Canadian, French, and Mediterranean dishes. The restaurant itself is attractive, with a warmly-coloured and tightly-packed room downstairs, a bright upstairs, and a summer roof-top patio. They have several decadent choices in their dessert case and a fairly extensive wine list stored in an old vault.
I have been to In Ferno's Bistro twice, once with a small party of four and once with a larger party of seven. I have another reservation coming up on February 11th, so look for an ammendment to this post.
On my first occasion, I left the restaurant absolutely in love with it. We had impeccable service from a gentleman server and I'm sorry to say I forget his name. He was young with short, black hair, and I suspect he's actually the host, because on our second occasion, he wasn't serving. We had a light early supper with reservations for 4:30, so when we arrived, we were literally the only customers in the restaurant.
Nic and I had two appetizers, two main courses, one dessert, and drank water. So, we're a little cheap. At any rate, our bill came in under $30. Mikael and Stephen had one appetizer, two main courses, one dessert, two espressos, one glass of very old expensive port, and one bottle of wine. Their bill came in under $60.
I had spinach and camembert soup to start, which was really delicious. Nic had crab cakes for the first time, and he thought they were wonderful. You get two crab cakes (balls, really) with a small garnish of spring greens with berry dressing and mango salsa. The crab cakes are not bready at all and are flavoured well.
For my main course, I had poulet a la facon du chef, which I guess is a chicken specialty. The chicken is stuffed with lingonberries and type of cheese. To be honest, I didn't find the flavour match to be spot on, but regardless, the sauce was creamy and delicious. I was greatly impressed with my side dishes. The broccoli was steamed to perfection--crisp but cooked all the way through. The twice baked stuffed potato was moist and well-seasoned.
Nic had the salmon panini with artichokes and French fries. Though he's not too fond of artichokes, he still thought the sandwich was great. The salmon was fresh. The French fries are a little too thin-cut, more like those mesquite hickory sticks (the chips), and a bit greasy for my tastes, but he liked them.
We finished with creme brulee, which was a fun first-time experience. Unfortunately, they only have one flavour--espresso.
Mikael had a green apple, blue cheese, and candied walnut salad and Stephen had a salmon dish, both of which they thought were great-tasting.
The second time I went to In Ferno's, I took out a few friends for Christmas. Between all of us, we had, to start, prawns pernod, crab cakes, and mussels. The prawns pernod were made with small prawns, but the sauce was so delicious, we overlooked that. The mussels were slightly chewy in texture, but passable. For our main courses, we had the day's chicken feature, sole feature, and croque monsier (fancy ham and cheese sandwich) with French fries. The chicken feature was absolutely to-die-for. The kind of melt-in-your mouth chicken breast with a wonderful creamy wine sauce. This time around, though, the sides needed work. The sweet potatoes were far too soupy and the dollar fries were much too oily, though it seemed I was the only one bothered by the latter. The sole feature, Ebony found too fishy. For dessert, we shared a strawberry cream pie, creme brulee, and espresso chocolate cheesecake. The best by far was the strawberry cream pie with ripe strawberries, decadent cream, and a wonderfully tender buttery crust.
Our service was a little lacking on this day and less formal than I would have liked. The waitress struggled for about ten minutes or more to open our champagne bottle, and there were lengthy periods between sitting down and getting our menus, menus and ordering drinks, and between finishing our main courses and ordering dessert.
For such a well-priced restaurant, though, I greatly enjoy their food and find it a wonderful option to, say, Moxie's.
We will see what the next visit will be like!
312 Des Meurons St.
(204) 2627400
In Ferno's Bistro is run by chef-owner Fern, formerly of La Vieille Gare, so we already know by reputation that his menu is tasty. This bistro serves a mixture of French-Canadian, French, and Mediterranean dishes. The restaurant itself is attractive, with a warmly-coloured and tightly-packed room downstairs, a bright upstairs, and a summer roof-top patio. They have several decadent choices in their dessert case and a fairly extensive wine list stored in an old vault.
I have been to In Ferno's Bistro twice, once with a small party of four and once with a larger party of seven. I have another reservation coming up on February 11th, so look for an ammendment to this post.
On my first occasion, I left the restaurant absolutely in love with it. We had impeccable service from a gentleman server and I'm sorry to say I forget his name. He was young with short, black hair, and I suspect he's actually the host, because on our second occasion, he wasn't serving. We had a light early supper with reservations for 4:30, so when we arrived, we were literally the only customers in the restaurant.
Nic and I had two appetizers, two main courses, one dessert, and drank water. So, we're a little cheap. At any rate, our bill came in under $30. Mikael and Stephen had one appetizer, two main courses, one dessert, two espressos, one glass of very old expensive port, and one bottle of wine. Their bill came in under $60.
I had spinach and camembert soup to start, which was really delicious. Nic had crab cakes for the first time, and he thought they were wonderful. You get two crab cakes (balls, really) with a small garnish of spring greens with berry dressing and mango salsa. The crab cakes are not bready at all and are flavoured well.
For my main course, I had poulet a la facon du chef, which I guess is a chicken specialty. The chicken is stuffed with lingonberries and type of cheese. To be honest, I didn't find the flavour match to be spot on, but regardless, the sauce was creamy and delicious. I was greatly impressed with my side dishes. The broccoli was steamed to perfection--crisp but cooked all the way through. The twice baked stuffed potato was moist and well-seasoned.
Nic had the salmon panini with artichokes and French fries. Though he's not too fond of artichokes, he still thought the sandwich was great. The salmon was fresh. The French fries are a little too thin-cut, more like those mesquite hickory sticks (the chips), and a bit greasy for my tastes, but he liked them.
We finished with creme brulee, which was a fun first-time experience. Unfortunately, they only have one flavour--espresso.
Mikael had a green apple, blue cheese, and candied walnut salad and Stephen had a salmon dish, both of which they thought were great-tasting.
The second time I went to In Ferno's, I took out a few friends for Christmas. Between all of us, we had, to start, prawns pernod, crab cakes, and mussels. The prawns pernod were made with small prawns, but the sauce was so delicious, we overlooked that. The mussels were slightly chewy in texture, but passable. For our main courses, we had the day's chicken feature, sole feature, and croque monsier (fancy ham and cheese sandwich) with French fries. The chicken feature was absolutely to-die-for. The kind of melt-in-your mouth chicken breast with a wonderful creamy wine sauce. This time around, though, the sides needed work. The sweet potatoes were far too soupy and the dollar fries were much too oily, though it seemed I was the only one bothered by the latter. The sole feature, Ebony found too fishy. For dessert, we shared a strawberry cream pie, creme brulee, and espresso chocolate cheesecake. The best by far was the strawberry cream pie with ripe strawberries, decadent cream, and a wonderfully tender buttery crust.
Our service was a little lacking on this day and less formal than I would have liked. The waitress struggled for about ten minutes or more to open our champagne bottle, and there were lengthy periods between sitting down and getting our menus, menus and ordering drinks, and between finishing our main courses and ordering dessert.
For such a well-priced restaurant, though, I greatly enjoy their food and find it a wonderful option to, say, Moxie's.
We will see what the next visit will be like!
posted by anny | 1:42 p.m.
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