Must-Try: Auberge du Pommier amps up classic French foie gras with bold Asian flavours

Must-Try: Auberge du Pommier amps up classic French foie gras with bold Asian flavours

Must-Try: Auberge du Pommier amps up the classic delicacy with bold Asian flavours
(Image: Dave Gillespie)

Auberge du Pommier, the posh Hogg’s Hollow institution, is now in its 26th, and quite possibly best, year. Marc St. Jacques took over the kitchen in 2011, after a stint as the chef at Michael Mina, the Bellagio’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Las Vegas. He makes the French classics Auberge regulars swoon over, but he’s also courting their grown-up kids—the ones who squirmed through steak frites dinners two decades ago—with edgier ideas. His canny fusion of old school and new is epitomized in a prism of foie gras. The base is a chewy black sesame cake reminiscent of a sesame snap. It’s layered with an ultra-fine foie gras mousse and a thin layer of umami-potent white soy gelée. On the top, dotted like complex sundae sprinkles, are minty shiso leaves, sugar-dusted Meyer lemon segments, tart lemon curd and crunchy tempura crackles—a delicate feat of engineering that fires every food-joy synapse at the same time. $27. 4150 Yonge St., 416-222-2220.