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Love Bites

Where and what to eat on Valentine’s Day

The way to a man’s heart may be through his stomach, but it’s safe to say that a fine meal will please anyone of the female persuasion as well. Here, the special V-Day menus at some of the city’s most romantic restos.

The Drake pulls out all the stops and is offering three different accommodation, entertainment and dining packages during Valentine’s week. The restaurant’s $65 prix fixe menu, also available February 9 to 14, tends toward the aphrodisiac: apps include Canadian oysters on the half-shell (a side of caviar is an additional $10), with mains featuring a choice of grilled hamachi, winter squash ravioli, or beef sirloin drizzled with a chanterelle mushroom and bone marrow bordelaise. A signature cocktail—with such salacious sobriquet as Warm Bed or All Night Long—is included. Suggested three-ounce wine pairings are an additional $15 for three courses.

Kultura specializes in small, whimsical dishes meant for sharing—perfect date food. For V-Day, chef Roger Mooking offers a $75 11-course tasting menu, including amuse-bouche and dessert. Highlights include an Alaskan black cod with tomato-ginger vinaigrette, fennel curry mousse and lime-cured mango; spiced lamb medallions with pine nut–herbed crust, verjus yogurt and fresh grapes; and eight-ounce rib eye, with port demi, cured onions and fresh figs. Dessert includes a chocolate tasting fondue.

Patrick MacMurray’s resplendent Starfish eschews the tasting menu or prix fixe—customers prefer choice—but a highlight of the resto’s always-reliable regular menu is Patty’s Mix, an assortment of fresh shellfish that includes all five species of the oysters customarily served (Malpeques to Kumamotos), as well as scallops on the half-shell and uni (12 items $30, 24 items $60). Unusual champagnes will be available at special prices, as well as a surprise, perfect-for-the-occasion chocolate dessert.

The convivial, candlelit room at Amuse-Bouche, tucked away on Tecumseth, provides a perfect romantic backdrop. Their four-course prix fixe ($65 per person) features two appetizer courses (beet salad or scallop carpaccio and lobster three ways or escargot ravioli) and main (pan-seared striped bass or grilled Alberta beef tenderloin). The tantalizing Cupid’s Sorbet cleanses palates, and the meal concludes with a choice of the house’s crème brûlée or a chocolate course featuring gianduja mousse, orange marmalade parfait, moelleux and saffron ice cream.

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