Veteran restaurateur Simon Bower (Mercer Street Grill, YYZ) has turned Pravda’s old space into an eclectically decorated but curiously elegant room. Leather walls imitate open brick; curling metal masks a vintage bar and sunset ceiling (both aglow). It’s a cool frame for co-owner and chef Scot Woods’s highly contemporary, technically masterful food. Octopus is grilled Japanese bincho style, sliced thinly and partnered with chorizo, fingerling, delectable black olive “leather” and pimento caviar. Sweetly spiced Berkshire pork belly joins sliced clams and cuttlefish over spicy minced kimchee, the richness underlined by a slow-poached peewee hen’s egg. Woods serves his awesome charcuterie with various pickles, veg and cranberry mos­tarda. His ravioli ooze molten foie gras, the flavour piqued by green apple, fennel pollen, heirloom beets and white chocolate foam. Molecular methods are seamlessly integrated throughout the menu. A tender white chicken breast cooked sous-vide gets a crisp toupée of its own battered skin; leg meat is confited and pressed like a terrine alongside chopped collards crowned with a crisp croquette that bursts with buttermilk. Cheese Boutique provides perfect Canadian cheeses. Orange saffron-flavoured crème Catalan, warm but set with carra­geenan, holds spiced grapes and crisp puffed rice in a gentle embrace. The smooth operation handles tasting menus with grace, pairing dishes to wines from a list studded with American, French and Italian producers. Mains $27–$39.