CN Tower 360 Restaurant ~ Toronto ON

So at the end of the academic year, my work partner Kat and I reward our top performing staff member with something. Last year the winner was Maansi and she got tickets to Medieval Times. This year, Maansi won again, and we took her to lunch at 360, a restaurant up at the near top of the CN Tower.

If for some reason you didn't know, the CN Tower was the world's largest free standing structure at 553.33 metres (or 1815 feet) from 1976-2007 when the until the Burj Khalifa in Dubai UAE came along (but not completed until 2005). It is still the largest in North America though (wikipedia).

At 351 metres you will find the 360 Restaurant - a slightly fancy revolving restaurant that looks out over Toronto and Lake Ontario. It's a stunning view as the restaurant rotates every 72 minutes. On this spring Thursday, the place was pretty empty, which I didn't mind at all.

Maansi (on the left) and Kat (right) and I were scoping out the views, trying to find our building, looking out over the city. Our server was Bill, who was friendly, helpful and there for whatever we needed. He brought us  some menus, and we ordered off the Prix Fixe menu.

This was Maansi's vegetarian salad. It looked very cool. I didn't know what it was, but it looked cool. She said it was good.

Kat ordered the Caesar, but not wanting the anchovies that come in their classic sauce, they were able to make a Caesar vinaigrette for her and no pancetta.

I went with the traditional Caesar. It was one of the best Caesar's I've ever had and very close to the homemade dressing my father makes (creamy, garlicky, rich). The pancetta was crispy, salty goodness. The croutons were fresh and crunchy. There was a ton of Parmesan cheese.

We had been around part of the city and looking out over the lake when the mains arrived.

Maansi presents her main. I think she was excited.

Linguine and wild mushrooms. It looked beautiful, but mushrooms are not my thing. Maansi also enjoyed it.

Here's Kat presenting her chicken supreme. And look at that view!

Here is my chicken supreme. The chicken itself had crispy skin, but was very moist, and the stuffed asiago cheese made it just heaven. It was topped with sun dried tomatoes. It sat on Swiss chard (I'm not a fan, but I'm sure it was prepared well) and the creamiest mashed potatoes (they were almost a liquid) served with a light jus. Oh, and a whole head of roasted garlic. I'm used to having a spicy meals, but these items were rich and hit a very savoury place on my palate.

Then it was dessert . . .

We decided to all try something different. I went with the butter tart. It's topped with Maple gelato. The filling was very thick (I'm used to a runny butter tart) but it was so very good. I can't describe it. Trust me.

This was the dessert I was going to order, and even Bill said it was his favourite dessert. Yes that's blueberry ice cream, and a pile of blueberries, raspberry and candied orange peel. Of that beautiful glob in the middle? That is a meringue shell (toasted) that once broken into provides a very moist and very lemony cake. I do not exaggerate when I say, awesome.

Kat was able to supstitute the Saskatechewan wild rice pudding for the Dark Chocolate Tower with Summer Berries. That is a chocolate mouse formed to be like the CN Tower. Very rich, very good.

We had a great time, and I had the most expensive lunch I have ever had in my life. Now that $54.24 may seem really steep for lunch, but keep in mind it includes your admission for the CN Tower (basically $30 on it's own). But the food was excellent (as was the service). And you cannot beat the view.

We had a great time. Check out some of the photos:

Toronto facing North. It looks a lot more green from up here than it does down at street level.

Ants, ants I say! Everything looks like little toys!

The University of Toronto.

Maansi standing (with a little coaxing) on the glass floor. That big white blog is the Rogers Centre.

The city facing West and the Island airport.

360 Restaurant (@ the CN Tower)

301 Front Street, Toronto ON

cntower.ca