the market-like atmosphere of Richtree

In the heart of the financial district, right inside of the architecturally stunning Brookfield place, lies a bustling restaurant with a market like atmosphere.  When you first enter Richtree, you’re given your own swipe card.  How it works here is that you can ‘shop’ for your food at each station which caters to a type (ie, seafood, pizza, sandwiches, desserts, etc).  When you decide what you want, your card gets swiped by the chefs, and your food is made right in front of you.  It’s sort of a self serve method, taking away the need to rely on waiters.  It’s the overall market place theme of the place that makes it so great though.  The theme is present right down to the seating areas which are roomed in areas that also contain their own theme such as a Parisian and Italian.

Rosti, uncooked on the inside, crispy on the outside

Presentation aside, I’m here for the food, and food is exactly what this place is known for.  I’ll start with the most popular dish, the Rösti.  Rösti is typically shredded potatoes that are pan fried served with a side of sour cream or apple sauce although Richtree only offers the former.  It costs about $4 for just the rösti but for an additional $4 you can get it served with the sausage of the day.  I’m mentioning the price here (which I don’t normally do) as I felt an additional $4 for just the sausage was a bit ludicrous.  I didn’t have the sausage this time but I’ve had it in the past and it’s really nothing special.  As for the rösti itself, it’s usually pretty good.  But not this time.  The first rösti I was given was burnt black to a hard crisp at the bottom of it.  The chef at the counter had no problem replacing it for me, but unfortunately not only was the one she replaced it with about a third smaller than the burnt one, but it was also slightly undercooked in the middle.

Rooibos tea latte with cinnamon and nutmeg

Antony went and had a drink made at the coffee bar, a rooibos tea latte with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Say that three times fast!  I’ve never had a rooibos tea before so I had try it out.  It has a sort of familiar taste, like that of a combination of mint tea and chai tea.  But the chai taste could have been coming from the added cinnamon.

Their special that day was paste with salad and a selection of vegetables, so I tried to order that, but unfortunately they were out of it.  Well I guess it was just after 10pm and the place closes in a mere 2 hours.  So the chef instead offered me the pasta with ground beef instead.  The dish was prepared right in front of me and fresh vegetables were taken from the bowls in front of him and used in his concoction.  Overall, the dish was pretty good.  The paste was nice and al dente, and the tomato sauce they used was nice and rich.  You can also sprinkle as little or as much Parmesan cheese onto it as you like from the giant cheese cut bowl next to the counter.

Pasta with ground beef

Antony decided he wanted sea food that night so he went and ordered the talapia fillet with a serving of market rice.  The talapia was way too fishy for my tastes.  I thought I was finally starting to get used to the fishy taste of fish these days, but the talapia tasted a lot stronger than seaweed wrap.  Antony thoroughly enjoyed his fish though.  The rice wasn’t too bad either, a nice medley of vegetables and spices, but it did seem a bit on the salty side.

Talapia

For dessert we had, which can only be explained as, sponge cake with fruit on top of it.  it was unlabeled at the dessert counter so I just sort of pointed at it as it was the dessert that had the most abundance of fruit on top of it.  It wasn’t too bad but it was also nothing special.  It was served with a side dropping of vanilla cream sauce in case you wanted to dip your fork into it.

Overall, I feel Richtree is a tad on the expensive side, and you really have to be careful of what you order as there are a few common restaurant dishes which cost a bit more there than you would expect.  Also, the fact that you’re given a card system and have to jump from station to station to get your food, you can easily lose track of the rising cost of your order.  I would recommend Richtree for late night eating, and I have been back there a few times myself, but personally, I think we all go there more for the experience than the food.  Not that the food is bad, but the unique market like confined experience trumps the food in most cases.

Average Price: $8 – $16 per entree
Hours: Sun-Thur 7:00am – Midnight, Fri-Sat 7:00am – 2:00am
Address: 42 Yonge St.
Phone: 416-366-8986
TTC Directions: Get off at King station, walk to Yonge street.  Walk south on Yonge on the west side for about half a block and enter into Brookfield Place.