Home to one of Canada’s most celebrated restaurants, award-winning Restaurant Pearl Morissette offers an ambitious fine dining experience featuring an ever changing prix-fixe menu composed of the highest quality ingredients of the Niagara region, founded by chefs Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson who opened the restaurant in 2017. Inspired by their time spent working in Paris and rural Belgium, they realized that to cook the best, they’d need to grow the best, underscored by a mastery of classic culinary techniques. Seasonal ingredients, many of them sourced by in-house gardener Shane Harper on their regenerative farm, are prepared with a modern European sensibility. "Our restaurant is founded on a holistic approach of regenerative practices and processes. Working with our regional purveyors, our food and wine are a reflection of our local ecosystem and the land we inhabit." An ode to Canadian seafood, Restaurant Pearl Morissette is fully committed to using and showcasing the produce and crops from Ontario, be it fresh water fish from the Great Lakes, pasture reared Muskovy duck, Niagara peaches or free range pork.
Arriving for a wonderful Sunday lunch with my husband, brother and sister-in-law, Restaurant Pearl Morissette sits on the top floor of a big modern black barn rising regally above a quiet field in the heart of Jordan Station, with glorious scenery through floor-to-ceiling windows of the surrounding farmland. Beginning with a bottle of Pearl Morissette Rosé, we were treated to a sensational 10-course menu featuring fresh scallops from Mahone Bay, West Coast Dungeness crab, grilled East Coast lobster, butter poached Upstate Abundance potatoes with Wild Acadian sturgeon caviar, slow grilled West Coast Halibut and much more, all seasoned and garnished with garden grown fresh herbs and vegetables. Service was sensational, finding the delicious balance between country casual and fine-dining polish. Award-winning Restaurant Pearl Morissette deserves every one of its well-earned accolades, and we each look forward to our next culinary journey to this little corner of paradise.
Entrance to the sleek Black Barn of Restaurant Pearl Morissette in Niagara's Jordan Station
The open kitchen of Restaurant Pearl Morissette
was more like a Tavel in terms of its flavour profile and rich deep colour
and lemberger, for a unique rosé that is rich, dry and delicious
'Carrot Crisp' from Cookstown Greens filled with scallop and lobster roe paté and dried chilies
Presentation of the Duck from Back-to-Nature Organics, for course #8
Whipped St. Brigid's Butter
Sourdough Bread made with Einkorn and hard Red Spring Wheat
Butter Poached Upstate Abundance Potatoes with Wild Acadian sturgeon caviar,
Slow Grilled West Coast Halibut with bay leaf buerre monté, pickled kohlrabi,
Roasted Duck from Back-to-Nature Organics with caraflax cabbage, marinated yellow plums, 
Roasted Pork from Linton Pasture, chanterelle mushrooms, cold pressed sunflower oil,
Alfred le Fermier cheese from Fromagerie La Station in Compton, Québec
Marinated Cherries from Bizjak Farm served with Sake Lees Mousse,
Strawberries from Bizjak Farm served with a strawberry reduction,
Black Koji Iced Cream Sandwich made with a black koji cookie,
Good to the last bite...
The grand harvest table in the centre of Pearl Morissette
Enormous housemade Sourdough Bread with Miels honeycomb on the right and
View of Restaurant Pearl Morissette
View of Restaurant Pearl Morissette Barn from the wild flower garden,
Fresh scallops from Mahone Bay N.S. served with Sungold tomatoes, red currants,
tomato water pearls, lemon thyme on panna cotta and garnished with herbs from the garden
presented on a bed of dried chilis for dramatic effect
West Coast Dungeness crab served in a roasted Alisa Craig onion with allspice, butter, peaches, brunoise onion and peach vinaigrette served on a bed of salt garnished with fresh bay leaves
was warm and deliciously squishy
Grilled East Coast Lobster glazed in Badger Flame Beet reduction,
served with a Badger Flame Beet crumble, nectarine pineapple sage and orange thyme
glazed peas, smoked egg, mussels and tarragon emulsion
white currants and onion purée
plum vinaigrette and harukei turnip purée
prickly ash, roasted zucchini and spinach purée and garnished with nasturtium leaves
served with honeycomb from Miels d'Anicat
shiso and rice from Fraser Valley cooked in sweetgrass
meadowsweet iced cream, meadowsweet chantilly, sweet cicely pods and sorrel
toasted walnut iced team and candied hazelnuts
Alfred le Fermier cows milk cheese under glass on the harvest table
where we were to meet Shane for a garden tour after our 10-course lunch
Pasture-Raised Roast Chicken
Serves 4
Recipe courtesy of chef Daniel Hadida, Restaurant Pearl Morissette
3 1/2- to 4-lb pasture-raised chicken
Sea salt
Juice of half a small lemon
Coarse sea salt for serving
Remove the wishbone from the chicken by pushing the tip of a knife through the neck cavity and running it up each side of the bone, then hook your finger behind the bone and twist it out. This will help with easier carving after roasting. Dry the chicken in the fridge on a roasting rack set over a plate for 24 hours. This will concentrate the flavour and encourage better skin crisping.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Bring the air-dried chicken out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before roasting. Truss the legs with kitchen string and pull them back from the body. Make sure any torn skin is covering the meat. Season liberally inside and out with salt. Set on a roasting rack in a shallow pan so air can circulate around the chicken. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the inner thigh near the breast without touching the bone reaches 165°F, about 1 hour and 15 minutes, then rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
Place the chicken on cutting board and remove the rack from pan. Carve chicken and put the pieces back into the pan, skin-side up. Turn on broiler and broil for 1 minute, just to get the skin crispy again after resting. For a sauce, simply squeeze the lemon juice into the pan drippings, then drizzle over the meat. Sprinkle with a touch of coarse sea salt and serve.
Fresh Goat Milk Custard with Farm Fruit
Serves 12
Recipe courtesy of chefs Eric Robertson & Daniel Hadida, Restaurant Pearl Morissette
Fresh Goat Curd:
2 litres raw goat’s milk
1/8 oz salt
2 tbsp buttermilk
Custards:
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
5 tbsp beaten whole eggs — about 1 1/2 eggs, beaten
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 sheets silver strength leaf gelatine, bloomed in cold water
2 tbsp plus 1 tsp sour cream
5 1/4 oz fresh goat milk curd
2 tbsp cider vinegar
3 1/2 oz damson plums, plus 1 to serve raw per serving
One fat fig per serving
A few leaves of verbena
Start by preparing the goat curd. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring milk to 90°F. Remove from heat, add salt and buttermilk and stir. Pour into glass, heat-proof container, ideally half-filled. Cover and lay on side in warm room (73°F minimum) for 12 to 30 hours until milk has clabbered (clumps into a jelly-like substance). A sealed Mason jar works well here. Milk should have a nutty aroma. Drain milk through fine cheesecloth and hang in fridge for 2 to 3 days with a bowl underneath to catch liquid. Discard whey.
To make the custards, combine cream, 1/4 cup sugar, eggs and egg yolk and cook to 175°F over a double boiler. Bloom gelatin in a bowl of cold water and incorporate into warm egg mixture (anglaise). Pass liquid through fine sieve twice to ensure no lumps. Blend in sour cream and fresh goat curd. Allow to cool to room temperature and season with cider vinegar. Pour into moulds and freeze until firm.
Cook the remaining sugar until a deep brown caramel, do not allow scorch, or it will become bitter. Cook the plums down separately until their juices have thickened. Purée until very smooth. Blend half of the jam into the cooled caramel.
To plate, remove the goat custard from freezer 20 minutes prior to serving. Thinly slice the fig and reserved plum. Pour one teaspoon of plum caramel onto the plate, place the tempered goat custard on top. Top the custard with a dollop of plum jam, arrange the plum and fig slices in an eye-catching fashion over the jam-topped custard, season with a few grains of sea salt, and top with small leaves of lemon verbena.
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