Antheia

My fiancée and I had a wonderful evening at Antheia this past Friday. We have been wanting to try Chef Briana Kim’s food since we heard about Alice (her previous restaurant) a few years ago. The wait was well worth it—we loved this vegetarian tasting menu.

We have had the pleasure to dine at some great Michelin restaurants around the world, and this is right up there with the best. The flavours were some of the most unique I’ve ever tried, with the curry & yogurt dish being the highlight for me. The chef’s table gave us the opportunity to interact with all of the talented staff at the restaurant; they were all very knowledgeable, courteous, and most importantly they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Go try out Antheia, you won’t regret it!

We flew down from Toronto for the weekend and, having experienced a lot of the fine dining scene there, our expectations were high and this place absolutely nailed it. The atmosphere is gorgeous and the food was incredible; every dish was packed with flavour and really interesting textures.

The service was also a standout. Our waitress was extremely observant and didn’t miss a beat. My only tiny critique was the miso dessert at the end. It was a bit too heavy and salty for a final course; a smaller portion or a tart sorbet to cut through the richness would have been perfect. That said, everything else was executed to perfection. 10/10 and well worth the trip!

If there were to be a destination restaurant in Ottawa, Antheia should be it. A true culinary experience. Each dish is carefully and deliberately curated. If there was one thing I would change, it would be the wine pairing, as some choices felt a bit disjointed. Would highly recommend people try this very special place and space.

This evening, we had the pleasure of discovering the exceptional vegan tasting menu by Chef Briana Kim (we were also big fans of her previous restaurant Alice).

Having experienced numerous vegan tasting menus worldwide, this one unquestionably stands at the very top. The fermentation techniques are remarkably inventive and executed with great precision and depth of flavor.

We very much look forward to returning.

Many thanks to the outstanding team behind this experience.

Came here on its opening night and it was well executed, no hiccups at all. Hands down the best restaurant in Ottawa whether you’re vegetarian or not. The food has unique flavours and good use of fermented elements. The attention to detail in the food and decor is exceptional. The whole experience is a performance without trying too hard to be. The kitchen, dining room and even washroom are all carefully curated, even small details like using stones as paper weights for the kitchen notes makes the space an experience for all the senses.

The welcome drink was also delicious, a great start to the meal and reminiscent of the Japanese Cold Noodle drink at Double Chicken Please. The rest of the fermented drink pairing was also delicious, there was real depth of flavour and complexity in the drinks. I’ve only had such flavourful nonalcoholic drinks at Double Chicken Please which is one of the top bars in the world and Eleven Madison Park a three Michelin star vegan restaurant. That being said, the pairings felt a bit homogenous near the end, they mostly had a strong rich depth from fermentation elements, a bit more variety would be interesting.

Everything was exceptional from the food to service to ambiance, if I were to be picky the service was great but not as strong as other elements. Minor feedback includes explaining how to best eat certain dishes, particularly the allium dish was difficult to eat, perhaps the tofu skin could be pre cut. It was not too intuitive also how to utilize the small flat plate that the napkin comes on.

I think this will easily be in Canada’s Top 100 soon, and rivals restaurants in many bigger cities. It’s one of the best flavours and delicious tasting menus I’ve had vegetarian or not. If you’re vegetarian, Antheia is in my opinion better than Eleven Madison Park, the dishes more varied, unique and playful. If Michelin covered Ottawa, I’m sure Antheia would have at least one star. I can’t wait to try their next menu!