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Toronto · the 905 · Muskoka

The Six Burners

A Toronto dispatch on hiring a private chef, with the cheque on the page.

Global fine dining, dinner-party pricing

Christopher Salmon

Two decades of private clubs and top Toronto rooms, turned into eight published menus and 201 guest reviews.

Christopher Salmon started in restaurant kitchens at sixteen, went to George Brown for the formal grounding — nutrition, in his case — and spent the next two decades between private clubs, banquet halls and some of the better rooms in Toronto. Ask what he cooks and the answer is very nearly everything: his list runs Italian, Mediterranean, an upscale barbecue, a fusion card and a vegan one.

The part he wants you to know is the invisible labour. He hand-picks every ingredient, buys non-GMO where he can, makes as much as possible from scratch, and reckons ten to fifteen hours go into a single service before he arrives at your door. That is the difference between a menu and a meal, and it is also why his figures — C$162 to C$220 a head — read low for what turns up on the plate.

The recurring note from his tables is that he narrates: each plate gets a sentence as it lands, questions about technique get answered, and nothing happens behind a closed kitchen door. The recurring notes are portion generosity, plating that stops conversation, and a group of eight who eat out together constantly agreeing, unusually, on all of it.

CheckedNearly two decades in private clubs, banquets and Toronto restaurants. Nutrition training at George Brown College. Eight published menus, including a vegan one at C$165 a head.
Hired forBachelorette dinners, birthday brunches for eight to twelve, and the pre-wedding lunches where a party of twelve needs feeding well and early.
Crostini under figs, prosciutto and burrata, dressed with balsamicA set custard with a spun-sugar tuile, raspberries and blackberries

Two plates from Christopher’s own gallery, shot in service.

Straight off the card

Christopher’s cards, with the figure already on them

Sapori d’Italia

4 courses · Italian

C$185 a head, fromCAD

The Italian card — handmade gnocchi, and a striploin raised in Ontario.

Arancini al funghi, mushroom, spinach and cheese, with tomato-basil sauce; Sweet-potato gnocchi, wild mushrooms, wilted spinach, roasted red-pepper focaccia; AAA grass-fed striploin, garlic-confit mash, rosemary green beans, peppercorn sauce; Cannoli siciliani, ricotta cream, candied orange, crushed pistachio.

Chef Special

4 courses · plated

C$198 a head, fromCAD

His own pick of the list, and the menu most Toronto tables end up ordering.

Corn-dusted calamari, lemon zest and Calabrian chilli aioli; Roasted butternut squash soup, maple, crispy duck confit, sage and pumpkin-seed oil; Halibut en papillote, truffle mash, heirloom carrots, maple brown butter; Green-tea tiramisu, matcha mascarpone with white chocolate dust.

Exclusive — no modifications

4 courses · fixed

C$220 a head, fromCAD

The one menu he will not let you edit, which is rather the point of it.

Lobster tartine and oysters, shallot mignonette; yellowfin tartare alongside; Grilled octopus, bell-pepper sauce, chive coulis, onion espuma; Wagyu steak, pomme purée, gai lan, confit garlic, green-onion relish; Poached pear and almond tart, with clotted cream.

Unbelievable from the first plate to the last. Our group of eight eats out together constantly and it is rare for all of us to be impressed by everything — the flavours, the food and the presentation all landed.

of Toronto, who scored the night 5.0/5