10643 123 St NW, Edmonton, AB

This post is long overdue but I finally got around to it. Back in October, I went to Rge Rd for the first time. I’ve been meaning to go for the longest time but finally had the occasion when my friend, Jamie, turned 30! My friend Amanda from Hungry In Calgary was in town to visit another friend who had just a baby and decided to kill two birds with one stone. Rge Rd is located just off 124th street and 106 avenue. My friend Alyssa used to work on the butchery side of the restaurant, which is where we were seated. We opted to all get the road trip, which is the tasting menu that changes nightly (and with wine pairing! (Photo quality may decline as the night progresses)

First off, we started with an amuse bouche, which was shrimp over a kohlrabi-based vichyssoise. I really have to thank Amanda for all the notes that she took this night! Her blog post here has a lot more detail than I will be able to provide. The shrimp was really tender and delicious! and everything was really balanced.

Next was Davina Moraiko’s winning dish at Canada’s Great Kitchen Party (previously named the Gold Medal Plates). It is a pork blood sausage with apple and cabbage. I actually had the pleasure of eating this when i attended Canada’s Great Kitchen Party. It was one of the dishes that were in my top picks! I was happy when she won. The dish was even better than at the competition where she had to work with just a make-shift kitchen space. Really really good! I was glad that it was on the tasting menu so I could eat it all over again. Really excellent. (P.S. Photo was from the day of the competition, but it was plated the same!)

The following two dishes are available on their regular menu, but is the scotch egg, and the perogies. The scotch egg is soft boiled egg, wrapped in bison sausage, breaded, and fried. It was so good and served with pickled veggies and an aioli. Sooo good! The pickled veggies did a really good job at cutting the richness from the egg. Overall really good.

The Perogies are a grizzly Gouda and potato perogy served with an onion cream, warm cabbage slaw, and bacon. One of my favourite, if not my favourite dish of the night. The onion cream was amazing! I would definitely recommend this dish. Heart, simple, and delicious! The sauce really was amazing and we ate every last bit of it!

Next was a piece of smoky pork belly served with mussels and pesto. This was beautifully plated and really enjoyable to eat! The pork belly was nice and tender and overall very good!

Another one of my favourite dishes of the night was the rissoto. Butternut squash risotto with hazelnuts, cirpsy sage, and apple gastrique. Everything really worked together in this dish! It was really decadent and rich and really one to savour. I really liked the texture of the crispy fried sage and overall this was an excellent dish.

Next were bread and a palate cleanser but Rge Rd does not skimp out! The bread is served with whipped beef fat. It looks like butter, but if you smell the fat, you can find the pleasant aroma of beef. It goes incredibly well with the brea and could be a dish unto itself. Really good! The palate cleanser was a nice and mild icy plum sorbet. It was a nice little intermission after all the rich and decadent dishes we just had.

Next, the main protein was duck with bagna cauda, sour cherry, spaghetti squash, and crispy kale. I loove duck as a main protein! I like the taste and the mild gamey flavour of the meat. I’ve ordered duck at a number of restaurants around Edmonton but have always been left slightly disappointed. I can definitely say this was one of my favourite preparations of duck in the city though! It was cooked perfectly medium, tender, and delicious. The cherry reduction really cut through the fattiness of the duck and overall the dish was very balanced.

Lastly… dessert! This was apple, toffee, and ice cream. It was beautifully plated! I’m not of a dessert person but it was not too sweet and a good size. A really nice way to end the meal!

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience. The tasting menu is a decent price at $89 per person, but for the sheer amount of food that we received, I think this was quite good. The wine pairing does make it a bit pricey, and I found that it was a large amount of alcohol. I would opt to do one pairing to share between two people the next time I come. I am fortunate to have a group of friends who are adventurous when it comes to food! I would definitely come back and do the road trip and put my complete trust in the team at Rge Rd!