Dinner was with Ila and Ryan at Travail. I've been hearing so many good things about this new resto, specifically of its 10-course tasting menu, so I was more than excited when Ila suggested we meet up here. We took the second seating at 8:30pm and surprisingly, the wait wasn't that long. Ila told us that when they first tried this for the early dinner, they had to wait for 2 hours before they got a table! Fro and I arrived first and had us listed for a table and luckily, we just had to wait for about 15 minutes before we got seated. Right on time as Ila and Ryan arrived. It was so good to see them again after almost a year (I saw them last year for Rylie's dedication but we weren't able to really talk and catch up)!The 10-course tasting menu was good for 2 and surprisingly cheap for just $70. So we got 2 sets and i must say, it was indeed an experience. The servings were really small but because there were 10 courses (and some palette cleansers and in-between meals), we were just so full afterwards!
Each dish was beautifully plated and the chef explained what was in it as they served it, but it was too complicated for me - so many ingredients! Ila dutifully took down notes though, but I was just excited to try out the fancy creations. The tasting menu consisted of the following (sorry for the photos, it was quite dim and I just used my phone cam)...
Appetizer: Amuse bouche of...totally forgot what this is but it was very refreshing!
First course: Beet salad with lots of other things (again, I wasn't paying attention to the chef...hihihi)
In-between appetizer: Bacon with dill cream
Second course: Salad with pineapple, tuna, beans and some other stuff (no jalapeños for me though!)
Third course: Beef tartare
In-between shot: Mushroom cappuccino - wish we had a whole bowl of this!
Fourth course: Pumpkin soup - this I love! The chef placed some bread pudding first at the bottom of the bowl before pouring the soup and it was just divine.
Cheese plate: this was not part of the tasting menu but Fro, being a cheese lover, ordered one. It had 9 types of cheeses and they were really good! I love cheese as well so this was a winner.
Fifth course: Pasta dish - this is one of my favorites
Sixth course: Scallops - another winner!
Seventh course: Seabass
Eighth course: Corned beef with sauerkraut
Palette cleanser: pineapple dippin' dots
Ninth course: Pork tenderloin
Pre-dessert: trio of desserts...the orange thingy in the shot glass was so delicious! I could have had seconds
Tenth course: Banana-nutella sandwich with orange and raspberry glaze - I was so full already to appreciate this but the few bites I had were really good
Suffice to say, we were all very much satisfied and happy with our delicious dinner. This was one of the best meals I've had and it was as memorable as my Peter Luger experience in New York. I'll definitely go back here when I'm in Minneapolis again (next year it is!).
We got home at around 11pm already and still managed to watch a couple of episodes of Game of Thrones before calling it a night. Today was indeed one of the best days of my vacay :)
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