Aiana hosts a gold medal meal from award-winning chef

• Name + address: Aiana, 50 O’Connor St.

• Diet: meat, vegetarian, seafood

• Appetizers: $13-$54

• Mains: $39-$99

• Wheelchair accessibility: Yes

• Licensed: Yes

• Website: www.aiana.ca

Out of the blue I received an invitation to attend a special dinner in honour of the good work done by the Ottawa Cancer Foundation.

Moncton New Brunswick-based chef Rahil Rathod would be recreating his International Culinary Olympics Gold Medal winning meal from earlier this year in Stuttgart, Germany.

While this dinner would be different from the fare typically offered at local Ottawa restaurant Aiana, it would follow the same exacting standards patrons have come to expect from Aiana executive chef Raghav Chaudhary.

It’s a daunting task to become a world-class chef. It requires mental and emotional focus and resilience. What is then even more remarkable is when a chef demonstrates an open and affable nature despite all the rigours to which they have been subjected. 

Chef Rathod is such a person and has proudly led the Canadian Culinary team into the competition for the last seven years.

What impressed the judges in Germany was not just the execution but the theme of celebrating Canada’s homegrown bounty of foods from the farms to the forests to the sea. The dinner guests this evening would be equally wowed.

Service began with that most dangerous of starters: a sharing plate of perfect sourdough with a nutty birch brown butter. 

It was followed by a skewer of mushrooms and ribbon of celeriac on a pool of miso and mushroom “ketchup”. These small bites were earthy and mysterious but given a lift by the umami from the ketchup.

What at first appeared to be dessert, was served next. Biting into it, you were treated to the tart tang of cherry from Niagara’s century-old Cherry Lane that then gave way to the rapturous richness of foie gras. 

It was a beautiful and perfectly logical idea and I made a note that this elevated starter is the kind of thing most of us might want to try for our own dinner parties.

The loin of brown butter poached sturgeon was another of those dishes that made absolute sense despite it being an idea none of us around the table expected. 

Butter and popcorn is understood. What if the popcorn had been turned into a mousse, served out of a cannelé mold and crowned with sturgeon caviar? With the brown butter from the fish loin this made sense in every way but was an inspiration those attending weren’t expecting.

The textural contrasts certainly impressed but it was the combination of flavours that won the table. 

At many culinary competitions top talents make Herculean efforts to showcase their imaginations and understanding of ingredients. Too often the plates are over-wrought with too many ingredients and too much emphasis on appearance with results that are often underwhelming.

For me this dish of sturgeon with popcorn mousse was simply perfection.

Often with a meal involving several different elements on a plate, it isn’t the amount of food but the array of tastes that can be filling. Your palate can start to feel overloaded. The next main was a case in point. 

Attractively presented, we were given Quebec veal loin, an unctuous umami-packed sweetbread pressé, sensual truffled potato, honeyed yellow beet and braised cabbage on a mirror of Madeira jus.

Here Rathod once more demonstrated his grasp of building a dish based not just on how the components' flavours stand alone, but by how well they marry. Every mouthful was a singular experience but I soon succumbed and couldn’t finish the veal.

Help was on the way, but here, dessert appeared to be equally daunting. The theme was apples and the plate consisted of caramel apples, toffee mousse with créme Anglaise, a cardamom financier, vanilla sable, fennel apple sorbet and a winning green apple jelly.

There was not a single misstep on the plate and even now it’s difficult to think of a preference.

Canada has no shortage of world class chefs and apart from the indelible memories forged of food and drink, it was a pleasure to meet this master Rahil Rathod. He radiated a warmth and generosity of spirit that was like a hug from across the room.

Also in our company was local culinary royalty and doyenne of the gastronomic, Margaret Dickenson. It’s no exaggeration to say that she brought a grand stylishness to the room.

I’d like to thank the people at the Ottawa Cancer Foundation and Bruce Raganold of Welch LLP for extending the invitation and inspiring this story.