Pears Restaurant located at 170 Enterprise Blvd, unit J105 in Unionville

For our sixth wedding anniversary celebration, we went to Pears Restaurant by Keith Pears located in downtown Markham for dinner.  It was easy to make a reservation for the early dining time of 5:15 p.m. for a Monday evening as there were many available time slots.  We were one of the only two tables dining in when we arrived.  There is free parking available right in front of the restaurant (but because it’s an unpaved road, there are caution warning signs which made us think the parking was not allowed but we checked with the server and you can definitely park there).

The interior of the restaurant is so beautiful and there are elements of Asian symbols throughout the restaurant.  Where we sat, we faced an entire wall from ceiling to floor of dozens of waving lucky cats.  The bar was gorgeous and I took a photo of it at the end of the night as well.  Inside the individual-stalled restrooms, the napkins available for you to wipe your hands are of the thick type kind.

Beautiful interior aesthetics

Beautiful menu cover

We ordered an assortment of petite plates to share in addition to the big daddy dish of the night: the House-Aged Whole Duck done in 5 ways.  The service was professional and pleasant as expected for a higher tier restaurant such as this.  It got busier throughout the night and most of the tables were occupied by the time we left around 8 p.m.

They have a $55 prix fixe menu

Menu

Cocktails

Mocktails

Wine, sake, beer

Bottle service

Petite plates, veggies

Meat, seafood, rice & pasta, dessert

History of Keith Pears

Crispy Broccoli $15
-whipped feta, strawberry salsa, peanut sauce

The Crispy Broccoli was a surprise delight of the night.  These were broccoli fried in kind of a tempera batter so that it was light accompanied with strawberry salsa and dots of peanut sauce.  There was whipped feta along the bottom of the plate.  I first tried a broccoli without the feta and it tasted good with the tartness of the strawberry salsa.  Afterwards, I had a piece with the whipped feta and it was even better!  It was like a smooth sour taste paired with the fried broccoli.  It was very unique and I’m really glad I picked this dish!

Wagyu Beef Siu Mai $14
– handmade, black garlic nori sauce

The Wagyu Beef Siu Mai were handmade with a black garlic nori sauce.  They were juicy but they simply tasted like beef balls that you get at dim sum restaurants but wrapped with a wonton wrapper to me.  There were pieces of water chestnut in the siu mai too and I’m not a big fan of the texture of water chestnuts.  The beef was very tender though.  The black garlic nori sauce seemed a bit dense to me.

Shrimp & Scallop Toast $18
-mousseline, pain de mie bread, mentaiko mayo, chives

The Shrimp & Scallop Toast came in four pieces with a mentaiko mayo that was so beautifully “dolloped”.  The toast had a thick meaty part with mousseline cream and was made with pain de mi bread.  Lots of diced chives were scattered on top of the toasts.  This was really good and had a good bite to it but it was messy to eat!  The toast easily slides around so you have to hold it or have a good grasp with your chopsticks (side note:  I love that they provide chopsticks here along with the usual fork and knife).  The other thing is that the toast is rather greasy so it will fill you up.  (Lucky for me as a lactating mama, the extra grease just helps me with the calories I need to produce breastmilk for my baby so I can handle the extra calories no problem.)

KFC Sliders $12
– Korean fried chicken, sweet and spicy glazed, garlic aioli, red cabbage slaw

The last of the petite plates was the KFC Sliders.  This was Korean fried chicken, sweet and spicy glazed, with garlic aioli, and red cabbage slaw in between two black and white sesame buns.  It was skewered with a toothpick with a flag that showed the restaurant’s logo with the Chinese characters for “pear” and “KP”.  This was yummy.  The chicken was very tender and smooth.  There was lots of flavours bursting in each bite and it was a satisfying slider.

KFC Slider – looks like artwork!

House-Aged Whole Duck 5 Ways presented to the table

The House-Aged Whole Duck 5 Ways has a preparation time of 45 minutes.  It arrived perfectly after we were mostly done eating our petite plates.  It was a grand show as the server brought out the entire dishes placed on a large wooden tray.  The 10-days aged King Cole Duck had smoke coming out of the wooden box and looked very showy.  The duck breast was cut and placed in the wooden box with coarse sea salt on top, there was duck leg confit, crispy duck wings, duck pot pie, and crispy duck skin.  The side accompaniments were housemade tangerine marmalade, sour cherry hoisin, spring pancakes in a steamer, peeled cucumbers, scallions, and salt and sugar.  All of this for was $150.

House-Aged Whole Duck 5 Ways $150
– aged 10 days, King Cole Duck, duck breast, duck leg confit, crispy duck wings, duck pot pie, crispy duck skin. Served with housemade tangerine marmalade, sour cherry hoisin, spring pancakes, cucumber, scallions

duck breast, duck wings and skin, pot pie, accompaniments, duck leg, pancakes

I really liked the perfectly roasted duck leg confit.  It was so meaty and tender and roasted just right.  The duck wings had a salt and pepper seasoning on it which reminded me of Chinese salt and pepper pork chops, but this seasoning was lighter and more refined in taste.  The duck skin was indeed crispy and large too.

The duck pot pie had a pastry top that was more rough in texture than puffs we’re used to but it was unique too.  The pot pie had a ton of duck meat in it as well as mushrooms and green peas.  It was very thick and heavy.  I think if it had a bit more broth or soup in it, it would cut down on the heaviness.

Duck breast with sour cherry hoisin sauce and scallions on spring pancake

The duck breast with the spring pancakes was a different experience than what I’m usually used to in Chinese restaurants that serve Peking duck.  The duck meat was strong of smoky flavour; something I wasn’t used to.  The spring pancakes were so-so as I think the ones used in Chinese restaurants for Peking duck is thinner and softer.  Peking duck is different from eating this form of duck meat with pancakes, but it’s hard not to make the comparison.

Black Sesame & Tofu Baked Alaska $18
-ginger lemon gel

We finished off our anniversary dinner with the Black Sesame & Tofu Baked Alaska.  I was disappointed that although our reservation included a note that we were celebrating an anniversary that the Pears staff didn’t write anything on the dessert plate to indicate this.  I feel like there have been so few occasions in my life thus far where I actually got to enjoy a dessert plate with celebratory greetings on it.  I’ve seen other people with dessert plates with a special message at other restaurants and I really thought they would have done it here.

I also thought that the plate which the dessert was placed was way too small.  It was smaller than our sharing plates.  A bigger plate would have made the dessert look more grand too.  I also thought they would have torched the dessert table-side too.

Mid-meal

The Black Sesame & Tofu Baked Alaska was overly torched and the top bits were burnt and black.  It smelled and tasted burnt a little too much.  The ice cream part inside was frozen and tough to eat with a fork until it melted a bit more halfway into the meal.  There were bits of tofu that we tasted too, hence the name.  Overall, this dessert was sweet and smoky with a touch of sour because of the ginger lemon gel (which was unique).

The bar is gorgeous

Overall, it was a nice evening at Pears Restaurant and I’m really glad we got to dine here for a special (kid-free) occasion.  Other than the special whole duck course, I think the petite plates were fairly priced too.  I think the experience could have been elevated with a celebratory aspect with the desserts and/or the server wishing us a happy anniversary.  Did they not read the reservation notes?  Do I as the guest have to remind the staff when I arrive?  I wish the restaurant lots of luck and continued good business.  Ultimately, we felt very lucky to get to enjoy a high-end meal at a fancy restaurant which was located close to us too.

Storefront

Another note is we took the leftover duck meat and accompaniments home.  The server packed it for us in individual containers.  I have a nit to pick about how they placed the crispy duck skin underneath a pile of cucumbers and green onions.  It defeats the purpose of having crispy duck skin because it became soggy.