We spent five hours on a recent weekend at Canvass, relishing a parade of beautifully crafted courses and cocktails that tell a tale of tremendous thought and effort.
Danish chef Nikolaj Lenz, who has lived in Southeast Asia for 15 years, and Bangladeshi mixologist M.I. Rony, a familiar face from respected bars, have poured their souls into Canvass. You'll find recipes that borrow inspiration from the men's cherished memories, ingredients sourced with an eye for ecological concerns, and culinary preparations that take weeks to bear results.
Step in and you'll see the harvest of the earth being fermented and pickled on the counter. Behind the scenes, composting is a routine. Used cooking oil is being shipped out for biofuel recycling. Solar panels will be installed for greener energy. Nikolaj and Rony go beyond lip service and reputation-burnishing strategies to create a remarkable restaurant that they're proud and enthusiastic to talk about.
Canvass currently relies on no fewer than 53 ingredients across an extensive Euro-centric menu that evokes bistro-style venues spanning Helsinki to Oslo. Prices offer very fair value for quality produce cooked with care, confidence and creativity, yielding bright, buoyant flavours and revivingly fresh, vibrant textures. Even cocktails and cakes nod conscientiously to what Canvass calls 'sustainable hedonism,' using cooking byproducts and swapping out sugar for natural sweeteners and syrups.
Try everything, including the Danish fiskefrikadeller fish cakes and the divine desserts that remind Nikolaj nostalgically of his late grandmother and the strawberry farms from his childhood, and let Canvass' team explain what makes each dish special.
