There’s a new platform for discovering locally sourced and well-prepared food on the internet. Transparent Kitchen reached out to me to take a look around their site. At first, I was confused, so I had a lot of questions. They set me up with their communications director to chat about the platform. So, here’s the run down.

Transparent Kitchen is unlike Zomato, Trip Advisor, and Yelp. There are no user reviews or ratings. They want to target food enthusiasts who appreciate where food comes from and how well it’s cooked. Restaurants featured on Transparent Kitchen also have information about their head chef and suppliers. So, how and who chooses to feature the restaurants? Well, they seek top restaurants in Canada, like top 100 to be specific. The restaurants also have to meet certain quality requirements to make it on the list.

The cities that are currently on the website are: Guelph, Ottawa, Toronto, Kitchener, Hamilton, and Niagara. This year they are expanding to Montreal and Boston. And to stay on the website, restaurants pay a subscription fee. Beautiful photos, which I really appreciate, of the dishes and chefs are also produced in-house. After reading about the restaurants, you can book directly online or call the restaurant for reservations. And for this collaboration with Transparent Kitchen, they treated me to a meal at Brux House! It’s one of my favourite restaurants in Hamilton and I’m not surprised it’s on the website!

Watch the video below of my experience with Transparent Kitchen and Brux House. You can also read about my first Brux House visit here.

During our recent dinner, we decided to let the chef send out dishes for us to devour. I’m really glad we did! We started with a Wild Vanessa. A light beer with lemon and hibiscus notes, perfect for my tastebuds. Then we dove right into the apps: deep fried chicken skin, butter lettuce salad (I highly recommend), roasted woodland mushrooms, and house made soft pretzel sticks.

The deep fried chicken skins were a guilty pleasure. It’s a no no for my health but a party for my mouth. It was a little heavy but the blue cheese dressing and pickles cut through it. Ribbons of cucumber twirled with crisp pieces of butter lettuce, radish, dill, and feta. It was a beautifully balanced dish and a refreshing bite after eating the chicken skins. I love all things mushrooms so, obviously, the roasted woodland mushrooms hit a few happy buttons.

I felt hella spoiled already and next were the mains. Of course, Calvin and I shared everything. We were served the baked Atlantic cod and half Chassagne Farms cornish hen. Both were exquisite. The tender, flakey cod sat on top of artichoke, tomatoes, spinach, and fingerling potatoes. The flavours were light, letting the fish shine through. A savoury broccoli and cheddar polenta was the base for a juicy cornish hen. The brussels sprout slaw added a nice crunch to a flavourtown dish! And lastly, the finale was the cheesecake, which also came with a vanilla bean bundt cake. I always have a fantastic time here, can’t wait until my next visit!

The complimentary meal was provided by Transparent Kitchen and Brux House, opinions expressed are my own.