People are driving two hours north of Toronto for a one-of-a-kind dining experience
There's a restaurant in Grey County that's been receiving a lot of attention from people across the province for its unique dining experience. So much so, that people in Toronto are willing to take a four-hour drive to and from the location to dine.
Down Home is a farmhouse restaurant that takes pride in being an intimate establishment, where diners can learn about the dishes that they're eating through stories of how its made, where each ingredient is sourced and how each ingredient is grown.
"I think storytelling around food is really important," co-owner Hannah Harradine says. "We're able to tell the stories of community whereas in more traditional restaurants, you become so detached from where your food is coming from."
Most of the food from the menu is actually grown and foraged at the farmhouse itself as well as at small-scale farms and producers in the county.
Having locally sourced food is something that owners and couple Hannah Harradine and Joel Gray find important at their restaurant, as they believe the quality of their dishes is incomparable.
"We're trying to curate an experience around genuine hospitality," Gray says.
At the restaurant, which is located on the main floor of Harradine and Gray's house, diners can take part in a 10-course tasting menu that's roughly $175 per person.
The menu gradually changes every week, depending on what's available to grow, forage and cook locally during the season.
The summer's menu items for instance had dishes like garden tarts, cantaloupe gazpacho and guinea fowl and golden plum.
Last week's menu item had rabbit loin and belly stuffed with rabbit leg farce, paired with Swiss chard and Jerusalem artichoke.
There's also an option to pair the food items with Ontario wines as well as beer, cider and non-alcoholic drinks, for an additional price.
Outside of the tasting menu, Down Home also hosts community events like garden parties in the summer and maple syrup making with open fire-cooked food in March.
The restaurant opened back in August 2022 and has had a loyal following of diners, thanks to Harradine and Gray's catering project called Sumac and Salt, which was created in 2019.
However it was only around this summer when people from Toronto started taking note of the restaurant that was a two-hour drive away.
According to Harradine, there's a maximum capacity of 16 diners every Friday and Saturday, four to six of the diners each night happen to be from the city.
"Typically they'd be coming for dinner and going home. They're not even staying in [the area] for the night," she says. "It's amazing that people are finding us on this little back road and choosing to dine with us for three to four hours."
Down Home is located at 135299 9 Line in Markdale.
Down Home
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