Helen Peacocke says we can take a leaf out of maple's versatility

Having just returned from Ontario, Canada where I feasted for a week on the very best food and drink that this remarkable area offers, I feel I just have to share the experience. It all happened so unexpectedly and was due in part to my pancake photograph featuring maple syrup which was published on my foodie page earlier this year to celebrate Shrove Tuesday.

Having voiced my interest in this remarkable ingredient Ontario Tourism arranged for me to experience how Canadian chefs use it to enhance some of their dishes, and to sample the culinary diversity which has evolved in Canada over the years. The cuisine of Toronto, where we were based, is very similar to our own as it was influenced greatly by the early British settlers and traders. French settlers who occupied southern Quebec, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick influenced the lower regions of Canada as did German, Ukranian and Polish.

Jewish immigrants arrived during the 19th century and added their bagels and smoked meats to the mix. Subsequent waves of immigrants from South Asia and the Caribbean added their culinary magic too.

The Canadian restaurants we visited in Ontario, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and particularly Toronto, now offer the most imaginative assortment of dishes I’ve ever experienced. And they are served with an enthusiasm that puts some of our British restaurants to shame.

Waiters and waitresses we met welcomed us as if we were old friends and described the special dishes of the day with such eagerness it proved impossible to ignore them.

One of the most impressive chefs we met was 28-year-old Carl Heinrich, prop-rietor/chef of Richmond Street Station in the centre of Toronto. Last year Carl won Top Chef Canada on the popular television programme which celebrates the best of professional chefs, offering a prize of $100,000. This win provided Carl and his business partner Ryan Donovan with sufficient funds to open their subway-themed restaurant. His restaurant, with its seemingly simple menu, offered the most amazing flavour combinations. He described his dishes as comfort food, but his dishes were far too stylish to be called that.

The secret to Carl’s success is partly due to the lively service and delicious food cooked in an exposed kitchen.

We ate in a small side room that doubles as the pantry, which is why chefs would suddenly invade our space in search of ingredients.

Very little maple syrup is stored there now as maple syrup is harvested in late spring, when Carl places a bulk order with a local farmer. Due to his restaur-ant’s popularity, supplies are particul-arly low at the moment. Fortunately, he had enough left to mix us his favourite cocktail Maple Sour (see recipe below), which made our toes tingle.

In Niagara-on-the Lake we stayed at Pillar and Post, Ontario’s only five-star country inn. Built as a canning factory in the 1890s, it has been lovingly transformed into a welcoming hotel. It was here I was reminded of the joys a “full English” breakfast can provide and how such a substantial meal can sustain you right through the day.

No trip to Canada would be complete without visiting the world’s highest wine cellar that adjoins the revolving award-winning 360 Restaurant, in the CN Tower, more than 1,000 feet above Toronto, which provides the most spectacular views.

Although Canada has just suffered its coldest winter ever, vegetables were plentiful, and colourful salads accomp-anied almost every dish.

Farmed Atlantic salmon, as moist and tender as any I have tasted, was served frequently, often with light sauces delicately seas-oned. Other fish included trout, halibut, scallops, squid and cod that simply melted in the mouth. Beef carpaccio served with compressed pear and sun-choke salad, pork sacchetti with chest-nuts, and succulent grilled pork chops garnished with apple balls poached in ice wine were just some of the many dishes we were lucky enough to enjoy.