u dip your spoon into the soup. It's as smooth as cream, the flavour a beguiling, subtly sweet purée of fennel and bell peppers, the whole effect as delicate as handmade lace. A salad of pears and Julian apples (from the rustic mountain town east of San Diego) is just delicious, the sharp crunch of the fruit embellished with sugar-glazed almonds and pearl-sized nubbles of fresh goat cheese. The greens in it are feathery wisps so fresh they taste as if they were picked moments before.

It's not just you. Everyone in the room is equally entranced with their plates. The food, the cottage surroundings and your magnificent date magnify the romance levels to record highs. The air in these four small rooms just beg you to get down on the floor to propose this or that. And, at the Corner House, quite often you’ll see that very scene played out.

Corner House doesn't feel much like an It restaurant, and that's a good thing. In fact, you’ll keep forgetting that it's even part of the Toronto landscape. Outside, the two-story house looks like a European bed and breakfast. Inside, the small, narrow dining areas are casual and comfortable - cozier than a formal restaurant. Panels of abstract paintings mounted above the banquettes add a jolt of color, and a shelf of bulbous ceramic sculptures of vegetables teetering on shapely silver legs injects some whimsy into otherwise sober rooms.

The staff is perhaps too enthusiastic, but it's easy to fall into the spirit of things. One night six of us pounce on the menu, ordering up various combinations of just about every dish available that night. We share, or at least taste, what everybody else has on their plate. For the two couples who don't know each other, it's an ideal icebreaker. Not to mention fun.