he opening of Colborne Lane brings with it a new form of restaurant altogether. While we've had high-caliber cooking, chef-driven restaurants, and fancy eateries with late-night small plates before, we've never had anything like this hard-to-get-in spot. The difference? Colborne Lane, not just a chef's restaurant, employs a fun and edgy setting to showcase the lofty upper limits of local wunderkind, Chef Claudio Aprile.

Opened by Hanif Harji (Kultura, Blowfish) and Aprile (ex Executive Chef at Senses), the restaurant brims with been-there-done-that diners with high expectations. Harji, a man with vision, does not disappoint. As he demonstrated with Kultura, his upward resto trajectory has constantly rejected the ordinary, replacing it with a deceptively simple "I'll do it my way" ethos.

The over-the-top schematics and vibrancy of Colborne Lane effuse epic scope and create a surreal impact. Designed by Commute Homes, the urbane dining room is a whirlwind of tarnished, rustic old and cutting edge new. Centered on a fourteen-seat communal table, the dark, wood-floored room spotlights and glorifies original brick and rough wooden beams. Burnished wooded tables dot the space. Antique mirrors line the walls. A tattered fire escape ladder hangs alongside the polished onyx cocktail bar. The artwork on the wall: refurbished refrigerator coils.

With a relentless, livewire, music-pumping vibe, it's easy to get caught up in the operatic dizziness of it all.

The waitstaff fuse seamlessly with their chic surroundings, while 70s rock beats fuel the room's energy. With the focus firmly on delivering tableside service, servers have time to neither meander nor grin and nod. Yes, it can be over the top, but if you embrace rather than reprimand - as Chef Aprile does here - then Colborne's complex fare trumps the bizarre bombast accompanying it all.

The restaurant revels in the exacting poetry of Aprile's work, gathering strength from the passion of a chef that feverishly believes in everything that he does. In interviews, Aprile insists that he "just wanted to make a restaurant that speaks 'Toronto'" (i.e. don’t talk about his restaurant being sooo New York.)

This restaurateur has traveled the globe in search of culinary resources. Take his lobster bisque, for instance. The bisque is prepared in Aprile's kitchen in separate components and hits your table deconstructed; tableside, the waiter adds the bisque to a bowl of fresh cooked lobster dumplings, mussels, oxalis leaves and tofu; the carefully plotted steps unleash the aroma at precisely the correct moment (i.e. gorge time).

Sound complicated? To prepare for his pork tenderloin, Aprile braises the pork for 36 hours sous vide (a term for vacuum-packing food in airtight plastic bags), then quickly sears it upon order and plates it with hoisen-braised pork belly and a fried risotto cake with a dazzling tonka bean emulsion. Is this tenderloin worth all of that headache? Indeed, the dish hits every note: salty, sweet, savory, bold and composed.

In typical small-plate fashion, diners are encouraged to order three or four items, and the plates emerge from Aprile's basement kitchen as soon as they’re ready. The potato tart makes a ridiculously dainty, if confident, starter: the flavours of light and fluffy mashed potatoes and sweet poached egg are juxtaposed with spicy swirls of truffle paste and leek purée to resplendent effect.

An innocuous Peking duck breast, arranged with glazed gooseberries on a butternut squash flan, turns lethal with the accompanying flavours of licorice and burnt honey sauce. There is a whiff of restraint in the lobster ceviche, served on a bed of new potatoes and herbs. But the crispy wokked squid under a flurry of green peppercorns and Chinese black vinegar is the type of gee-whiz display that a chef works up and shows off to his line cooks. Ethereal and fresh, the dish comes with crunchy Asian pear sticks; its lightness anchored by a scattering of Chinese Sausage, Thai basil and spiced Mango.

Teeming with originality, other restaurateurs will keep a close eye on Colborne. With Aprile's culinary line-up, the untamed vivant aesthetics, and the hyperactive crowd that fills the room, the star eatery is grandiose. With a relentless, livewire, music-pumping vibe, it's easy to get caught up in the operatic dizziness of it all. Colborne Lane holds the pulse of local diners, mobilizing, enticing, and dazzling them. -D.E.