On a recent trip to Toronto, (more YYZ eats here) I had the pleasure of trying Top Chef Canada Winner Carl Heinrich's restaurant, Richmond Station. Menu changes frequently, so make sure to try what's fresh. That's what I did. One item that seems to be a regular on the menu is their Quinoa Salad. I've been in love with quinoa since I tried a salad at IK2G0. This version is loaded with small pieces of broccoli, asparagus, radish, fresh peas and some sunflower seeds. There was some crispy kale for crunch too! There is a bit of a soybean based hummus spread out on the bottom of the plate as well. And to flavour the greens, there is a light red wine vinaigrette, which were asked to be served on the side. Another classic appetizer is their Beef Carpaccio. Uber thin slices of beef just sprinkled with salt and pepper. I loved the greens that topped this dish, the bitterness was actually quite refreshing. Bits of radish and parmesan gave the dish additional flavour and texture. One of their entree specials on the day that I went was the Beef Tongue Sandwich. Served with fries, some pickled veggies and a bit of au jus. The bun was pretty boring and could have benefited from some sesame seeds but it did have a nice grill on the inside. But the star of the show is clearly the beef tongue. I think the tongue was slow roasted and it was super tender. There was quite a bit of tongue, and it was paired with an slice of cheese, which melted lovingly over the tongue. This was delicious but very decadent, as tongue is actually very high in fat. The fries were really good and paired better with vinegar than ketchup, the dish just needed that bit of zing. And the other entree is the Wild Boar Ragu, part of their regular menu. The orecchiette is hand made, and tossed with tomatoes, cheese, so celery and a touch of basil. The boar is slow cooked to a comforting stew. I had expected more gameyness from the boar, but was surprised by just how mild it became. The orecchiette seemed more like gnocchi is shape but worked well with the sauce and boar.
Another European restaurant beckoned while I was in Toronto, after a delicious experience at Edulis a few days before. The location of Buca is well-hidden and you could easily walk past the entrance, but do so and you will miss out on one of the "best of" in Toronto. Their menu is updated frequently and there is a date-stamp. But that's not the only thing that gets stamped, stay tuned! I lost my notes on a few of the items in this post, and had to email the staff for details, after pointing them to the photos on my flickr page. My response came from Davide, and it shocked me in its details, this was clearly a man who loves food and is very proud of his ingredients. And rather than letting his efforts to to waste, I will quote him on what was "in the glass" or "on the plate" and then give you my take on the items.
On the left is the "Testarossa, made with Prosecco, Raspberries, Campari, Honey and fresh lemon, served in the champagne glass." Not being a fan of overly sweet cocktails, I requested that they go easy on the honey. Love the fire-engine red, a tip to its namesake. On the right is the "Tempesta, made with Kraken spiced rum, Cynar, House ginger beer, fresh lime, served in the tumbler." This drink is very fresh and the ginger and rum work well together. "As for the salumi, looking at the picture, starting from the left is a hand cut of Prosciutto di Buca (the back leg of the pig, curing in the our salumeria for 18 months, the meat is from Church Hills farms in Ontario, on the side you had the pickled cinnamon caps mushrooms). In the centre there is the Lonza (the loin of pork rubbed with pepperoncino and black pepper, curing here at Buca for 3 months circa on the side we served Swiss chard with pickled garlic, first press olive oil and 33 y aged Buca's red wine vinegar). The last on the right is the Salsiccine ( A classic of Buca, a calabrese style sausage with chillies, the only salume we don't make in house. They are made by John Orofino, where we buy different animals and also Mr. Orofino is one the first "maestro" who taught Rob Gentile (Executive Chef) how to cure meats. On the side of the salsiccine we served the cipollini onions in white vermouth and white wine brine." See how lovingly he describes everything? The prosiutto was very tender and a bit fatty, just the way it should be. The lonza has a faint hint of heat, and the fat is very marbled into the meat itself. It has a dryer mouth feel and the Swiss chard worked really well with these slices. I can see why the Salsiccine is a classic, the flavour is intense and holds its own again the cipollini onions. I had heard lots about these Nodini, essentially little bread nuggets, simply baked and then brushed with olive oil, and topped with a bit of rosemary and sea salt. The outside is a bit crispy, and the centre is soft and doughy. They might not look like much, but they do pack quite a punch! Want to learn how to make them yourself? Here is the recipe. Remember how I said the menu wasn't the only thing that was stamped? Weill so is this prettily presented Corzetti ai Peperoncini. Each of these little discs of pasta is infused with chili pepper and hand stamped. There are also fresh porcini mushrooms and some shaved prosciutto. It is a very delicate pasta, but the texture is quite pronounced, like eating one side of a thin ravioli. I have no idea how they get the dough so thin, and I think it makes me appreciate it all the more. Another fantastic hand made pasta is the Trofie allo Zafferano. The short noodles have saffron in them, giving them a light orange tinge. It is then tossed with bits of braised baby octopus, some fava beans, and few cherry tomatoes, in a bone marrow and chili sauce. The heat factor is minimal, but it's the chewiness of the pasta that really gets you. Believe it or not, the braised octopus is so tender that the pasta has more of a bite to it. Add the colourfulness of the green fava beans and the bring red cherry tomatoes, this dish is a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth.
Take Note:
Make a reservation, you will need one
Try a pasta, any pasta and you'll never regret it
Skip the wine and go for a cocktail, they are lovingly crafted and potent!
Although I have had Chef Heinrich's food at Mosaic for dinner several times, most notably the Spot Prawn Tasting, this would be the first time I'm visiting at lunch. The space has lots of natural light during the day. Although it's located in the Hyatt Regency, it's a popular lunch spot for the downtown work crowd, so it's great for locals and tourists alike. If there is Bread and Butter on the table, I find it hard to resist taking a photo, since I'm still trying to learn how to take good shots of paler foods (like butter, cheese, etc.) I was actually surprised that they served bread and butter even at lunch. It's something I do expect or enjoy for dinner, but didn't think it would be offered at lunch. For starters, we tried the Weathervane Scallops off the bar menu. These were gigantic, and just simply seasoned and then quickly seared. There sit atop a few thin slices of tomatoes and a pile of lovely greens. The scallops were so thick you could actually halve them through the middle. The special of the day was a Seafood Curry with Basmati Rice. The rice was nice and fluffy, but it was sure hard to take this picture (foiled by paler foods again). Thankfully, the rest of the dish was brilliantly coloured! Nestled on top of the rice is a variety of seafood consisting of white fish, salmon, mussels and clams. Rounding out the dish are some carrots and broccoli. This curry is not a super heavy curry, rather light in texture, more fragrant than overwhelming pungent, as some curries can be. The light Thai flavours were clear and crisp, with hints of lemongrass and coriander. And although there was a bit of heat, it was very mild. And this is the Big Salad, well, they don't actually call it that, it's called the Cobb Salad. Underneath the toppings of bacon, blue cheese, chicken breast, hard boiled eggs and chopped tomatoes, there is a large mound of romaine as well. The dressing is a lemon-dijon vinaigrette, but I didn't really use too much of it. Instead, I just squired some lemon juice on everything. I only finished a third of this...mostly the tomato, eggs and some bacon! I packed the rest to go and still think I have enough toppings for another whole salad. Note: said salad usually comes with avocado, but I asked for it without.
Take Note:
Great for working lunches, bright and lots of large tables
Staff are friendly and very courteous
Chef's Tasting Menus rotate every two weeks and are amazing!
First of two dinners in one night while on a visit to Toronto. Well, it's actually not dinner, since it was during Hapa Izakaya's Happy Hour menu, on offer daily 5.30-6.30 pm. Everything is super cheap, all prices listed are their Happy Hour prices! I'm a fan of Hapa Izakaya's various Vancouver locations; Robson, Coal Harbour and Yaletown!First up, Chicken Karaage ($4.49)! Deep-fried pieces of breaded boneless chicken. The ginger soy glaze is fairly mild, but too much of this would result in soggy chicken, and no one wants that. This is a great deal during happy hour, there are at least five juicy pieces of chicken. Squirt some of the lemon on the chicken as you're about to eat it to lighten up the oiliness. Continuing with the chicken theme, we also got the Spicy Hapa Hot Wings ($3.99). The breading on this is lighter than the karaage, it's barely a light dusting. The chili dip helps to add heat to the sauce, but these are nothing like the buffalo hot wings you might expect. A harder dusting of the chili flakes would be better.More deep fried goodness? Sure, let's give the Ebi Mayo ($4.49) a try! The prawns are very heavily sauced, and this makes the coating a bit soggy. The heat is good though, and the prawns themselves are very big and have a great bouncy texture. I liked the pairing with the shrimp chips too.Okay, this is the last deep fried thing, I promise. This is the Renkon Gyoza Tempura ($3.99). A half dozen of pork filled lotus root sandwiches, all breaded and then deep fried. These are really good, and very different from your normal gyozas. The lotus root gives the gyozas a great crunch, supplemented further by the tempura breading. The touch of a deep-fried lotus root slice as a garnish is cute. The one item we ordered that wasn't part of the Happy Hour is the Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps ($9.49). The platter is super vibrant visually, with bright green butter lettuce, crispy pork belly, with a bit of fried wonton skins and deep pink pickled red onions. There is also a bit of apple yuzu jam to tie everything together. The pork could be a bit crispier, but overall, there is a lot of flavours and textures here. And it's a great dish for sharing. And this is probably the best deal of the bunch during Happy Hour, the Spicy Pork Ishi-Yaki ($4.99). Served in a Korean-style hot stone bowl, this entree is similar to BiBimBap. The rice is mixed tableside, and has minced pork, chives, egg and a bit of spicy miso sauce. Tomatoes are usually present, but we decided to skip it, because I find it makes the rice too wet. Once mixed, it's best to leave it alone for a few minutes so that the rice has a chance to get a bit crispy from the heat of the stone bowl. As for a bit of hot sauce on the side and you're all set. All this for about $35, and there are drink specials too! As for my second dinner, take a look.
Take Note:
Staff from the Robson and Yaletown (Vancouver) head the front of the house
Dinner #2 on a Toronto night. We had just finished checking out the Happy Hour at Hapa Izakaya, but I really wanted to try this place, and my time in the city was running out. Located in King West, Edulis was on my to-eat list, having recently been voted one of the Best 50 Restaurants in Canada for 2013. For starters, the waiter brought over some Stuffed Olive Skewers. The cube of bread is supposed to help minimize the saltiness of the anchovy stuffed olive. And there is extra bread and butter as well. I am an anchovy fan, as well as an olive fan, but I usually prefer them in martinis. I don't think I've tried an anchovy stuffed olive before, so that was quite unique, at least for me. These are the cutest little things and it seemed wrong to eat them...but I did anyways. In fact, I ate all of them, they are small freshwater crabs from Japan, call Sawagani. Deep fried to a crunch, they are very reminiscent of deep fried prawn heads. See a post on those from Guu in Vancouver. Mostly crunch, with a bit of meat in the middle. I don't know the etiquette when it comes to eating these, but I went for the extremities first. The next dish was a Revuelto with Mushrooms. Essentially, this is a Spanish dish of scrambled eggs. There are mushrooms in there as well, we are at Edulis after all, had to get something with mushrooms, wouldn't you agree? The eggs were softly scrambled, somewhere between liquid and solid. The mushrooms were earthy and amazingly fresh, and provided a good balance to the egg. The third dish was the Wagyu Beef, which we only added because the server told us it wasn't a large portion. The pieces were very tender, even though it was very rare, likely due to the fat being so well marbled. The shallots gave the dish a light feel, even though the beef was so rich. And deciding to forego dessert was an easy choice, but the cheese selections of the evening were harder to pass up. There was a creamy cow's milk cheese called Baluchon, as well as two other hard cheeses. The nuts and crostini were perfect accompaniments to end this meal.
Take Note:
Small restaurant, can get very loud
Tasting Menu (Carte Blanche) starts at just $50
Menu changes frequently, but sweetbreads and Foie Gras frequently served
I have driven by this place everyday to and from work ever since they opened back in December 2010. For some reason, I never actually tried it. Probably because I tend to get Japanese takeout, at the Sushi Garden or Kita right by home or a nicer place like Miku in downtown. This month, my sister and nephew are in town, and he was craving udon. He was quite specific, not ramen, udon. And not the stirfry kind, the soup kind. Not wanting to venture all the way to Aki, we decided to check out Sushiholic, after giving their website and menu a thorough lookover. This was the first item to arrive and it made me so happy! The Pork Gyoza was deep fried to a golden brown. The skin was nice and crispy and the filling was plentiful. And since there were five of us, this was perfect! The dipping sauce is your basic vinegar and soy blend but you can add a bit of punch to it with the shichimi togarashi (seven spice powder). Next up was the Tako Sunomono, and this was a rather large bowl. Not like the half a cup serving you normally get at most places, this was enough for sharing. The noodles were slippery and held the flavour of the vinegar based dressing wonderfully. The tako had a nice firm texture to it as well. And this is the reason for our visit, the Beef Udon! This bowl of hot soupy goodness was loaded with lots of udon, bean sprouts and thinly sliced beef. The broth was rather mild, but again, top it off with some shichimi togarashi and you're set. The portion size again is impressive, the bowl is bigger than his head! We decided order some grilled items as well. This is their BBQ Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki). I was again surprised by the portion size, as well as the lovely grilled skin. I realize that the onions are there to prevent the fish from sticking to the plate, but they were far too raw. The fish itself was flakey and had good seasoning. Another grilled item we wanted was their Salmon Kama (cheek). This is one of the most tender parts of the fish and it's one of my favourites. And for $5.95, this is again a big portion. This one had a bit more soy in the seasoning and was quickly devoured by us.
They have a roll called the Awesome Roll, but we went for more traditional offerings. On the left is the Spicy Chopped Scallop Roll. The scallop to rice ratio was excellent, lots of plump scallop chunks. The spiciness is from the hot sauce drizzled on top, and it's not even really that spicy. The other larger roll on the right is the BC Roll, one of my mom's all-time favourites, as she really likes the grilled salmon skin. And given how well all the other grilled items were, you can be sure that the skin on this had a nice crispiness as well. I didn't expect the addition of the fake crab meat, but it actually worked, a bit of sweet in the savoury roll. And the final item was the Deluxe Assorted Sashimi. The menu says there are 21 pieces, but included higher end items, such as hotate, amaebi and toro as well. And they didn't even flinch when we asked for the heads to be deep fried.
Take Note:
The restaurant is small, call ahead for reservations
The beautiful Miku recently moved to 200 Granville St., the old location of Aqua Riva, and I couldn't wait to try it out. They have another stunning location in Yaletown called Minami.One of the things about the space that I really liked about the new place was the overall airiness of it. And the decor complemented the lovely windows with the bright lights, reminiscent of uni! Or maybe that's just me...
We went with a merlot, since we were likely having seafood, so a bold red wasn't really called for. This is the Land and Sea Brochette served on the skewer over a bed of couscous. On one end, we have some fennel and two tiger prawns. The smokiness of the char on the prawn is delicious. The couscous and broccolini had a hint of curry, which I wasn't expecting at all. The flavours were good, but it just didn't seem to "go" with brochette. On the other end, we got some veggies, as well as a giant scallop and a perfectly medium rare NY strip. This was moist and juicy, and really completed the dish. And no, you don't have to eat the steak with chopsticks, they give you a knife and fork as well. We also decided to try Miku Zen, where chefs from the kitchen and sushi bar select seasonal items for you to try. From the kitchen, we got fish done three ways as well as a salad. This was the Deep Fried Halibut, and the little bites were crispy on the outside and steaming hot on the inside. A touch heavy with the tarter sauce, but that's purely a personal preference.This delicious piece of Miso Baked Sable Fish had a very buttery mouth feel, with a bit of Gomae on the side. Loved the edible flower as well! The third item was Hamachi Sashimi. The topping was a bit sweet, but it actually seemed to enhance the freshness of the sashimi itself. These were big pieces but I still wanted more!Now this is the Greens and Tofu Salad, and I wasn't really a fan of, but I think it's only the crumbled miso tofu that threw me off a bit. Otherwise, this was a nice refreshing salad, with crisp greens and tomato slices. And from the sushi chefs, we got a selection of their Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi as well as traditional Nigiri. No matter how often I have the Salmon Aburi Sushi, it always amazes me with its simplicity. The Ebi also had a nice hit of smokiness. We were pretty stuffed but wait, we still had one more dish!This is the Kaisen Don, complete with Mackerel, Unagi, Hotate, Ikura, Ebi, Salmon and more. This was the first dish that actually came with wasabi! Although the sashimi is amazingly fresh, what really sets this dish apart is the rice. There's something in the way the rice is cooked, it's not sticky at all and has a nice vinegary tang to it.
Take Note:
Gorgeous views, get a patio seat if it's nice out
Surprisingly good miso soup
Food comes at a quick clip, let server know if you want them to slow down
One item that seems to be a regular on the menu is their Quinoa Salad. I've been in love with quinoa since I tried a salad at IK2G0. This version is loaded with small pieces of broccoli, asparagus, radish, fresh peas and some sunflower seeds. There was some crispy kale for crunch too! There is a bit of a soybean based hummus spread out on the bottom of the plate as well. And to flavour the greens, there is a light red wine vinaigrette, which were asked to be served on the side. 
Another classic appetizer is their Beef Carpaccio. Uber thin slices of beef just sprinkled with salt and pepper. I loved the greens that topped this dish, the bitterness was actually quite refreshing. Bits of radish and parmesan gave the dish additional flavour and texture. 
One of their entree specials on the day that I went was the Beef Tongue Sandwich. Served with fries, some pickled veggies and a bit of au jus. The bun was pretty boring and could have benefited from some sesame seeds but it did have a nice grill on the inside. 
But the star of the show is clearly the beef tongue. I think the tongue was slow roasted and it was super tender. There was quite a bit of tongue, and it was paired with an slice of cheese, which melted lovingly over the tongue. This was delicious but very decadent, as tongue is actually very high in fat. The fries were really good and paired better with vinegar than ketchup, the dish just needed that bit of zing. 
And the other entree is the Wild Boar Ragu, part of their regular menu. The orecchiette is hand made, and tossed with tomatoes, cheese, so celery and a touch of basil. The boar is slow cooked to a comforting stew. I had expected more gameyness from the boar, but was surprised by just how mild it became. The orecchiette seemed more like gnocchi is shape but worked well with the sauce and boar. 
