Modern Japanese/Korean Fare at KOKO! Share Bar

We were struggling where to have dinner on Saturday night on our way out from Holt on Bloor. First, I tried to make a last minute reservation at Sushi Couture for Omakase (no luck, need one day's advance notice); next, I tried Swish by Han, a Korean hot pot place near by, suggested by a friend....completely full. Finally, we decided to try One at the Hazelton. We've always wanted to go but never made it and partly wanted to save it for a special occasion. Well, we never made it there. As we were walking, I thought of KOKO Share Bar, which I had read about at some point, but I didn't know where it was...and right there, was the restaurant. We took a quick look at the menu and decided to give it a try.

KOKO Share Bar is a small restaurant, with only about 8-10 tables and one longer table for groups (fits only about 6). It is clean, simple and modern, but not pretentious. Our very personable waiter brought us our menus, gave us some time to look it over, and took us through some of the favourites by section - appetizers, mains, modern and traditional sushi. First, the cocktails were calling my name, some unique drinks mixed with soju. I had the honey ginseng martini - not for everyone but I like ginseng, and Tony had the citrus twist which was delicious in a very understated way - a drink that grows on you more and more one you could sip and drink all night!

We quickly made up our mind about dinner. We started with some modern sushi, the Maguro roll with yellowfin tuna and kimchee mayo. It came topped with okra and was delicious, not overly spicy or with too much mayo - simply delicious. We also had the butterfish sashimi, which was actually torched and served with ponzu, also quite good. For our mains,

Tony had the baked sea bass served with a sweet miso butter and king mushrooms. The fish was served whole and was baked with parchment paper just right, with the perfect firmness for the fish. A bowl of miso butter was served on the side to spread on the fish as you like. This was a nice healthy dish! I decided to have the spicy seafood boullaibaise hot pot.

I imagined some version of one of my favourite dishes, Korean tofu with seafood. The hot pot was a lovely modern version of what I was expecting, a spicy broth infused with seafood flavours and filled with black cod, prawns, scallops and mussels. It's not as spicy as you would get at a traditional Korean restaurant, but the milder taste combined with seafood flavour was just right for me. I slurped up the entire personal pot!

Around us, tables ordered the signature share dishes - you can choose between a Korean platter with pork belly, spicy chicken and Korean bbq or a Japanese platter with assorted sashimi, soft shell crab, and tempura. They looked plentiful and delicious, and with some friends, we'd love to try both out! Overall, we were happy to have stopped in KOKO Share Bar, we enjoyed the modern interpretations of traditional foods, done with respect to the clean, natural flavours of the food itself. The menu is diverse, a good place to visit whether you are normally adventurous or conservative with food -I'm sure you will find something to your liking.

KOKO! Share Bar

81 Yorkville Ave

416-850-6135

www.kokosharebar.com

(reservations available on OpenTable)

Valentine's Day: A Phenomenal Meal At Lee Lounge!

I wasn't sure where we were going for Valentine's Day...it was going to be a surprise! But I had a sneaking suspicion when by chance, I found Susur on twitter last weekend, and noticed that Lee Lounge was going to be open for the 14th, and I was right! Arriving at Lee, we quickly discovered Lee Lounge was really an extension of the always popular Lee, breaking through the East wall of the existing restaurant into a more laid back and open lounge/restaurant area. A case of mismatched expectations, we thought Lee Lounge would be a totally different restaurant like Susur and Madeline's had been in the past, but it actually shares the Lee menu. To be fair, we've always really liked Lee, it just wasn't what we were expecting for whatever reason. We were excited to see Susur in the house and knew we'd have a good meal ahead! There is a refreshed menu, which still boasts favourites like the Singapore slaw, braised beef, cod, orzo and others, but with some new items we were eager to try. Lee was also featuring a "double happiness" Valentine's special menu. We ultimately ended up with a phenomenal feast, a party for our pallets, and one of the best meals we've had in a long time. Susur, we've missed you!

We started with half a dozen oysters from the Valentine's feature menu, topped with a bit of salted chili, shallots and calamansi lime. It added just a hint of flavour to enhance the delicious oysters. And we were on our way for the food adventure! Next came something from the Lee menu, spicy tofu served on a thick honey glaze, coated with a secret mixed spice, aptly named "golden dust" and topped with mushroom and pepper compote. This tofu was AMAZING! You may read a lot of "amazing" in this post, but the tofu was one of the most surprising and enjoyable dishes we had all night. The firm tofu cubes was just loaded with flavour, and not actually too spicy. Every bite was exciting!

Then came the seared diver scallops, also from the regular menu. They were gigantic, seared just right of course, and boasted a familiar old school dim sum flavour while not being traditional at all. I can't tell you exactly what that familiar flavour was, but we felt like the scallops really embodied "modern" Chinese food with traditional influences. No one integrates flavours quite like Susur. We also had the peking duck from e Valentine's menu... served with a deliciously light foie gras mousse. This dish was so intricate and detailed, from the delicate rice wraps, to the exceptionally tender (and plentiful) duck, to the assortment of cucumbers, green onion and persimmon strips that accompanied. It was a fun course, making our fancy little duck wraps and topping it with foie gras, you really can't go wrong. It was light and just enhanced the taste perfectly! Could our meal get any betterr??

The answer is yes. Next came a new addition to the Lee menu, Susur's dish from Top Chef masters, where he scored the highest score on the show: green curry chicken with chili mint chutney and sun fried tomato jam. I don't exactly remember the episode to recall the judge's reactions, but simply this dish was WOW! I was expecting some normal curry dish (sauce like) with chicken; but instead, was served breaded chicken with a unique infusion of green curry flavour accented with other great Thai flavours scents. It tasted so amazing I felt obligated to tell the couple next to us they had to order it (they were already spying on our dishes, I might as well!). This is a MUST-HAVE if you are stopping by Lee, no over-rated dish here.

Needless to say, we were pretty full by the time we got through our dishes, but couldn't possibly pass up dessert. We had the combo platter with chocolate lava cake (always good and a favourite on the menu) with black sticky rice pudding (black barley), and also the new French and Chinese tong-yuen (glutinous rice balls filled with sesame, nuts and other goodies) served on individual spoons. Sooo good and totally worth stuffing our already stuffed bellies.

Lee did not disappoint us this Valentine's Day! We have found some V-Day menus to be sub-par in the past, but Lee's renewed menu along with the new, more luxe and spacious Lee Lounge was definitely a treat for us. Definitely one of the best meals we've had this year! Please stop by and eat the green curry chicken, the tofu and the tong yuen! My one recommendation for Lee Lounge is they need a bigger assortment of cocktails to live up to the lounge name :)

Lee/Lee Lounge

603 King Street West

416-603-2205

http://www.susur.com/lee/

San Francisco: Tastes of Fusion at Ame

Tony poured over reviews and enlisted the help of Chowhounders to find the best restaurants for our short visit to SF. Ame at the St. Regis hotel was one that came widely recommended based on our tastes and favourites, and thus, was our first fine dining stop in the city! Luckily, it was only a short walk from our hotel, the W, walkable even in Louboutins :) (an awesome gift thanks bridesmaids!!!).

Back to the food: Tony and I were most excited by the sashimi bar menu, and thought to do as we have in the past - just eat that list! But there were also mains that caught my eye - always the tragedy of a great menu, we cannot decide what to eat! In the end, we opted to do the Taste of Ame Sashimi Bar (which had a nibble of everything we wanted), and still had room to try other appetizers and hot mains.

The Taste of Ame Sashimi Bar included the daily crudo, served simply with olive oil and lemon; uni bruschetta, which I think had no uni taste so was a bit disappointing; tempura poke, which again was a bit disappointing because we loved having poke in Hawaii so much, it felt like the "tempura" took away from the experience; a "kaisen" sashimi salad that was quite delicious; and our favourite, cuttlefish noodles tossed with sea urchin (this dish was tasty!), quail egg, fresh roe, avocado, seaweed and some young jalapenos to give it a kick, all served in a cute little bamboo container. To go again, we would just have the cuttlefish noodles - but we were glad to have had a taste of everything.

Next we followed up with the Chawan-mushi, savoury Japanese custard. We LOVED this dish the first time we had it in Japan at a Hokkaido restaurant. The Ame version featured lobster and mushrooms...yum! In previous tastes, the "good stuff" was always hidden at the bottom of the custard - Ame's version included some lobster right on top, but also hid some of the delicious seafood and mushrooms within the large bowl....the biggest bowl of savoury custard we had had. No complaints!

We still had room for the mains, Alaskan black cod in a shiso sauce with shrimp wontons and mushrooms, and grilled liberty duck with sour cherry cabernet sauce and foie gras. While I liked the cod, we have a lot of good cod these days even in Toronto so it did not stand out to me, and the shrimp wontons were only ok - made with fresh pasta, but I did not feel like it added anything in particular to the dish. The duck was really well prepared, just perfect and with more than enough to share between us. The sauce had a nice flavour and how can you really go wrong with foie gras on top?

We still managed to have room for dessert, and had a chocolate mousse with burnt marshmallow (think s'mores!) and soy caramel. Was very unique and glad we had a chance to try it.

Overall, Ame was a good experience. We managed to "accidentally" order a whole 750mL bottle of sake, which of course we didn't finish, and they graciously let us take the rest of the bottle home :) We would go again to eat some of the favourites like the cuttlefish noodles and the custard, but as a Michelin star restaurant, we left a little bit disappointed. We feel like we've had some more elevated culinary and service experiences at less recognized restaurants in other cities.

NYC 2009: An Exclusive Dining Experience at Momofuku Ko. Genius.

David Chang is a genius. Chef and owner of a quartet of Momofuku restaurants, he has won three James Beard awards, which are, as my friend described, the Oscars of the food world. We were among the few lucky patrons to visit Momofuku Ko on Saturday night for an unforgettable food experience. Getting this reservation was no small feat, although completely accessible to anyone who did a bit of research - you have to register on the website and log on for reservations 6 days in advance for one of the 12 precious seats. There is no menu, there are no pictures, and even the restaurant itself is scarcely marked (we walked right by the door the first time we passed). You have to trust in the food. Arriving at the restaurant exposes no more about what you will eat, how much nor the cost, but we were ready for our adventure. One of the first questions the chef asked was if we had any allergies - I cannot imagine what to do if one showed up with one, because there were 12 courses to come, carefully planned and prepared in advance, I'm not sure what options there would have been. In addition to the amazing tastes and unique preparations, watching the busy chefs at work was an experience in itself. Ko is set up as bar surrounding the narrow kitchen, reminding me of the geisha tea house we visited last year in Japan as a part of our walking tour. The 12 seats around the bar were filled by parties arriving at different times. Cooking was like a round in song - the chefs were organized and calm in their preparation of each appropriate course for the parties around the bar, with never a miss and easily making their way around and with each other. They started with only several dishes at once, but as the bar filled up, every group was having a different course - their ability to manage it all in stride was amazing. We had generous portions of sake to go with our dinner, passing on the wine accompaniment, which in hindsight we are glad as we were able to save room in our bellies for all the glorious and delicious food.

Unfortunately, photos were not allowed, and I also did not want to take away from the exclusive dining experience, but below is a detailed account of our menu. I had to take notes as we ate in an attempt to remember all the chefs were telling us!

1. Sweet shrimp in jalapeno sauce with scallions served on a Chinese spoon.
2. Snail sausage, fried pork skin and biscuit - the snail sausage came in tiny cubes, very unique.
3. Long island fluke in spicy buttermilk with poppy seed with spicy red herb - this was one of our favourite courses. The spicy buttermilk was very tasty and just the right flavour for the fish, topped with sparse tiny leaves of a spicy red Japanese herb that I cannot recall in name, but found it very unique. They looked like little red clovers.
4. Tataki Spanish mackarel with yuzu mustard green - I loved the mustard greens, adding a unique flavour to the mackarel that was prepared with a side of thin crispy skin.
5. Daikon tortellini with carmlized onion puree and oxtail, in oxtail consomme - watching one of the chefs make this dish was fantastic, two pods of daikon filled with onion puree/oxtail then wrapped and flipped into tortellinis. So smart!
6. Soft boiled egg with hackleback caviar and small chips and onions - this was the most beautiful dish of the night in its colour and preparation. The caviar was served flowing out of the bright yolk, seeping out of the half open egg. Was as delicious to taste as it was to look at!
7. Pine mushroom ravioli with buckwheat coriander, served with pine mushroom tea with a ball of french toast on the side - this was fantastic! Although I could not hear what the chef said upon serving the dish, I recognized the unique taste of the pine mushroom immediately (see our latest adventure at Ematei). I felt incredibly smart to recognize the great flavour of the pine mushroom, because for most of the meal, I couldn't keep up with what they were telling us!
8. Monk fish with sea urchin served in spicy shell fish stew - the sweet taste of sea urchin was a nice counter to the spicy shell fish stew the monk fish was set in. When I saw the chef make the stew again I saw the 3, 4 peppers he had put in the small pot and let boil down. No wonder it was so spicy! I personally think it took away from the sweetness of urchin, best enjoyed fresh, but nonetheless, the combined flavours were a unique experience.
9. Shaved foie gras and reisling jelly and lychee and candied pecan - this was probably the most unique plate I have ever had. The foie gras was served in a bowl looking much like a mound of shaved ice, hiding the jelly, lychee and pecans underneath. This was unbelieveable to eat - can you imagine light, fluffy foie gras!? Tony and I simply could not get enough of it! It is surely a memorable plate that we will tell stories about over and over again.
10. Crispy skin duck - we watched the chef start to prepare this from the moment we sat down, multiple and careful preparations made an AMAZING canard. The duck, served medium rare, is probably the best duck I have ever had, simple in taste, yet so incredibly delicious.
11. Spiced white wine sorbet with asian pear and elder flower - this was a nice cleansing of our pallet.
12. Goat milk and ricotta curd cheesecake with squash sorbet, cranberries and pumpkin seed oil - I think the best cheesecake I have ever had, light and so uniquely paired with the pumpkin seed oil and squash sorbet...who would have thought of that!?

Our experience at Momofuku Ko was unbeatable. All the food was fresh, the flavours light yet complex in how they were paired. I liked the slight kick in the dishes by various means, was lively for our taste buds. We couldn't have asked for a better meal - incredibly unique and worth every penny. Our meal in particular was a mere $125 a head, pennies for the unique food and experience we had. And of course, we couldn't help but pick-up the Ko cookbook (there are pictures in there!) for our growing collections of cookbooks we drool over. The spicy buttermilk recipe is included...yum! What is more amazing is that we were done right at 9:30pm, just in time for the second seating of guests to arrive and have their ultimate food experience. The whole operation is truly incredible, very deserving of its two michelin stars! Provided you don't have any allergies, fish in particular, this is a MUST visit for foodies. You will enjoy every dish in flavours and uniqueness.