High-end Italian at Mistura

The Toronto International Film Festival is upon us again, one of my favourite times of the year here - the city is just buzzing with energy and celebrities! The funny thing when you eat out during TIFF is there is the notorious head swivel - everyone double takes to see if the next guest to walk in is someone famous. This really doesn't happen normally! I wonder if all the restaurants in Yorkville get a bump simply from people hoping to spot a celebrity?

We randomly went to Mistura for dinner tonight - if we're going to eat out, why not take our chances right?? The last time we were here was with our friend Merrill, and we had a fabulous meal. One very memorable dish was the beef carpaccio, so we just had to have that again. I truthfully can't tell you anything else we ate last time, but this is what we ended up with tonight:

Starters:

Beef carpaccio - although this was very very delicious, it was not exactly what I remembered and we could not figure out if we just confused the dish with another restaurant. What I recalled was a wonderful dish of beef carpaccio with truffle and lemon juice, but I don't remember it coming as a wrap around arugula. It was still very good but I aways vote more beef than veggies :P

Summer Fish Soup - something on the seasonal menu, this light yet flavourful soup was a great starter. I find fish soup often doesn't actually have much flavour, but this tasted like a nice slow boiled fish soup that had plenty of taste. Love that the chef isn't afraid of being a little fishy (in a great, fresh way of course!).

Mains:

I went for one of the "untouchables" on the menu, an appetizer size wild boar agnolotti. It was one of the first things that caught my eye and was just DIVINE! I savoured every bite and flavour of the stuffed pasta pockets, lapping up as much of the sour cherry and brown butter sauce as possible. I really didn't want to share with Tony...

Tony went with the pot roasted rabbit, which I was very glad for since it also looked enticing. It was a hearty, saucy dish served generously with two legs and a melange of vegetables. We were even given a spoon to lap up the sauce! It looked so incredibly delicious I couldn't wait to get a taste - every bit as delicious as expected, and although flavourful not overly heavy! That's the thing, good Italian food should not be heavy...

Dessert:

We managed to save a bit of room for dessert, deciding on the semifreddo (a kind of frozen dessert), served with hazelnuts. I'm not actually a huge dessert fan in general but found it a nice way to finish off dinner.

Mistura is a delicious, quality restaurant. It's a bit of a splurge but nothing outrageous and certainly worth it. It looked like the table behind us may have had a custom menu (Chef Massimo stopped by) but I can't be absolutely sure...it sure looked and smelled good! All the well heeled patrons looked like they had delicious meals on their plates and lovely wine accompaniments. I should mention we also had a glass of cab, which often is sub-par to selecting a nice bottle but this was really great!

Mistura

265 Davenport Road

416-515-0009 (available on OpenTable)

www.mistura.ca

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)

All The Details Count at Sassafraz

Another weekend in Yorkville for us! On Friday we finally tried Sassafraz, known famously in Toronto for it's glitzy celebrity crowd during film fest. We walked in on Friday night happy to find there was room for us - and not just room but a lovely, romantic corner bench seat at the back of the restaurant. Being my first time there, I have to say I was surprised how large the restaurant truly was! Its vaulted ceilings and living wall give the right air of esteem for the restaurant.

Our waiter brought old school charm to service - he was soft spoken and pleasant. He was softly encouraging of the items we chose on the menu. We started with a clean, crisp tuna tartare topped with papaya, a nice refreshing flavour addition. For mains, Tony had rabbit ravioli scented with rosemary. While delicious, the 3 large ravioli pockets wasn't quite enough to be filling. Lucky enough, I opted for the cornish hen stuffed with....you got it...foie gras! Although I have to confess the cornish hen was calling my name even before I realized it was stuffed with foie gras, that was really just a bonus! My meal was delicious, filling, and satisfying for my meaty craving. Our ends were chocolate cake (huge!) with raspberry mousse and an apple selection with green apple panna cotta, cider ice cream and an apple gyoza (my favourite). The BEST was our sample of riopelle, a lovely unpasteurized artisan cheese - hand crafted. It was probably the best $5 we spent for the night! Next time we will likely skip dessert and opt for more cheese samples. And finally, our bill came with a lovely hand made chocolate, which was absolutely delicious, I wish I had asked our waiter where it was from...am tempted to go back just for another bite!

We were pleasantly surprised by Sassafraz after having heard mixed reviews, but we were very happy with our meal, and although a bit of a splurge, not at all unreasonable. It is surely a grand experience - the dining room is stunning! Every little detail from the way my strawberries were muddled in my drink, to the hand crafted cheese and chocolates made the restaurant an exceptional experience.