Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 38 Wellington Street East    
Type of Meal: Dinner

Swish by Han has a deceiving name, you may think the restaurant is German or Austrian, but in reality, is a Korean tapas restaurant.  The price points are much higher than most Korean restaurants, but most of the food is prepared to a higher caliber.  I stress the word most because not everything is better and perhaps not better for restaurants that are “known” for a particular dish, but on an overall basis is better than most. 

During this visit, we started with the sweet chili and garlic prawns ($12).  The sauce is exactly as described, sweet, a bit spicy and a kick of garlic; all great flavours.  The shrimp were deep fried and then stir fried with the sauce.  Overall, the dish was good but not amazing and lacking a Korean flare to it.  In terms of value for money, the dish definitely isn’t worth what it’s asking for.




The lobster “bi bim bbap” ($18), was a dish I had on our first visit and loved, so insisted we get it again.  Sadly, it wasn’t as good as I remembered.  I believe the problem stemmed from the waitress putting it down and stirring it up right away (sorry, the picture looks like a pot of mess as I wasn’t quick enough to snap a picture before the destruction began).  I understand, this is the correct way to eat it – drizzle in the thick sweet and spicy gochujang sauce then mix until all the ingredients are disbursed.  But, this also makes the deep fried lobster mushy and doesn’t give the rice a chance to develop a crispy crust on the bottom.  I would have much preferred if they just served it, explained what the customer should do and let them decide when the moment to mix is.




Our last dish was the best of this evening, the “dak kogi” (chicken) ssäm set ($25).  The teriyaki type glazed chicken is served on a hot sizzling skillet with slivers of carrots, cucumbers and onion.  To eat, you take a piece of romaine lettuce, add the ingredients, top with any condiment you like (we were given gochujang sauce, raw onion mixed in a pickled kimchi sauce), then wrap it up and ingest! My first experience having ssäm, I really liked it and would love to go back to try the beef or pork versions.   








During a past visit, I tried the Swish Seafood ($30), which is like shabu shabu or hot pot.  A small pot of broth is brought to the table along with plate of raw shrimp, mussels, vegetables and noodles.  It’s a good option for someone who doesn’t like spicy or overly strong tastes – compared to other items on their menu.  However, for someone that loves bold flavours, I found it to be pretty bland.  Plus, because you’re only cooking a few ingredients within the broth, it didn’t develop that lovely deep essence I normally associate with broth based cooking.

Many reviews note the service here is poor, I didn’t find that to be the case.  I would say there were better servers than other – a gentleman that took our order was nice and explained everything and offered suggestions, while the lady server was a bit moody and offered one word answers (she was also the one that mixed up the bi bim bbap without asking). In the end, it wasn’t extremely friendly service but no one was overtly rude either.             

Overall mark - 7 out of 10

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Gastro World's Grading System

• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!

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Location: Kleinburg, Canada
Address: 21 Nashville Road
Website: http://thedoctorshouse.ca/
Type of Meal: Dinner

The Doctor’s House is situated in the quaint village of Kleinburg, north west of Toronto.  If you haven’t had a chance to visit, I would suggest going for the view and charm alone. The house is aptly named as historically was occupied by doctors and didn’t become a restaurant until the 1970s.  The dining room has lovely wooden beams and tables placed in nooks and crannies. 


















Overall mark - 6.5 out of 10


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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!

For further general discussions about this blog please refer to http://gastroworldblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/welcome-to-gastro-world.html

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Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 51 Baldwin Street
Website: http://kintonramen.com/
Type of Meal: Dinner

The crowd of people at the door may scare you off at first.  But, it must be good if people are willing to wait 30 minutes to an hour for a bowl of noodles?  Luckily, although Kinton looks small, given its narrow layout, with efficient seating and quick turnaround the line actually moves pretty quickly.  But, as a warning, in keeping with this get in and out quick philosophy you cannot, under any circumstance or amount of negotiation, be seated until your entire party arrives.

Similar to most ramen places the seating consists of many bar stools and high top tables.  Décor is kept simple with the focal point being the cooking area in the middle of the room where two chefs deftly showcase their preparation skills.  Aside from cooking, the chefs also lead the way in shouting greetings and so-longs to people.  Kinton, like all the restaurants under the Guu chain, has an upbeat and friendly environment. 

On their drinks menu, they have an interesting section titled the “beer cocktail”.  Normally, I don’t like beer, but decided to try the Panache ($6) which is Sapporo mixed with lemonade.  The concoction was refreshing and reminded me of having a Hoegaarden except lighter, sweeter and more lemony.  This would definitely be a great refreshing summer drink!




This time, I opted for the “shio” or salted broth and am happy to announce I found the version I like.  Although the miso (fermented bean paste) and shoyu (soy sauce) based broths are good, I find both agents overpowering so it ends up masking the natural ingredients present in the broth itself.  Shio, conversely, allows the taste of the pork and chicken bones to shine through.  I also tried some of my friend’s spicy garlic ramen broth; for those who like it spicy this one sure has a kick to it.  But, you definitely wouldn’t want to order this on a date as there is an overwhelming amount of garlic in the soup. 



Kinton’s noodles are thicker than its competitors, so they are chewier and not as “springy” in texture.  Neither is better, but rather a matter of preference.  I prefer the springy bite of the medium width noodles, but also liked that these thicker noodles stayed at the al dante texture longer than its thinner counterparts. 

Where the competition outshines Kinton is in the meat.  Given a choice of shoulder or pork belly, neither is that good.  I prefer the shoulder cut which is surprisingly more tender and also enjoyed the seared smoky exterior. The pork belly, on the other hand, was disappointing.  Cut into long, thick bacon-like strips it was difficult to eat.  Additionally, it wasn’t cooked long enough to render the fat to a melting point. In the end, I just ate the meat and left all the fat as it had a tough and gross texture. 

The distinguishing aspects of the ramen were perhaps the “fixings” that come with it.  I liked that there were scallions and pieces of nori, things that are sometimes left out at other restaurants.  But the unassuming egg triumphs all – fully cooked on the outside but wonderfully soft-boiled and oozing on the inside, the timing that must be required to achieve this is remarkable.


Overall, I liked Kinton but found it lagged behind its competitors.  To be fair, their price ($9.50) is less the bowls from Momofuku ($15) and Santouka ($15.95) that I’m comparing it to.  But, if I was going to wait half an hour to eat some noodles, I’d rather splurge an extra $5 and get something that’s better quality. 

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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!

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Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 2301 Brimley Road
Type of Meal: Dinner

Dragon Dynasty is like many uptown Chinese restaurants – located in an unassuming strip mall in a suburbia neighbourhood.  It’s one of the nicer restaurants located in Scarborough that I often visit and thought I’d take this opportunity to share with everyone a Chinese banquet meal.

Ten course dinners are typically eaten on special occasions including birthdays and holidays.  Restaurants will offer a multitude of menu options with varying in price ranges. The one in this blog is just one of many offered by Dragon Dynasty. 

The first course is almost always some sort of roasted meat.  In this menu it was an entire roasted suckling piglet but sometimes can be an assorted meat platter.  The one served this night was one of the best I’ve ever had – the pig was cooked perfectly so that the meat was tender and juicy but the skin extremely crispy and delicate.  There was just a paper thin layer of fat between the skin and the meat that added great flavour.  You can eat it plain, with hoisin sauce (my preference) or with sugar.



The second course is generally a seafood based appetizer. Normally, the most popular version is the deep fried crab claws, but with this menu we were served baked stuffed conch (?).  I appreciated the change and found the curry an interesting flavour with the vegetable, conch and other seafood pieces.  For those that are squeamish about ingesting snail like creatures, the mixture is not slimy and the spices mask most of the texture and tastes.  Almost like an oyster Rockefeller, but without the cheese, the dish was wonderfully hot and delicious.



Oddly, in Chinese set menus the soup is normally served fourth.  We had shark fin soup with crab meat at this dinner.  I know about the horrors of how sharks are de-finned and thus have vowed to never order the dish myself.  But, to respect the elderly during times of celebration I will eat it if served.  I was surprised to see it given I had thought it was banned in Toronto, but, it appears the ban has been over turned. 

To be honest, I could make do without shark fin and was just as happy when restaurants were serving crab and fish maw soup as a substitute.  What makes shark fin soup good is the soup base, not the shark fin.  The base is generally made by boiling chicken bones, Jinhua ham and other ingredients for a long time.  The shark fin is tasteless given it’s really cartilage and has a crunchy, smooth, yet gelatinous texture.  Shark fin soup tastes good because of the melding of ingredients creating an “umami” taste – akin to having a bowl of ramen; the noodles themselves have no taste but become perfection with the right soup base.



These final five dishes are served at the end of every Chinese banquet – chicken, fish, lobster (sometimes substituted with crab), noodles and rice. As soon as you see one of them, you know you’re at the half-way point!


The deep fried chicken was moist with crispy skin and well-flavoured. The chicken was flavoured with a peanut mixture which didn’t add much to it, I would have just preferred it plain or with green onions.  The person who cut the fowl needs to work on their technique as it ended up looking hacked up and haphazardly served.  Generally it should arrive cleanly laid out so that the entire chicken is distinguishable. 



For dessert we had sweet red bean soup with black sesame filled glutinous rice balls. It may seem strange to have beans with dessert and is an acquired taste.  The beans are boiled for many hours with dried orange rind, then once it becomes soft and bursts from its skin, rock sugar is added to sweeten the mixture. The soup itself is then thickened, sometimes with chestnut powder.  I love the glutinous rice balls and was disappointed there was only one per bowl; they are lovely balls of dough filled with a thick sweet black sesame paste.  These balls are usually eaten during Chinese New Year and symbolize togetherness.


As we were celebrating a birthday, we also had birthday buns.  These clementine sized steamed buns are filled with a sweet red bean paste and decorated with edible coloured dough. Dragon Dynasty makes great birthday buns with a generous filling to dough ratio.

The restaurant’s décor is slightly tacky with gold phoenix and dragons’ adorning the walls and strange patterned carpeting, but this is characteristic in many of the older Chinese restaurants.  What sets Dragon Dynasty apart is that their staff is relatively nice and attentive – sadly a quality that can hard to come by.  Additionally, I like that they maintain a good pace at serving each dish – not too fast that you feel like you’re rushing through them.   Ultimately, if you’re looking for a place that serves “real” Chinese food that’s clean and good, this is the place to go.   

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!

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Location: Thornhill, Canada
Address: 8159 Yonge Street
Type of Meal: Dinner

Dahn, a known restaurant amongst the Korean population in Toronto, is one of the few that offers a set menu.  Akin to a tasting menu, except served family style, it's popular in Korea but hardly ever offered in Toronto. Having tried the typical casual Korean dining establishments, my friends and I agreed we had to expand our palettes. So, Dahn's set menu seemed like a great way to start.

The dinner menu costs $39.95 per person and has to be ordered by the entire table to be served. Given there are so many courses, in order to keep this review to a reasonable length, I'm going to only briefly comment on each.

To start came a bowl of red bean porridge. Is it normal to serve something so heavy to kick off a multi-course meal?  It was very thick and its gelatinous consistency makes it very filling so I only had a couple of bites to save room. It was bland and really no depth in flavour – this is no grits from Acadia.  I would have liked it to be hotter and perhaps have a sprinkling of fresh herbs on top to wake up the dish.



We were intrigued with what the "waterly kimchi" would be.  As soon as you see it, you realize the description pretty much explains everything. The presentation lacks colour and appeal since what arrives looks like pieces of turnip in dish water. Served cold, the "broth" is essentially the preserving liquid used to marinate the radishes. The soup tastes slightly sour and salty and could be refreshing in the summer. But, not a hit at our table as it gave the impression of drinking diluted pickle juice.




The daily salad looked appealing and colourful.  But, wasn’t anything spectacular given it consisted of ice burg lettuce, grape tomatoes, mandarin segments, a homemade  blueberry dressing and oddly a single maraschino cherry.  Not being a fan of fruit based salads I wasn’t a fan of the dish but one friend found the dressing good. Personally, I felt this dish didn't add much to the experience and Dahn should consider getting rid of it and making the following course larger.



The chilled bulgolgi salad was much better and one of my favourite dishes. The thinly sliced beef was well flavoured and had just the perfect amount of sweet and salty.  I loved that the marinade had micro pieces of garlic and shallots throughout.  Additionally, the crisp green beans at the bottom of the salad were unexpected and went really well with everything. I could have easily just made a meal out of this dish.



Next came a dish of cold seared tuna. The fish was cooked well with a great evenly seared ring.  But, I found it very bland as there was no notable crust and too little ponzu sauce topping the tuna.  Perhaps there was a flaw in the order of serving the dishes;  I would suggest serving this mild flavour tuna before the flavourful bulgogi dish.



The following japchae or Korean glass noodles was one of the best I’ve ever had.  I liked that they were less cooked so that the texture held up and didn’t cause the noodles to stick in a mound.  Additionally, the sauce had a great spicy undertone that added a little punch to the noodles.



Another popular dish followed - Korean pancakes. There were two flavours chives and mungbean.

• The chive pancake was a beautiful colour but lacked texture as there no actual pieces of chives in the batter. 
• Meanwhile, the mung bean version was much tastier with pieces of green onion throughout and a crispier crust.

The dish needed more of the soy dipping sauce as the pancakes themselves aren’t well flavoured.  Unfortunately, we ran out of the sauce so my second pancake ended up being relatively flavourless.



The deep fried marinated pollock was tasty but didn’t seem very Korean as was covered in a sweet chili thai sauce.  I liked its presentation in an edible bowl and deep frying the fish bone to add a decorative element.  Dahn gave a generous portion of fish so it was more than enough for the three of us.



More fried seafood followed with shrimp and pumpkin tempura.  The batter was very crispy but was too thick for my taste.  I certainly wasn’t expecting tempura at a Korean restaurant but then remembered their cuisine is influenced by the Japanese given Korea was occupied by Japan for a while.  I would have liked if they cooked the prawns another way since we had just been served deep fried pollock.



Korean barbeque followed with a platter of beef!  The assorted barbeque is a meat eater’s dream with cuts of flank steak, sirloin, short-ribs and marinated flank. The sirloin and marinated flank were definitely the highlights.  I would have like to have trade in the regular flank and short-ribs for a few pieces of kalbi instead.  I enjoyed the tradition of wrapping the beef in pieces of lettuce and topping the wrap with thinly sliced shaved onions. 



After all this food you finally get to the “main”.  Here, you get to choose from three options - chilled noodle soup, hot noodle soup or nurling (some rice dish).  We thought it was a shared plate like all the other courses so opted for the chilled noodle soup as we heard it was most popular.  But, it turns out each person gets their own dish; so, we would have rather have one of each so we could see the differences. 

At first I was weary of the chilled noodles as they arrived looking like they were in the waterly kimchi broth again.  But, it was less sour, and after a few bites really started to grow on me.  The best part was the texture of the noodles – they were very different from anything I’ve ever had and had a great al dente bite.  Next time I would like to try to hot version instead as found the cold soup a bit strange.  However, the dish was a great contrast after having all the heavy fried foods and barbeque beef.



The meal ends with a plate of fresh fruits (cantaloupe, strawberries and orange segments) and a choice of tea or coffee.  I opted for the traditional Korean cold tea which is prepared by brewing tea leaves with fruits, roots and other grains.  The result is a strongly flavoured beverage that doesn’t really resemble tea anymore.  Ours tasted like it was infused with mandarin orange peels and too sweet for my liking.  But, it could be that by then I was absolutely stuffed and just couldn’t handle a bite or sip of anything else!





 
I liked the restaurant itself – larger and cleaner feeling that most of the uptown Korean establishments.  Plus, they have private rooms that you can close the door at if you want some alone time with your companions.  The staff is friendly and there are so many food choices available. Their menu consists of many “favourites” (done better than most) and some more traditional offerings that I haven’t seen elsewhere.  Ultimately, I would definitely return to Dahn, albeit next time I’d just order off their a la carte menu. 



Overall mark - 7 out of 10



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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!

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Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 222 Richmond Street West
Website: www.jabistro.com
Type of Meal: Dinner

Even standing outside you start to get a feel of what JaBistro is about. The whimsical cute fish character, just outside the door, brings a smile to your face as you walk into the establishment.

The interior décor is a combination of light wood (similar to traditional Japanese restaurants) and exposed brick. Unlike others, they are open concept, well-lit and has a clean and modern feeling.  As you enter and leave, there are cheerful greetings from the entire staff, much like Guu.  In fact, this combination sums up my description of JaBistro’s food – good traditional dishes with a highlight of modern twists, all served in a simple and unpretentious manner.

I requested to sit at the bar in order to better understand how their sushi was made.  Both young chefs playfully worked together and made you feel like they actually loved what they were doing.  Yet, they worked lightning fast and we received dish after dish without much of a wait.

The sencha (green) tea ($3) thankfully arrives in large mug complete with handle – too often I burn my fingers on the traditional cups.  A tea bag loaded with a generous amount of tea leaves is clipped to the side of the cup and served with a dish so that you can control the tea’s intensity.  Although I’m not a tea connoisseur, it was clearly high quality; strong in its green tea taste but has a very mellow and smooth finish.   


A great starter is the sashimi sampler ($30), where they split the dish into equal portions ensuring we both received a taste of everything available. All the fish was fresh and cut to a reasonable thickness so it didn't become fleshy.


I especially like the tuna and blue-fin tuna which were tender, delicate and as melt-in-your-mouth as fish can get. JaBistro also worked into the dish various fish parts that you normally wouldn’t think of eating, such as:

• A pile of crispy salty white flecks that were great to munch on between each piece of fish; these turned out to be fish scales;
• A piece of fish liver that had the creamy texture of foie gras, yet had a calmer taste and hopefully was cultivated without the cruelty of foie gras; and
• A soy-sauce gelatin cube infused with small pieces of fish skin.  At first, this may not sound appetizing but was actually an interesting concoction. 

The sashimi platter is something you should definitely try. It’s a great mix of ingenuity and level of detail that sets it apart from competing establishments. Even the soy sauce that accompanies the sashimi is house-made and presented as salty and sweet options and the wasabi is freshly ground from wasabi root. 

The kani ($15) followed and consisted of pieces of deep fried soft-shell crab served on a mixed bean ragout.  I was surprised by the amount of crab you receive – two and a half crabs in total.  It was fresh and juicy and wasn’t overly battered so that you could enjoy its subtle flavour.  Pieces of baked tortilla separated each piece and you could use these to scoop up the bean mixture that my husband loved.  I only wished the crab was spicier as the menu described it as “chili crab” and I couldn’t get a hint of the spiciness at all.


Next we received the aburi ($27) seven pieces of delicious blow-torched sushi.  There are four pieces in the classic nigiri (rice on top of fish) and three pieces oshi (pressed) sushi. 

Sitting at the bar we were able to see the chef make the pressed sushi.  Essentially, there is a white plastic mould that the chef lays pieces of fish/shrimp into and then packs with rice. After hitting it against the bar a few times, the mould is then inverted, a piece drops off and voila a bar of sushi remains and can now be cut into rectangular pieces.  

The oshi sushi is much denser is better for those who aren’t delicate at handling chop sticks as it can withstand more squeezing without falling apart.


Aburi is another example of the traditional/modern twist that JaBistro offers.  It’s traditional as the chef controls how it should be flavoured – the dish is not served with any wasabi or sauces.  But, the modern aspects of the dish are the mix of ingredients (adding a slice of jalapeno on the salmon and dollop of hollandaise on the shrimp) and blow-torching the tops to create a wonderful smoky flavour.  I especially liked the result on fattier fishes like salmon as the heat started to melt its fat so that the sushi’s flavour is enhanced.

I’m sure the ingredients used will change depending on what’s fresh, but that night we received pieces of blue-fin tuna (akami; loin), yellowtail, ocean trout, spotted prawn, salmon, cured mackerel and tiger shrimp.  A deep fried shrimp head accompanies the dish and is edible.  It was crispy and fresh but needed to be seasoned as was a bit bland.

Our final dish was the aburicious ($20) which contained six pieces of oshi sushi and two pieces of the JaBistroll.  We originally wanted an entire order of the JaBistroll, but were advised they didn’t have enough of the ingredients – salmon, snow crab, uni (urchin) and tobiko (fish roe).  So, we ordered the aburicious just so we could have a taste of it.  Our waiter did warn us that the aburi and aburicious were very similar (both consists of the oshi sushi), but we wanted to try both anyways so we could see how the blow-torched nigiri would taste.  My suggestion would be to just go with the aburicious.


The JaBistroll was the highlight of the dish and was just a flavour and texture explosion in your mouth.  There was the sweetness of the sauce, smokiness from the scorching, saltiness of the fish roe that also added some crunch and creaminess from the salmon and urchin.  I only wish we could have had another piece!

Despite being stuffed, we were in the mood for something sweet so ended with the matcha puff ($10).  It’s essentially JaBistro’s take on the cream puff.  The puff’s pastry is flavoured with green tea powder and is stuffed with whipped cream and a lovely sesame paste that added such a great taste.  Served with a scoop of green tea ice cream (nothing special and a bit icy for my taste), drizzles of black honey (tastes like a more intensified honey), pieces of toasted chestnut and speckles of gold leaf the matcha puff was great.


Aside from the great food, the service was impeccable.  Our waiter, Jin, was extremely attentive and checked in with each dish to make sure we enjoyed it and answered my many questions.  I was asked on many occasions if I’d like more hot water for my tea and on the last time when I didn’t need anymore, Jin brought me a glass of water without being asked.  Even the utensils that accompanied our desserts were polished and spotless. Most of all, I love how they actually accept reservations (unlike their other restaurants Guu and Kinton) so you do not have to wait in line!  JaBistro was great and I will definitely be returning to try more of their bistro dishes.

And I did return to try some of their bistro dishes, please go here to read about my second visit.

Overall mark - 9 out of 10

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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!

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Is That It? I Want More!

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• Kingyo
• Blowfish

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