Toronto Trip: Rain

I went to Rain (the restaurant featured in Food Network's Made to Order show) on Thursday. It was expensive, but overall it was a great experience.

There were a couple of minor glitches but they did not cause much trouble. First, they seem to have lost or forgotten about my fruitless request. But that was not too much of a problem, because the chef and I discussed for quite a few minutes (through the waiter) on the specific parts of fruits that I can and cannot eat, and eventually we agreed that a small amount of fruit is okay, and it is really the sugar that is the problem. I felt that the accommodation was great.

I obviously did not understand the appropriate time to go to dinner in Toronto (and it happened the night before as well). A reservation at 6pm was way too early and I was the only customer in the restaurant. It wasn't until 7pm that other customers start to show up. Guy Rubino did not appear until I was halfway done my tasting menu. But his sous chef Greg was there (the person that I was talking to through the waiter), as well as the pastry chef Robert. The kitchen isn't exactly "open", but you can peek in to see the action. It was quite interesting to see the whole kitchen cooking just for me.

Now for the meal: I ordered the chef tasting menu (with the additional fruitless restriction) as well as the wine pairing. The wine pairing was somewhat lost on me, as I do not think I appreciate wine as much as I do about the food. I don't even remember too much about the wines that I had. Most of the dishes feature one main feature ingredient prepared in two or three different ways. Sometimes there is a palate cleanser in the middle as you move from one preparation to the other.

First course: mini BBQ pork (char siu) bun with a miso shiitake lobster broth. I can't say that I love it, but it was enjoyable. Part of the problem is that this particular dim sum item is one of my least favorite to begin with. I also found that the miso and shiitake flavors were stronger than I would like and I couldn't tell that it was a lobster broth. This course was paired with a sparking white wine of some sort.



The second course was a hamachi (yellowtail) course: on the left is a piece of lightly cured raw hamachi on top of an edamame purée. I have never thought of making edamame purée before and the slight sweetness worked very well with the fish. This was my favorite on this plate. In the middle is a palette cleanser including green beans, bamboo shoot and seaweed dressed in sesame oil (and maybe something else), tied together with a slice of daikon. There were also some pickled cauliflower and cauliflower purée at the bottom. On the right are two pieces of grilled hamachi on top a coconut flavored tofu and a piece of kombu, all served with a coconut foam. The coconut part was only for the flavor and fragrance (coconut oil?) and there is no sweetness. So that is just fine for me. This was paired with an Austrian wine that was somewhat similar to chardonnay.




The third course was a course on Alaskan black cod. On the left is a seaweed salad on top of slices of raw fish. It was okay but not spectacular, and I really do not remember that much about it. In the middle is a palette cleanser: bean tempura on top of green tea tofu, some edamame, and a green tea foam. I thought the flavors worked quite well here. On the right is one of two most favorite items that night: grilled Alaskan black cod served sizzling on top of a hot stone, with some pickled ginger on top. The fish was cooked perfectly and with very crispy skin. I was told that there was a very small bit of mango paste on the skin but there was so little that I couldn't really tell, actually. I think they added it to help with the caramelization. This was easily one of the best things I have ever tasted, even better than a similar dish that I had at Nobu in Las Vegas last year. This was paired with a Riesling.




The fourth course was squab. On the left is a Chinese soup dumpling with braised squab meat and a reduced broth. The soup is actually contained within the dumpling and it releases when you bite into it. It was very good, though the dumpling skin could have been slightly thinner. I like the "help, I'm drowning" presentation :). In the middle was the other favorite piece: squab breast marinated in miso (I think) and roasted to rare. The skin was slightly crispy but the meat was so succulent, tender, moist, flavorful, ... (insert other adjectives) that I wish I could have 10 more pieces to eat. It was like having the essence of squab flavor all in two or three bites. Another one of the best things I have ever tasted. On the right is a paté made with squab heart and kidney, all wrapped in foie gras. It was good and I enjoyed it, but I was somehow disappointed that it wasn't any better because the roasted breast was so good. There was definitely nothing wrong with it. This course was paired with a pinot noir.




Final meat course: wagyu beef. On the left is a bundle of stir-fried beef with lotus seeds and lotus root. All of this is tied together in a piece of banana leaf. It was good, but not something that I was particularly excited about. The middle palette cleanser was kimchee, daikon, and pickled carrots. Finally, there were slices of seared beef on top of some very flavorful and tender braised shoulder meat (inside a daikon ring), all this topped with fine threads of dried chili peppers. I like the last course very much, but not as much as the grilled Alaskan black cod or the roasted squab breast. This course was paired with a spicy shiraz.




Finally the dessert: a chocolate course. On the left is a dark milk chocolate mousse with a coconut "cloud" on top. In the middle is a spiced chocolate brownie with a quenelle of chocolate truffle on top. The little "pearls" are coconut flavored, and perhaps this is what sodium alginate does. On the right is a "puddle" of chocolate, some chocolate cookie crumbles, with a coconut-lime sorbet on top. I like the last one the best, and I think there is a hint of ginger in the sorbet as well. Very refreshing. This final course was paired with a port.



At the end, I also had some green tea. The bill came, and there was a small glitch: some items were charged twice...but they realized it before I said anything, so no big deal.

I enjoyed the experience very much, and I think it is worth doing it (but not too often!). I can't say that I loved everything, but there were certainly some very good items and at least one thing that I would like to try at home. Even for the items that I didn't enjoy as much, they were still interesting flavors that I may not have thought of. So I am quite glad that I made this trip.

Toronto Trip: Hiro Sushi

I am spending a few days in Toronto, and one of the restaurants I am visiting is Hiro Sushi. I went with my friend Dana and we ordered the omakase from both the kitchen and the sushi bar. We also had some sake, dessert, and an extra dish. It was very good and I highly recommend it.

The first dish was the extra: seared beef tongue. There were some chewy pieces that I didn't care for, but some of the thinly sliced tender pieces were very good: it simply melted in your mouth.


This is the first course of the omakase: raw mackerel marinated in ginger, green onions, soy, ponzu, soy sauce, and olive oil, topped with grated ginger and carrots. It was very good: the fish was "cooked" by the marinade and was very flavorful. The taste was more like the canned tuna but much more subtle. The fish was thinly sliced and very tender.


Second course of the omakase: purée green pea soup with "homemade" croutons. It was pretty much the essence of peas concentrated. I can't tell if there was anything else in the stock. Not quite sure if this was truly Japanese, but it tasted good and it was a nice departure from the usual miso soup.


Third course: BBQ eel on rice (the little green pile is fresh grated wasabi). This was a classic with a twist:the rice was actually sweet rice (maybe even the same as Chinese glutinous rice) and there was melted (mozzarella?) cheese inside the rice! I believe there was also a clam and maybe mushrooms mixed into the rice. It was an interesting combination but it was good.


The fourth course was, I guess, more trendy: braised pork belly, deep fried fig, and a fermented bean sauce. I didn't catch the name of the bean sauce, but it tasted like hoisin only less sweet. The pork belly was really good: flavorful and melted in my mouth. I also ate the fig: I believe this was the first time I ate fresh figs...I hope I won't be too sick tomorrow. The pork belly was one of my favorite. The fig was certainly not very ripe, but I guess ripe figs wouldn't hold their shape when fried. It did provide a nice texture contrast and also cut the greasiness of the pork.


Fifth course: the sushi! There were tuna and cucumber maki in the middle, and a number of pieces nigiri sushi (clockwise from the top): toro, marinated tuna, eel, two kinds of salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, shitake, sardine, scallops, and sweet shrimp. Every piece was good, with my favorite being the salmon and toro. The fish were definitely thinner than many other places, but they were good. They were very fresh, and the texture of the fish was much firmer than many other Japanese restaurants. My guess is that the fish has never been frozen.


Dana's dessert: spicy strawberry sorbet. I believe the spiciness came from chili peppers. I had a taste and it actually was surprisingly good. You get the sweetness first as it hit the front of your tongue, and as that melted away the spice hits the back of your throat. I only had one bite, though. After all, my adventures are supposed to be fruitless.


My dessert: basil ice cream. It was very refreshing, and not as harsh as mint which is in the same family. In fact I think I will try making this some time. It's an interesting fact that I have only been to Hiro Sushi twice and both times I came away with a new ice cream flavor that I want to try making myself (last time it was black sesame). The picture shows the ice cream being a lot whiter than it really was because of the flash.


Overall, it was definitely worth the trip. The food was good and unpretentious, and it was more "cutting edge" than I thought it would be: I had the impression that the meals would be more traditional. Still, everything tasted good so I have no complaints.

Chilled Asparagus with Egg Mimosa

I tried making this dish from Thomas Keller's Bouchon book. It's been a while since I have made something with this many components and it took a while to get back into it again...but it worked out quite well. The only problem was that the asparagus was slightly overcooked---it said 4-7 minutes or until just tender, but it probably only took 2.5 minutes to get to just tender. Perhaps my asparagus were thinner. Otherwise it worked out quite well, and it is certainly easy to fix now that I know what was wrong. I think it is a pretty nice starter in the summer.

Anyway, the components on the dish (from the bottom) are asparagus coulis, the chilled asparagus, red wine vinegar+Dijon vinaigrette, chopped cooked egg yolks, and finally radish + chives garnish.

Crème fraîche, day 2

The consistency of the crème fraîche turned out to be absolutely perfect. All it needed was refrigeration. Goes very well with smoked salmon and caviar.

Pasta with smoked salmon and crème fraîche

A question from Nicole prompted me to do some research into the making of crème fraîche (since we can't get it in the stores here). After doing a bit of research I decided to follow the "recipe" from Harold McGee's "On Food & Cooking: The Science & Lore of the Kitchen". It took a bit longer than it was supposed to, possibly because of the cooler temperature in my air-conditioned house. Still, it seems to have worked.

Apparently this all started because Nicole had a pasta dish at Miro Bistro with smoked salmon and crème fraîche. I have also had this dish before (in fact, it was the second dish I have ever had at Miro). So I decided to try making it, and it worked wonderfully: some fettucine, crème fraîche, smoked salmon, dill, a few capers, topped with a small scoop of caviar (the cheap lumpfish caviar seems to be all I can find, but maybe I can get some large salmon roes from a Japanese store). Anyway, the dish worked out great though the crème fraîche was not that thick and needed reduction.

I have never seen "real" crème fraîche in stores before so I don't know what it is supposed to look or taste like, but what I have made now seem to match the description in Wikipedia.

Cooking with Lesley 2

It's been a while since I updated my blog...I'm just been too busy (and away) too much.

I had another cooking session with Lesley. For starter, Lesley made some Thai shrimps with lime and chili (not pictured). We also made some mussels with spiced rice (cinnamon, allspice, chili powder):




For the main course, we made herb and lemon stuffed steelhead trout baked in a salt crust, some raosted vegetables, and a couscous salad (strawberry tomatoes, mint, lemon zest). The fish was extremely moist and tasty. We had a bit of a nervous moment when the crust didn't seem to form, but it worked out well at the end. It may have been better if we had use finer salt. I also made some saffron aioli to go with the fish.

Out of the oven:


After the crust is removed:






Dessert was made by Paddy: lemon vanilla cake and chocolate mint brownies.



It was a great meal, and we had a lot of fun. I have wanted to try cooking fish this way for a while and it's a really great way to cook fish. Flavorful and moist.