Yuzu, Toronto

Not finding many Japanese restaurants in Toronto that inspire me, let alone having truly fresh tasting fish, I attended Yuzu with the usual skepticism. I was very pleasantly surprised by my experience. There were some hits and some misses. Not all of the fish were equally fresh but some were very fresh and the execution of some dishes admirable.


Yakinasu, roasted eggplant in a dashi broth, topped with shaved bonito. I love eggplant and this mildly smokey version pleased me.

Tofu with nori in a clear vegetable broth for our vegan guest.

Wonderfully crispy, panko crusted squid. I would order this dish any time I return.

Another dish for our vegan guest, a maki roll filled with avocado, cucumber and carrot.

Tomago sushi, egg omelette with rice and nori

Vegetarian Tempura covered in a very light crispy batter.

Yuzu maki would be a repeat when I return. Shrimp tempura with spicy scallop, avocado, tobiko (crab roe) and rice, combined very nice flavours and textures.

Dragon roll with shrimp, avocado and eel was just ok but bland but ok.

Soft shelled crab was a fresh tasting pleasant crispy surprise.

A plate of salmon, yellowtail and uni (sea urchin) sushi decorated with flaked gold leaf.

The piece de resistance for me was a beautifully presented plate of gold leaf flecked sashimi. Remarkably, freshly grated wasabi appeared on this plate rather that the bland but hotter, moistened powdered version which is presented at virtually all Japanese restaurants in Toronto. It was the perfect complement for very fresh o-toro, blue fin tuna belly, wonderfully fatty, and the flesh firm; reasonably fresh slices of red sea bream from japan; amaebi sweet shrimp and larger botan shrimp were presented, the bodies together and the crisp fried heads adjacent, to be eaten in their entirety. The smaller sweet shrimp were the freshest and very good. The presentation of the sea urchin (uni) was a bit deceptive. Three pieces that "showed" were fresh and 1 piece under those was not fresh, the uni surface should appear rough, like the top of one's tongue and the surface of this piece was totally "melted" smooth with absolutely no surface texture. When I mentioned this oversight to the server, he merely acknowledged my comment but neither spoke with the chef or offered to do anything about it. The piece of urchin left on the plate was ignored by the server and chef. This was a serious disappointing aspect of the service which was quite attentive otherwise.

I tried 3 different ice creams, green tea, adzuki bean and black sesame seed. The were not to my liking.

A Visit to Dolce Lucano Salumeria, Woodbridge, Ontario

Our little fun group, Joe Bersani, owner/chef at Cantine restaurant and Annie Sibonney, host of the popular Food Network show From Spain With love, Joanna Sable, Owner of Bumpercrop pickled and preserved products and myself, were invited to taste some of the products produced at Dolce Salumeria. Dolce is owned by the husband and wife team John and Paola Zagaria. John is a second generation butcher and hand crafter of the artisanal products produced by Dolce. Tony Cohan, owner of Tony's Cheese and Provisions was there to supply us with some complementary cheeses for the tasting. 

Not featured in a photos, we enjoyed an exemplary Tamworth ham prociutto, cured for 3 weeks and aged for 18 months, easily as good as the best I have tasted that is supplied from both foreign and domestic sources in Ontario. Silken in texture with complex and subtle nutty flavours.

The various products produced on site are hung in 3 special refrigeration units.

After our brief tour of the production and storage facilities, we were brought to the table and presented with a sampling of their products. Dolce happens to carry some of Bumpercrop's products for their clients so we opened and tasted some of them.

On the platter below are (from the top left and going clockwise), southern style cured, mild cacciatori; chunks of sweet yellow peppers preserved in dark beer and spiked with a touch of chili, from Bumpercrop, a tasty complement for the savoury salumi; slices of the dry, mildly spicy liver sausage; guanciale, lean leg pork, moderately spicy with a slowly accelerated burn on the finish; capicollo (ossocol), pork butt flavoured with some cinnamon, cloves, garlic, salt and pepper, with a mild sweetness and mild pastrami like flavour; a wonderful cured pork loin flavoured with cinnamon, garlic and pepper, which had a silken texture (really liked this).

Tony supplied a wonderful fresh mozzarella di buffalo (bottom right), served simply with some good olive oil and bread. A roll of Nduja (far left), a coarsely textured wonderful spread for bread, made predominantly with pork jowls a variety of hot spices and pepper paste.

Veneto salame flavoured with peppercorns, garlic and cloves.

Filetto baciato, made using cured pork loin surrounded with Dolce's own Veneto Salame. This was another wonderful experience.

We took home a sampling of each of these wonderful products, the Tamworth prociutto, Veneto sopressa salami, local pork loin and the capicollo flavoured with cinnamon and clove.

I also tried Bumpercrop's very good apricot mustarda, which also went well with some of the salumi. Paola indulged us with some of her grandfather's honey grappa, a perfect finish for our tasting.

Honouring Jamie Kennedy, His Alumni Dinner

A special dinner honouring Jamie kennedy, the Order of Canada awarded chef, was organized by his staff, former apprentices and sous chefs and took place at the Gardiner Museum restaurant. Attendees were both admiring food industry people and patrons.


Chef Scott Vivian did a very tasty lamb heart cevapcici sausage on a stick. Chef Dan Muia did a very good chicken liver pate with an extremely complimentary cider glaze, on brioche. My favourite hors d'oevre was created by chef Mark Cutrara of Cowbell restaurant, a very tasty veggie brunoise on a perfectly crisp potato pancake (better than my mothers said my partner Elaine!).

To begin, Chef Dan DeMatteis did an outstanding, intensely flavoured, chilled tomato consomme with preserved and fresh Vicki's Veggies cherry tomatoes and a nice background basil flavour. This was my favourite course of the evening.

Chef Daniel Muia of Mogette restaurant presented  a very well executed and flavourful pickerel quenelle with crayfish tails, crayfish beurre blanc and a micro green watercress salad. This was one of my favourite dishes.

Chef Scott Vivian presented his own version of fried chicken with succotash, boiled peanut and sage. This was a very strange dish. The flavours were right, the panko crust was good, but,  the roasted chicken breast used for the filling was not whole. It was ground in such a way that the "fried chicken" result was too reminiscent of a tv dinner of my youth. Although the crisp coating for the chicken was enticing, chewing this item was not.

Chef Mark Cutrara likes to take delivery of a whole beast and he presented slices of venison roast and braised venison with a very good classic potato gratin and a ramp puree.

Pastry chef Rachel Vivian presented raspberry curd tart with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt. I really enjoyed the taste of the tart yogurt and the raspberry curd, but for me, the chocolate elements were not a complimentary flavour to the yogurt and raspberry features, which I felt were very good on their own.

Fishbar, Toronto

Fishbar recently opened on the Ossington strip, a street of several interesting and very good restaurants. Toronto has a very limited number of truly good fish centric restaurants such as Josos, Malena, Starfish and Rodneys.

To really understand the quality and range of possibilities of the chef's cuisine, we grazed the menu.

A nice beginning is the steelehead trout rillette, presented in a small mason jar, topped with clarified butter and served with sliced pickled heirloom radish and crostini.

We could not resist ordering white anchovies on sourdough crostini topped with caramelized onions and olive gremolata. The anchovies were fresh and worked well with the gremolata and the crostini provided a pleasant crunch.

The codfish brandade was a bit of a disappointment as it lacked a garlic punch I have come to expect with brandade. The consistency was very good and was pleasantly flavoured with olive oil and chives.

Fried smelts were a delight, very fresh and crisp skinned.

Oyster pogos made with corn dog batter, crispy skinned and a moist soft interior, were presented with a perfect complement of tomatillo salsa.

Peas were a bit underdone for me. Pretty presentation but not a dish I would reorder.

French fries were made of tasty potatoes, nice and crunchy, served with nori salt and a citrus flavoured miso aioli

My major disappointment was the fish and chips. The chips were good as expected but the fish batter was soggy enough to be unpleasant. The fish itself was properly cooked.

Grilled B.C sardine with salsa verde, baby arugula and lemon. Perfectly cooked sardine and a pleasure for sardine lovers.

There were many other fish dishes to consider, some raw and some cooked. Fish lovers will have fun with the choices.

Dr. Laffa, Iraqi Food

Dr. Laffa is a small enterprise offering certified kosher, Iraqi (this may seem like a misnomer) food, on the side a factory building located at 40 Magnetic drive, unit 44-3, North York. It is not easy to find. Being this kind of kosher, it has no meat or milk products in it's food. The hours are Sunday to Friday 9:30am to 7pm. They are closed Saturday. Don't let any of these cultural statements inhibit or discourage you. The people  there love you to indulge in good eating and enjoy yourself.


When you enter, the friendly and helpful staff will get you started. You may eat in (limited seating) or take out. On entering, you will know that these people are very serious followers of the Israeli soccer team, by the posters on the wall. The other poster that greets you is:

Before you order, you try to get a sense of the place. There are 2 baking kilns.

The kiln below holds 3 laffa on the interior wall much like an Indian tandoor is used to bake various indian breads, like naan.

The co-owner/baker prepares the dough by hand, initially shaping the dough into balls, which rest and then are flattened and spread over a cotton covered convex shaped former.

When finished and removed from the oven, the laffa look like this:

There also is a unit containing so many delicious toppings if you get sandwiches to take out (or eat in).

When you order, your order comes with small complementary bowls of pickled veg, hummus, spiced carrots and spiced beets. I ordered shakshuka ($8.00), eggs that are poached in a mildly spicy tomato puree with garlic, onion and coriander and topped with chopped parsley and brought to the table in the hot fry pan. I have plated these items below. The 2 small bowls visible below contain hummus and a small bowl of pickled veg. Behind the 2 small bowls is a "sabih", misc veg rolled in a laffa (more on this later). A laffa is the relatively large blister surfaced flatbread covered in sesame seeds, on the side. Topping the laffa with the  tomato sauce, some egg and egg yolk, is a wonderful mouthful.

A sabih ($6.00) holds chopped lettuce, slices of purple onion, chopped pickled veg such as turnip and carrots, small pieces of pureed potato fried into small balls, chunks of fried eggplant, slices of hard boiled egg, some sesame sauce (tahini), some hot sauce (if you choose) and this is all wrapped in a piece of laffa. It is a big wrap to get your mouth around but, oh so good once you do!

On Thursday and friday, "Morroccan fish" ($12.00) is available. The fish is cooked in a spicy tomato sauce flavoured with coriander, turmeric, sliced green and red pepper and chopped parsley. It is wonderful spooned on your laffa.

Dr Laffa is is worth the journey, for both the food and the experience. 

BOOK REVIEW: BRUCE'S COOKBOOK by Bruce Poole

I feel I must first apologize to my editor (or whatever magical force of literature that takes my writing and spins it into something enjoyable to the human eye); the sudden spike in spelling mistakes and grammar errors is completely and utterly due to my current position of writing this review with a bowl of Bruce Poole's Rice Pudding on hand. I kid you not, if I weren't under an obligation to produce a review of substantial length and detail, I'd be just as happy to leave you all with the recipe (spoiler: the ratio of heavy cream to rice is 5:1!). Unfortunately, that's just not going to fly with the boss, but I cannot say enough about this creamy, luscious, vanilla-scented bowl of perfectly al dente rice sitting in my lap.

*Scoop*

*Gulp*

Ok now let's move on with the review!

                I'm not sure if it's been documented on this blog just yet, but European book shipments are some of the most exciting things to happen in the store; such shipments have introduced me to the wonders of Quay, Bentley and Natura, amongst many other favorite books of mine. Safe to say, this latest shipment did not disappoint at all; in addition to Bruce's Cookbook which I am reviewing here, the Ginger Pig Meat Cookbook also arrived in the same box (but more on that one in a later review!).

                For those unfamiliar with the work of Bruce Poole, he mans the helm of Chez Bruce, a one-Michelin star restaurant in London, England. Though he's grouped by the Michelin Guide as a "French" restaurant, Chef Poole's repertoire extends far beyond classic Francophone fare.

                Being a British publication, the measurements are all done in grams (as opposed to cups and tablespoons as per American books), which I find to be one of the biggest advantages of European cookbooks. How many times have you heard about how 1 cup of Flour can be completely different depending on how you fill the measuring tool? Seriously; it's like every American cookbook has a little section on how they expect you to measure out a cup of ingredients. I still don't understand why no one wants to use grams here, and then books could forget about that "fill measuring cup with flour and scrape to flatten" nonsense. Honestly, people, buy a scale! It's not difficult to use, and I can assure you that you'll wish you had one when you wonder why your chocolate cupcake doubles as a baseball for your child's peewee team.

                Pardon my bullying as we move on with the review.

                Chef Poole, in addition to providing recipes and introductions, makes sure to include anecdotes about his work in the restaurant industry and even a very nice tribute to his mentor Simon Hopkinson. One gets a true sense of personality about Bruce Poole through the pages of this book, and that's something that I feel is important in keeping a cookbook interesting and engaging.

                I admit, I had very little knowledge of who Bruce Poole was, but after reading this book cover to cover, I can honestly say I've found a new chef who's culinary ideals and philosophy I respect. Poole's cooking reflects a style of dining that I like to call "Elegant Simplicity" in that he encourages people to eat at his restaurant; to kick off their shoes and relax in a casual setting before he proceeds to knock the socks off the feet of every diner onto the floor alongside aforementioned shoes and the occasional dropped jaw or two.

                His food doesn't come on a fleet of stacked plates a la Thomas Keller, nor does his food look like it was delicately teased into obedience by dainty tweezers as per Mugaritz. It's clean, honest food, and I feel that embodies exactly what British fare is about at this time in it's culinary lifecycle. It's about taking well-raised, well-cared for meats and treating them gently with supporting players to flush out the goodness that every farmer, butcher and fishmonger is trying to preserve in their product. How can anyone not respect that?

Reviewed by Kevin Jeung 
Bruce's Cookbook by Bruce Poole

Hardcover, $39.99, 318pp

Wvrst Restaurant, toronto

Wvrst is a new restaurant specializing in sausages and a grand selection of beers. A very limited selection of wines are available by the glass if one is not a beer drinker. Wvrst occupies the former location of Thuet, later Conviction restaurant. The space is now a large open hall. To order, one lines up at a counter and is given a number which is placed on the table where one is seated. Waiters bring your order to your table.


We wanted to taste as much as possible so we ordered duck fat fries which come with one of a number of possible dips. The photo also shows 2 of the toppings for the sausages that we ordered (we ordered all of our toppings to be "on the side" so we could add them after we had a chance to taste each sausage on its own). In the photos, the sauerkraut and caramelized onions sides are shown. The caramelized onions were tasty, the fries were crisp and tasty as well.

The sausages came with very good buns ("country bread") that were perfect: good texture; hold together well; are well toasted. We ordered the following sausages: duck with maple syrup and foie gras, pheasant with apple, bison with blueberry and maple syrup, wild boar with saffron, kranjska which was a combination of pork and marjoram and boerewors, a South African styled sausage which was a combination of beef and coriander. Our favourites were the wild boar, the boerewors and the kranjska. I found the duck sausage to be too fine and mushy and would much prefer a coarser duck grind mixed in with the foie gras. Although, in fact we enjoyed all of the sausages. 

If you are a sausage lover this is a place to go, especially if you also love a good beer with your sausages.

To Market, To Market on Wednesday, July 13

Wednesday morning, well actually afternoon by the time I got moving, it was off to the City Hall Farmers' Market, prodded on by the possibility of the first corn of the year at Thames River Melons.  Indeed, there it was although there was precious little left when I got there but I was happy to leave with a half dozen ears of Navaho, one of my favourite varieties.

City Hall and the square formerly known as Metro Hall but now called David Pecaut Square share several of the same vendors.  In fact, all three of the booths at which I thought I might have left my camera where at City Hall. Not only did the salesman at  Primavera Farms,  flower and plant specialists, remember someone had left a camera last Thursday, he had it in his truck!  Now I can stop wondering which smartphone to get, and, horrors, what plan to choose. Thank you very much!

Kar-Dean had sour cherries amongst their superb sweet ones.  A two quart basket is the perfect quantity for a large pie.  As I write, a cherry pie is bubbling away in the oven.

There are more vegetables available --the previously mentioned corn, new potatoes, peppers, cabbage,  broccoli, onions, zucchini, cucumbers...

One of the greatest treats at CIty Hall, though, is exploring the roof garden which transports you to another place entirely.  Just remember to go before you are laden with fruits and vegetables.

After the bustle of City Hall, the Borden Street market seemed rather quiet. Godelies from Otterville had their first corn along with potatoes which they have been selling for a couple of weeks.  Bosco and van Harts both had a rainbow of heirloom tomatoes.  My summer was a tomato sandwich--four colours topped with a dollop of Marvelous Edibles pesto.

To Market, To Market on July 12

Tuesday is another three market day, starting with the market at the Hospital for Sick Children. I was rather late getting out the door.  Big mistake.  The sour cherries were long gone.  On the other hand, both Andrews and O.K. Farms had another of my favorite fruits:  black raspberries.  I treat black raspberries like morels.  If I buy them, they are mine, all mine.

There were other prizes, too Caroll Collins had her stubby Parisienne carrots, full of old fashioned flavour. Jim Hayward had small elongated beets resembling slender Rodinas.  These, however, were "Slenderina."

While the HSC market concentrates on fruits and vegetables, the afternoon markets at Riverdale and across town at Trinity-Bellwoods Park are both well-rounded with fruits, vegetables, bread(St. John's)and several sources of protein. They also offer a good ratio of raw produce vendors to prepared food vendors--ie a higher number of the former Both are amongst the first to open each spring but this was my visit to either this year.

The much-praised fish and seafood vendor, Fisher Folk, is now at Riverdale, so no need to wait for Saturday at Brickworks or Wychwood.  At Riverdale, it was good to see Rolling Hills Organics which has beef from the rare Derry breed.Today there was only ground beef, but Peter Finch promises a wider variety of cuts for next week There was also perfect young garlic on offer.  Quinte Organic Farmers always has something interesting.  This time it was mulberries.  Niagara Organic Fruit also had mulberries, although theirs were white.  White when it come to mulberries  actually translates to a dusty pink.  I was able to report to Jim Hayward that the beets I had purchased in the morning were already roasted.

A cone of thyme- dusted French fries cooked up by Jamie Kennedy acolytes is not to be missed.
Over in Trinity-Bellwoods, there were more familiar vendors, some from Wychwood, Sourauren and Withrow.  One of the vendors who sells in Toronto only at Trinity-Bellwoods is Gerald te Velde whose Twin Creeks Organic Farm is outside of Owen Sound. I bought an inky red lettuce from him but will be back for his pastured beef and pork.  While Angus beef has become almost ubiquitous, Twin Creeks raises mainly shorthorns so testing this meat is something to which we look forward.

Both these markets really impressed with the way they evolved over the past couple of years , offering a well-balanced selection of produce, each with a few vendors unique to them along with some of the best from other markets.

Cava Restaurant Dinner Highlighting Spanish Wines

Cava is an outstanding restaurant to experience regional Spanish flavours influenced by highly acclaimed chef Christopher Mcdonald and his partner and co-owner chef Doug Penfold.


We began with suquet (a Catalan style seafood stew) of Pacific halibut with wild Irish mussels, Fanny Bay oysters, sea asparagus and sea urchin alioli. The highly flavoured dish was briny and redolent of the smell and taste of the sea.

Then, we enjoyed corn and chanterelle soup with bits of Nova Scotia lobster. This was a bit of sweet heaven.

A fabulous paella of Chanticler chicken, Quebec's version of poulet de Bresse, a standout, no expense spared ingredient in chef's version of paella that also included okra and snails. The texture of the paella was a dream. It was so moist and full of complex and earthy flavours. For me, the best paellas that I have experienced in Canada, are enjoyed at Cava.

Finally, lamb presented 4 ways: very tender, medium rare loin; succulent pickled tongue; tender braised cheek; squash blossom lamb's brain fritter (the brain nor the blossom do not justify each other as the flavours are lost) accompanied by smoked pimenton sauce, a very sweet and tender carrot and braised dandelion greens which most of us felt was overdone to an extreme bitterness ( the idea was right but the execution taken to an extreme). 

The dessert (no photo) was Spanish trifle with Pedro Jimenez soaked prune and seville orange sabayon. The perfect ending to a terrific meal.