Awai Vegan Restaurant, Toronto

Awai is the creation of someone I consider one of toronto's most accomplished philosopher chefs, Nathan Isberg. Chef Isberg is remarkably creative in combining a very wide range of far reaching flavours. I have followed him through his evolution of restos, last being Atlantic and now the vegan Awai. At Awai, servers are not tipped as menu prices include gratuities. Chef Isberg has installed a large wood burning oven.

Porcini mushroom and cauliflower with mountain pepper jerk and topped with sliced black truffles.

Golden beet veloute with rose petals, pistachios and berbere spices.

A salad of apples cooked in coals overnight, dehydrated apples, raddichio cooked directly on embers, crisp castle franco with a mustard pickle-kombucha dressing and seasoned with rose and z’atar.

Roasted cherry tomato coca (Catalan sourdough flatbread cooked in the wood burning oven) with Temiskaming spices.

Shishito peppers, Morrocan olives and arugula allioli on coca.

Artichokes barigoule ravoioles, pea tips veloutes and migas.

Coal cooked potatoes ztrapacka, black kale and baharat seasoning.

Paella made with black rice, wild mushrooms (chanterelles, etc), huitlacoche, burgundian truffles, crisp trapline wild rice and amontillado sherry.

Tatin- confit of honey crisp apples, rosemary and almond cream 

Caramelized salsify brulee.

Torteria San Cosme, Toronto

The sandwich rolls are teleras, custom made by the wonderful Blackbird Bakery. Torteria are Mexican sandwich cuisine. I don't like the taste of cheese in sandwiches with meat (i find the fats conflicting in taste) so I ordered all without cheese. All sandwiches were very good but my fave was the cubana followed by the poblano.

Milanesa with breaded chicken, chipotle mayo, refritos, avocado, tomato and fried onion (no cheese requested). 

Cubana Sandwich with Smoked ham, adobo pork, bacon, avocado, chipotle mustard and tomato (no cheese requested).

Poblana with chicken, mole crema, red onions and refritos (no cheese requested).

Bosk at the Shangri-La, Toronto: The New Chef

Richard Singh is the most recent chef de cuisine. He provided a remarkably good gustatory experience, perhaps the most refined hotel eating experience in Toronto. Chef Singh was previously a chef de parti at 2 very highly regarded restos, Per Se, in New York and at the Fat Duck in the UK.

We began with a delicious, well crafted sunchoke and lemon soup with "B-wall" cranberries, black truffles and everything bagel lavash.

Properly seared with a tasty caramelized crust and nicely underdone Nova Scotia scallops with avocado, hon-shimeji mushrooms, Crunchy rice and a sesame sauce.

A Surprise dish from the chef, perfectly undercooked poached lobster topped with frisee lettuce on a bed of delicate potato gnocchi with a delicious, well composed parsley-garlic-mustard vinaigrette sauce. 

House made agnolotti filled with artichoke, roasted peppers, preserved lemon and olives with an herb and olive oil glaze, all topped with basil and a touch of grated parmesan.

Brome Lake duckling cooked appropriately rare, with parsnips, lavender, fennel, medjul dates and black truffle jus.

New York styled cheese cake topped with wild berry compote, accompanied by a salted caramel sauce and lemon verbena.

Warm maple date cake with cider poached apples and smoked bacon ice cream. A wonderful combination of flavours. (no photo).