Saturday, October 6, 2012

Daisho at Momofuku, Toronto

The New York chef, David Chang's Momofuku "complex" in Toronto, Daisho, the Noodle bar, Shoto (the tasting room) and Nikai (the bar) is very well designed. Daisho's all glass multilevel exterior wall takes advantage of the terrific view overlooking university Avenue.

The seating at Daisho is either conventional, at tables or wooden communal tables and benches. If your age is over 50 or you have back problems, you want to make sure that you request conventional seating. Despite the high general noise levels, the sound distribution and high ceilings make it easy to hear table companion conversations.

The main floor Noodle bar takes no reservations, but reservations are possible at Daisho and Shoto.

Since photos were not permitted at this event, I will only present descriptions of what I enjoyed.

We began with steamed chinese style buns filled with egg yolk, peameal bacon and a dash of mustard. Although there was a mixed reaction at our table, i enjoyed this dish.

Duck egg in a potato shoestring nest with chicken daishi, trout roe and seaweed, was well received.

A must order dish was the very popular sauteed corn with huitlacoche (black corn fungus, the truffle of Mexico), butter and lemon salt. The predominant smokey flavour of this dish was most beguiling.

Another must order dish, well received at our table were the brussel sprouts, which were thinly shaved on a mandoline and served with garlic, fish sauce, puffed rice and mint.

Chicken, was the 2006 WD-50 (New York) restaurant inspired version, with egg, carrot and a highly reduced and dehydrated mole in the form of a crisp. This was a well constructed dish with wonderful flavours and textures and was my favourite of the evening.

We also received a dish that must be requested and pre-ordered, a prime rib roast with individual servings of yorkshire pudding. The flavour of the fat cap was very good. The roast was perfectly cooked, medium rare. However, I rated the beef, according to the "Beef Boys" criteria, 4/4/6 (taste/texture/juiciness). I would suggest a beef supplier switch or a switch to U.S. prime or Canadian prime from Ontario or PEI. This dish has a lot of potential.

All of us very much enjoyed the overall experience at Daisho. The ambiance is conducive to a very social evening.

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