Story & Photography | Renée S. Suen
Toronto’s culinary scene has recently seen the addition of some refined cuisine, headed by chefs with impressive pedigrees. Focused on pristine ingredients and the dining experience,you can choose from one that takes you into the care of a master of many crafts, or one that redefines classics with contemporary flair that’s bold yet balanced.
KAPPO SATO
Kappo Sato showcases Kappo cuisine, a refined multi-course meal that’s unlike other specialties. Kappo chefs specialize not only in preparing dishes using quality seasonal ingredients, but they are also masters in Japanese culture.
Kappo Sato showcases Kappo cuisine that’s unlike other specialties.
Chef-owner Takeshi Sato has more than 20 years of experience as a high-level Japanese chef, sommelier and sake master whilst also being qualified in tea ceremonies and flower arrangements.
Chef Sato is skilled in performing traditional tea ceremony.
The former official chef of the Japanese Consulate General in Toronto also worked for nearly a decade as the head chef at Zen Japanese Restaurant before securing his own space on Mount Pleasant Road. Here, in a relaxed contemporary room that he designed, Sato meticulously prepares his cuisine and directly serves it to guests at the open-facing counter on handmade traditional
Japanese pottery and Baccarat crystal.
Serving only eight guests per seating, and offering only two seatings an evening, guests can choose from a $260 or $320 omakase menu that may feature up to 16 courses, depending on the season. From wagyu beef to firefly squid (in spring) or conger eel (in summer), both menus offer premium ingredients, although the latter features prized cuts and courses like a sake-steamed rockfish.
The omakase experience starts with pristine sashimi and spinach ohitashi capped with Alaskan snow crab.
Our experience starts with a flight of pristine sashimi and spinach ohitashi capped with Alaskan snow crab, followed by a clean and umami-packed broth, bathing silky somen noodles and delicate sea bream. Fried in a gunmetal pot commissioned from the last gunmetal pot production studio in Japan, the daily-changing tempura course today featured a perfect spear of asparagus, followed by a supple piece of oba shiso leaf-wrapped saba in a light and crisp batter.
Grilled over high heat ceramic briquettes, unagi from Aichi prefecture has an almost creamy, flavourful flesh.
A premium selection of seasonal fish could feature Hokkaido hirame topped with uni, osetra caviar on Canadian lobster, and yuzu zest dusted ankimo can be found in the Seasonal Fish Dish.
Our parade of perfection continued with supple Quebec duck breast smoked with sakura wood chips, proceeding to an ethereal grilled dish of unagi from Aichi prefecture that’s been fire-less grilled over high heat ceramic briquettes. The latter creates an almost crisp crust to the golden, homemade kabayaki sauce-slicked blistered flesh that shields a moist, and almost creamy, flavourful flesh below.
Grilled over high heat ceramic briquettes, unagi from Aichi prefecture has an almost creamy, flavourful flesh.
We were delighted by Hokkaido hirame and uni, lobster christened with osetra caviar, and ankimo in the seasonal fish dish before sampling the restaurant’s signature seafood pot-cooked rice. Prepared
in a special copper Hagama for perfectly toothsome cooked grains, Sato cooks it with clams, Sakura shrimp, lobster, grilled ocean trout and ikura.
Kappo Sato’s signature seafood pot-cooked rice is prepared in a special copper Hagama.
Our meal finished with a show-stopping wedge of Japanese musk melon, Sato’s homemade soya milk ice cream topped with azuki bean paste and kuromitsu, plus matcha mousse cake, and matcha tea that Sato prepares via tea ceremonial preparation. Consider the sake pairing, $120 or $200 premium set, for the full experience.
575 Mt Pleasant Rd.
647-456-7286
kapposato.com
PARQUET
As the city’s newest contemporary French-inspired bistro with distinctly Torontonian sensibilities, Parquet brings a convivial atmosphere, delicious food and thoughtful drinks to Harbord Street.
First-time restauranteurs Daniel Bernstein and Matt Cohen wanted to create a welcoming space, explaining that the restaurant’s name is inspired by parquet flooring that’s known for being classic, detail heavy, iconic and strong, which embodies the gathering space that they had envisioned.
Keeping the original ceiling, the open 50-seat room is filled with a mix of warm leather, brass and wood elements. When the weather warms, there will be another 50 seats on the Robert Street flanking patio.
They’ve recruited chef Jeremy Dennis, who has created a dreamy menu rooted in the classics, but enhanced with refined techniques the chef has honed over the years at some of the world’s top restaurants.
Expect bistro classics with modern international flourishes that can change up to six times a year. For example, the tender, yet toothsome, hand-chopped top sirloin tartare is seasoned with chives and fermented pepper and has an egg yolk tucked within. It is well balanced and delightful against paper-thin homemade crostini.
An original recipe by Dennis, pan-roasted miso sablefish are perched on tender shaved vadouvan curry Brussels sprouts that’s served with apricot-chili puree and hazelnut-apricot vinaigrette.
The French classic cassoulet is refined, topping slow-roasted Linton Pasture pork belly and pan-fried chili sausage with duck confit and white beans that have been slow cooked in ramen broth for 24
hours.
Then there’s the braised Belgium endive that’s inspired by Dennis’s stint at world famous chef Kobe Desramaults’ Chambre Séparée in Ghent, Belgium. Here, the silky sweet and punchy warm vegetable dish is cooked in white wine with aromatics, placed on luxurious raclette sauce and finished with slivered almonds and currant vinegarette.
Don’t miss the Apple Tarte Tatin that features a spiral of caramelized apple chunks on a crisp puff pastry base. Topped with toasted hazelnuts and Benedictine anglaise, the not-too-sweet dessert is not a course you’ll want to share.
The gorgeous Apple Tarte Tatin tops a crisp puff pastry base with a spiral of caramelized apple that’s served with Benedictine anglaise.
Also make time for sommelier-manager Lexi Wolkowski’s classic-leaning, mostly French wine list that’s filled with low intervention bottles and rotating unconventional options available by the glass.
There’s also beers and ciders from France and Belgium, plus thoughtfully crafted cocktails designed by George Fellows that are French-adjacent riffs of classics and meant to compliment Dennis’s
cuisine.
97 Harbord St.
416-922-2345
restaurantparquet.com
