Posted by Sheryl Kirby in news and media, rag round-up on March 15, 2007 at 2:38 pm
It's a taste of Korea over at NOW this week as Steven Davey hits two Korean restaurants, one at Dundas and Spadina and one on Bloor. Ka Chi is a hit with potato pancake and bulgogi, while Onara Onara gets a lesser favourable review, but an equal number of Ns (three each).
Graham Duncan gets into the St. Patrick's Day theme with a trio of offerings from Ireland, including the ubiquitious Guinness (anyone else glad that the 17th is almost upon us so we can stop seeing articles about a beer that's really not that great??).
Ireland is the hot topic over at Metro as well, where a selection of traditional recipes are made over to be a bit more heart-healthy. Also in the St. Patrick's Day theme, Metro interviews Niels Kjeldsen, executive chef for Fionn MacCool’s about Irish pub grub.
Also in Metro, Billy Munnelly discusses wines from Italy, specifically cheap ones. There's also a recipe for Spanish Flan. Mmmm... flan.
And while flan makes me go mmm, foam doesn't, although with all these great reviews of Colborne Lane showing up everywhere, I know I'm going to have to get over my fear of fluffy food and check it out. Metro gives Colborne Lane a fantastic review, as do Alan A. Vernon and Don Douloff at Eye. Rating the place as "flawless", Vernon and Douloff state:
An ultra-tender lobster ceviche ($18) is set off by tender saffron potatoes, smoked mayonnaise and puffed-corn noodles (think Cheetos for the gods). Achingly tender stir-fried squid ($15) is married with caramelized peanut, Asian pear, Chinese sausage and spiced mango. Who else but Mother Nature can combine such disparate elements and make them work so symbiotically? The low-key sweetness of a puree of lily bulb topped with blueberries partners perfectly with toothsome beef tenderloin ($24) over a smoked-beer jus. No less inspired are caramelized root vegetables ($15) whose flavours jump out after a dunking in cauliflower purée nipped with aged gouda.
It still sounds a little too "supermarket centre aisle" for me... Cheetos? But I'm sure I'll come around once I've tried the place.
One disparity between the Eye and Metro reviews is the price. While Metro lists dinner for two as being $100, Eye's total rings in at $200. That's a pretty big difference. With mains running from $20 to $30 and desserts at about $10 each, a meal for two with drinks is probably going to be somewhere right in the middle at about $150 to $175. That may not seem like much to some folks, but there are others for whom such a meal is considered extravagant and it would be nice to have a better idea of just how much it's going to cost for all that foam and gelee.
