Yuzuki
It was a sad day for me three years ago when Chef Riki of Ichiriki hung up his murderous yanagiba sushi knife. I had followed him from his first restaurant on Victoria Street at Richmond in the late 70’s.
I need not have worried. Yuzuki has since built on his fastidious foundations and continues on. What sets Yuzuki apart are the dishes on Chef’s specials menu. Here as diners, we can explore plates rare outside of Japan. The menu descriptions are disarmingly frank, jellyfish has a ‘chewy texture’ and the Okinawan Mozuku seaweed has a “unique texture that’s slimy.” Do not be put off!
My recent meal reminded me of the stunning freshness of seafood served at a tiny counter at the old Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. As all their fish is flow in fresh from Japan perhaps that’s no coincidence. I ordered the Uni & Ikura Don (sea urchin and salmon roe) on a bed of rice. This was ocean on a plate. Sublime pops of saltiness of Ikura balanced by the creamy sweetness of the Uni. But wait there’s more.
Yuzuki’s rice is perfect. The individual grains are glossy, plump, slightly sticky with a lovely subtle sweetness and slight chewiness. The flavours from the rice vinegar, sugar and salt are just right. Served slightly warm it’s the perfect foil for the seafood.
When you want to take the plunge (pun alert) into more adventurous Japanese food, this is the place.
Suntory AO Whiskey
If anyone could bring harmony to the politely warring whiskey factions it would be Master Blender Shinji Fukuyo. Whether you argue the merits of a scotch whisky with enough peat to shrivel a Scotsman’s sporran, plead the case for the sweetness of a southern bourbon, or patriotically wave the flag for an assertive Canadian rye, AO is a whiskey we can all agree on.
In Suntory’s World Whiskey AO you have it all. Blended from five major whiskey regions, Scotland, Ireland, US, Canada and Japan there is alchemy beyond its components.
I was fortunate to participate in a pre-launch tasting where, ingeniously, five small samples of the blends were presented, each absent one of the whiskeys. Each was delightful in its own right but the final production blend was stunning. Somehow Suntory’s Fukuyo San has conjured out the best from each without losing
anything. The result, a harmonious yet smooth and complex tipple.
Presented in an elegant blue and gold carton (AO is Japanese for blue) the unique five sided bottle conjures up the idea of the oceans separating the regions. This remarkable and approachable whiskey has become my new favourite. I’m already on my fourth bottle. Kanpai!
Tito Parley’s Ice Cream Sandwiches
A root vegetable desert? Bear with me. Parlay Manuel has reinvented the traditional Filipino Silva cookie sandwich. He missed his boyhood treat. A hobby baker, Parlay turned nostalgia in to a business in 2020.
The traditional Filipino Silvanas is a type of cookie sandwich made of two slim meringue wafers with a rich buttercream filling, topped with more buttercream and finally rolled in ground cashew. Usually sold frozen it originated in Dumaguete City in the Philippines and is said to be based on the French Dacquoise dessert cake. Parlay describes it as a cross between a macaron and an ice cream sandwich.
Ube, a purple yam, is both his most popular and traditional sandwich flavour. It has unique nutty taste that pairs wonderfully with the rich buttercream. Parlay has also added coffee to his to elevate the yam.
To produce a premium product the only butter the baker was satisfied with was from a creamery in Alliston that still hand churns. This resulting sandwich has complex flavours and textures that defy categorization. Ube is my favourite with the Pistachio with White Belgian Chocolate coming a close second. After making his Silvana’s for friends he was urged to sell them. Currently Tito Parlay’s Silvanas are available in some Filipio restaurants including Tinuno at Howard and Sherbourne. Two delivery services Starling and Canape will deliver them still cool.
Kardaras Olive Oil
Gastronomic serendipity is a thing. Browsing the Brickworks Sunday market I was fortunate to find Catherine Draxl-Kardaras tending a one-time stall promoting Kardaras Estate olive oil. One sip of the hand harvested single estate olive oil and I knew this was exceptional. Better yet, there is a family link from Toronto to the tranquil olive groves of a Greek seaside town of Gargalianoi just outside of Kalamata.
It’s there that the family rigoursly oversees every step of production from handpicking to crushing. This guarantees their organic premium cold pressed, partly filtered, extra virgin oil is fresh with no risk of the adulteration and fraud which I’ve learned is so rife in the industry. Their single varietal Koroneiki oil has exceptionally low acidity of 0.3 percent which results in a flavourful and richly aromatic oil.
Founded in the early 1900’s by her great, great grandfather, regenerated and expanded by later family members Catherine began marketing the oil in Canada only two years ago after COVID redirected her professional energies.
I conducted a side-by-side taste test of Kardaras against a big box store extra virgin olive oil and one from a specialty olive oil store. Kardara’s won hands down. The box store by comparison has a dull appearance almost no aroma and was oily and flat on the palate. Inoffensive was my note. The specialty store went in the opposite direction. It had sparkle, a significant grassy aroma and on the palate pepper predominated with some buttery secondary flavours followed by a somewhat fiery finish. Kardaras oil had a very noticeable grassy-buttery nose with similar rich buttery grassy notes on palate and a long smoothly pepper finish. This is a most wonderfully balanced, fresh olive oil.
To find it, visit Evergreen Brickworks Garden Store, Blackbird Bakery in Kensington Market the Leslieville Farmer’s Market and on line.
kardarasestatesreserve@gmail.com
Murray’s Farm
Blame lean pork on the British says Murray Thumberg as he leans over the counter at the St. Lawrence Farmer’s Market. Saturday he tells me that after WWII the government mandated leaner pork. The result was some breeds of pig dating back hundreds of years went extinct.
Murray was raised on a farm in Alberta and moved to Toronto and entered the fashion and music business. During his mid-life crisis fifteen years ago he tells me he turned into a farmer. Now on his Cambridge farm he raises heritage pigs such as Tamworth and Berkshire as well as two registered breeds, the British Saddleback and the Gloucester Old Spot, the only ones in Canada.
Murray warms to his theme by pointing out the huge thick fat cap on Saddleback pork chops. Fat is flavour he says. Some customers are startled by the cap but understand once they taste the chops.
Murray’s Farm, in addition to promoting rare breeds raises them in an ethical and environmentally friendly way. Unstressed animals fed and housed properly simply taste better, he asserts. He eschews the practices of most commercially raised pigs who have brief and unpleasant lives. In addition to the cuts on sale at St. Lawrence he also sells full and half animals in case you want to “stock up.”
