Great little Korean / Sushi Find - Kaori Richmond Hill

2 thumbs up for me too. This restaurant become my go-to sushi place up north. Plating + taste = excellent value.

par72 in Ontario (including Toronto)

where can you get good steak tartare

I second Le Select, the best dish of the restaurant.

par72 in Ontario (including Toronto)

In desperate need of foie lobe for TONIGHT

St.lawrence Market has it!

par72 in Ontario (including Toronto)

Is it normal you have different opinion on the restaurant which is highly (not) recommended by the board?

You right on. I worked at executive level in a well-known land developer in HK. I need to travel a lot, mostly Asia. We were regular for those high-end restaurants. Finding a good value restaurant (quality AHAP with ALAP in price) was the pride in our colleaques. During my semi-retirement, I invest into serval restaurant/food(Chinese, Vietnam, Thai, Shanghai, Hong Kong Westernize, frozen food) business with a few buddies. I gained a lot of knowledge in food industry from them. I sold everything before I retire in Toronto.

I did open a Chinese restaurant before and the kitchen usually run by two different team, dim sum and banquet. Regarding dim sum, some of them are showcase the skill of the chef such as shrimp dumpling. The labour cost of some dim sum is much high than food cost. Sometimes when you look at the presentation of dim sum, you know how much effort the chef to put it out. Taste only rank second in my book.

In general, I appreciate those restaurant run by a owner/chef with heart.

par72 in Not About Food

Solo Sushi - Suggestion for next visit

Have you see any fresh sea urchins in market?Not in Diana's Seafood nor T&T.
In term of egg, we asked for that long time ago. lol

par72 in Ontario (including Toronto)

Solo Sushi - Suggestion for next visit

I came to their downtown location last month and my friend bough a 15lb king crab to the chef. Mr. Solo perpare two dishes for us to taste, I am so impress with the king crab leg cooked with japanese wine. It was done so perfectly. He make me believe that Sake is a perfect complement to the freshest crab.

Any food suggestion for us to give Solo to demonstrate his talent?

par72 in Ontario (including Toronto)

Is it normal you have different opinion on the restaurant which is highly (not) recommended by the board?

I like to read review but never write one. The reason behind is either nothing to write home about or it already been mention by our broad member. In fact, I don't like to write a negative review, no high-end restaurant as wells (since it supposed to be good, of course not always the case) .

One thing I found very interested me is I hold different opinion on so many restaurants suggested by members. I am wondering if this just happen to me or it happens to everyone. Some cases can be extreme. For example, I have tried a new suppose-to-be-high-end Chinese restaurant, I found their Dim Sum is very medicore. Some dim sum should be small but they serve them big, some should be big but they do it small, you can forget about the taste.

Just want to check if there is other member want to share his/her similiar experience.

par72 in Not About Food

Chinese Soup Dumplings aka Xiao Long Bao in Toronto

Yes, thats the one.

par72 in Ontario (including Toronto)

Chinese Soup Dumplings aka Xiao Long Bao in Toronto

I went to Queen bakery last weekend and they are promoting their new addition of Shanghai dim Sum and Noodle soap. I saw a sample of a big XLB. They are real BIG. I try to oder it and the chef told me he can't make it because he was busy. lol
Anyway, I order a pan-fried dumpling and veg and pork dumpling, recommended by the chef. The pan-fried one is absoutly amazing, tastes fresh and VERY VERY juicy inside. Veg and Pork dumplings are very good too. I would say on par with those in Dumpling House on Spadina (they are the best in DT in my opinion). in addition, they have 8, 9 different sauce to choose from.
Will go back to try my luck for Soup Dumpling.

par72 in Ontario (including Toronto)

Best Hot Pot downtown?

I think the different between DIY and dinning is the varity of food you can choose. Just like myself if I want to buy all my favorites food in market, it costs me more than double what I pay for in a resturant. I am thinking may be the wholesale price of food is much cheaper than the retail price.

There is another hot pot resturant at Spadina, just a two bock north of Dundas on the east side at the basement level, AYCE style.

par72 in Ontario (including Toronto)