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Reviewed by Toronto Life
  • 19 Mercer St. (at John St.) View on map »
  • 416-599-7246
Editorial Review

A waterfall, glowing white cubes for bars and a screen of giant bamboo make this soaring space one of the city’s coolest rooms. Yet plush sofas and thoughtful details such as tables designed to match the height of servers, schooled in the intricacies of each multi-faceted dish, make guests comfortable. An omakase tasting menu (seven courses $100, with wine $150) is the best way to discover where Guy Rubino’s cuisine currently is, a molecular thread now woven among the imaginative pan-Asian inventions. It starts with an intense, sancho-spiked rabbit broth, rich with shiitake flavour; alongside sits a tender, rare quail’s breast wrapped around foie gras and ripe mango; napa sunomono (Japanese pickled napa cabbage) adds tangy crunch. Korean-style kurobuta pork (the Asian take on Berkshire) is more conventionally treated but equally delicious: a tenderloin marinated in black bean paste, wrapped in pork fat sitting on a candied persimmon disc and drizzled with persimmon reduction, and a reconstructed chop of ground meat served with a roll of daikon kimchee and bulgogi sauce. Desserts are just as creative. The pricey international wine list is full of treats. Mains $36–$38.

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