This Korean/Japanese barbeque place is on the south side of Dundas, west of Erin Mills Parkway and just east of the LCBO store and Sobeys. It's far away from the nouveau-riche properties of Mississauga, and we wonder whom you would see there at dinner time. It is comfortable, with nice natural light. At 2 pm, there's hardly anybody there:
As you can see, it is set up for a barbeque at the table, with the hood exhausts and on-table hot pads.
Sergio and I are looking for something quick but we do have standards. He orders beef, and I get a spicy beef and leek soup. The meal starts with a wonderful cold appetizer plate, truly an amuse-bouche:
From left to right, that's kimchi, bean sprouts, "fiddleheads" (not the Canadian kind -- more like rapini), and fish tofu. This is all extremely good and flavourful -- the kimchi is subtle and quite unlike the hyper-garlicky stuff you buy in the supermarket.
The soup is bright red (see below), full of mouth-sized lumps of leeks, generously laced with short-rib meat taken off the bone and crumbled, and with good crisp vegetables. Very spicy, with a clean red-chili taste that doesn't cling to the tongue. There couldn't be a better choice for lunch on a cold day.
Sergio's pork was perfectly grilled and sliced. He says that the sauce was unintrusive but delicious. In general, BBQ saucing and spicing should be self-effacing, he says -- Sergio is Brazilian, and Brazilian churrasco is divinely self-effacing. Ever the philosopher, S adds: 'unlike moral theory'. Hmmm . . . does this mean that Kant's barbeques might have been more preening than Miga's, as were the ribs at Cluck, Grunt, and Low? Or that Kant knew the difference between a barbeque sauce and moral theory, and adjusted the spicing accordingly?
The meal was served very pleasantly, and cost about $30 (which included my Japanese beer).
No comments:
Post a Comment