Showing posts with label crab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crab. Show all posts

Miss Likklemores (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, August 12, 2023 by

For me, a restaurant’s a hit when I’m already planning on who I can return with during my first meal. Such was the case with Miss Likklemore’s, one spoon of the sock-you-in-the-mouth rice from the crab XO ($62) and I was hooked. If risotto made sweet love to a tropical gumbo, perhaps this is would be their love child. To say it’s flavourful is an understatement: there’s a rich savouriness, hits of tangy spice from pickled chilis, a sweet tropical essence from pineapple (?) and toasted coconut chips, and a hit of freshness from the occasional cilantro.

If this weren’t enough, pea sized chunks of crab are strewn throughout with a whole cluster nestled on top, slathered in butter, and topped with a mild XO sauce. It’s messy to eat but there’s something exhilarating about grabbing onto a crab leg and cracking it opened with your bare hands. If only there was some wet naps to deal with the after math… I feel sorry for the restaurant’s cleaners, no one should have to witness the state of my cloth napkin.

If Miss Likklemore’s was a real person, I sense she wouldn’t care about etiquette. The jerk chicken ($35) is carved but served bone-in so that those who are dainty can stick with the hunks of tender breast meat, but the real chicken fans will gladly grab onto the drumstick, thigh, or the ultra-flavourful wing. There wasn’t a dry portion on the bird and the flavours were bang on – a subtle spice that builds and lingers on the tongue but not overly pungent. If you want an extra boost of flavour, more gravy is included to douse and dip.

I would suggest tucking into the jerk chicken as soon as it arrives as it’s delicious when it’s piping hot. Because the dining room is heavily air conditioned, the protein cools down quickly and while it’s still tasty, the last bites are not nearly as good as the first.

Given the oxtail ($65) is swimming in gravy, it somewhat resists getting cold. Yet, you’ll want a few friends to order this sizeable dish as the pieces of beef are huge and meaty, the size of a short rib, cooked just to the point of tender without being overly soft. Still, after some of the more flavourful dishes, I did find the oxtail blander in comparison… ideally, this would be served with a hot sauce so diners could amp up the flavour on the gravy. And it’s a sauce you won’t want to waste so make sure to order a side of fragrant coconut rice ($12).

Even their rock shrimp ($26) surprised us. What looked like the typical battered nuggets – found in modern Japanese restaurants like Ki and Kasa Moto - have such a nuanced flavour at Miss Likklemores. The aioli is spicy but balanced with freshness from the finely chopped mint, and an almost citrusy finish that I can’t quite place (like lemongrass but not quite).

The doubles ($11 for two; $6 for additional) was another popular starter, the bara is fluffy and warm and filled with a savoury chickpea curry. It’s accompanied with tamarind chutney to give it some tanginess if that’s your thing.

Of all the dishes, only the fried snapper ($75) disappointed. While it was beautifully presented and the deboned fillets were cooked to flakey perfection, it was so heavily seasoned that the saltiness gave it a bitter tone. Ultimately, I had to scrape the snapper’s flesh out of the breading to enjoy it. Even then, I hardly needed the escovitch dipping sauce, the fish’s flesh already salty enough, indicating how much seasoning was used on the batter that it’d seep through so thoroughly.

On both weeknight visits, the service was attentive and top-notch, dishes arrive at a good clip without feeling overly rushed. If I had one complaint, it’d be nonchalant attitude to criticism. After each dish was presented, our server would give us ten minutes then stop by to see how things were tasting – us raving about how good it is, of course. Except for the fried snapper where I commented how overly salted it was that it’s barely edible. Disappointingly, there wasn’t a reaction… no “sorry to hear about that, I’ll let the chef know”, no offer for a replacement, nada. In my opinion, if a restaurant’s not ready to right a wrong, they shouldn’t bother asking for feedback to start.

The one slip up aside, I really enjoyed the dishes and even the snapper would have been an incredible dish if it weren’t double seasoned. I sense I’ll be seeing Miss Likklemores again. If she was personified, she’s certainly someone I’d love to become good friends with. 

Overall mark - 9 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 433 King Street West


 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:


Finn's Seafood, Chops & Cocktails (Victoria)

Posted on Saturday, August 20, 2022 by

To go to B.C. and not have fresh seafood should be considered a sin. Without a doubt, I indulged in seafood daily during my trip, but it mostly consisted of fish and shrimp. It wasn’t until I went to Finn's Seafood, Chops & Cocktails that a crab made its way across the table.

I couldn’t go to the B.C. and not sample their local Dungeness crab ($78; seasonal price). Yet, when they are prepared fresh and whole, a feeling of dread flows over me as I can’t stomach the thought of an animal being cooked alive. Hence, when placing my order, I asked our server whether the chef could do anything to kill the crab prior to putting it into the steam oven. Imagine my delight when she noted that Finn’s always humanely kills their seafood prior to its preparation.

A note for diners: what this means is the gooey yellow stuff (I recently learnt is called hepatopancreas) and any roe (if the crab is female) will not be found under the shell. Personally, I’m fine with this as the hepatopancreas is slimy, doesn’t taste the greatest, and is really an organ that filters impurities for the crab and not the healthiest to eat in the first place – you can learn more about it from Crabbing Hub. 


The sizeable crab arrived in its full glory, covering a couple of boiled baby potatoes and rapini, served with melted butter for dipping into. A shell cracker in hand, I went to town on the thing and was greeted with sweet succulent meat bursting through the shells – not like the poor starving crabs we find in Ontario. What a treat to have it fresh and locally caught. 

Even though the crab (and my friend’s lobster) were fairly large, you’ll likely still want something to nibble on while the seafood is prepared as it can take a while. We shared the house smoked rockfish croquettes ($15) and they were a great starter to munch on while looking into the ocean – crispy nuggets of mashed potatoes mixed with smoked fish and a lovely citrusy tartar sauce for an extra punch of flavour.


Finn’s little touches were great as well – such as providing small ice buckets for individual pours of wine to ensure they are kept cool as well. 


Narrowing down where I wanted to have crab took a bit of research given B.C. is a known producer of the crustacean. Ultimately, I landed on Finn’s due to their amazing location and views of the Victoria Harbour and the restaurant’s comfortable environment - eating crab is a messy affair, something I wouldn’t want to do on a picnic table with seagulls above me and flimsy paper towels threatening to blow into the wind. But what really sealed the deal was that Finn’s is a partner of the Ocean Wise program, which means their seafood is caught with sustainability in mind. 

Thank you Finn’s for building in humane and sustainable practices into your operations. Guilt free dining is definitely the way to go. 

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Victoria, Canada
 Address: 1208 Wharf Street


 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:

Paluto Restaurant (Dubai)

Posted on Saturday, May 16, 2020 by
Thank you to Parv for all these pictures!
Who would have thought that amongst a desert there are waterfront markets? Yet, that’s exactly what you’ll find in Deira in Dubai – a sprawling multi-wing facility where you can buy seafood from one area, vegetables and spices from another, and even find restaurants to cook the seafood for you along the waterfront.

It seemed like a novel idea and had us visiting Paluto Restaurant by Chef Boy Logro (a celebrity chef from the Philippines) one afternoon. In reality, the link to a well-known chef doesn’t seem like a necessity for a place where customer purchase their own ingredients, fish mongers clean it for them, and all the chefs do is cook it (either fried, grilled, or in soup form) for AED25/kg. Aren’t we all our own chefs at this point?

Patrons then wait around for an empty table and their food to be prepared. There’s a hunting-and-gathering feel to the meal, except I guess the hunting is fairly easy when it’s all laid out on ice and in tanks amongst the stalls. It’s a part of the meal that we skipped, since we didn’t visit the Waterfront Market early enough to source our own seafood.

Truth be told, I was glad we missed that part of the experience as seeing things swim and wriggle before breaking bread is the least of my desires. Plus, going after the general rush, meant there was no queue so we could sit and enjoy drinks (the serve yourself fountain pop variety) while we waited for the food preparation.

As the mixed seafood platters arrived – one tossed in lemon herb and the other in a sweet chili (both AED149), we started salivating at the combination of blue crabs, shrimp, and mussels. This was sure going to be a messy lunch that had some reaching for the plastic gloves.



The two sauces were so different – the lemon herb a bit too mild and needed more seasoning, while the sweet chili having a fiery heat that could be too much for some. Of the two, the chili drew me in and had me spooning the thick sauce over the unlimited rice that arrives with the meal. Still, the seafood itself was mediocre; while the shrimp were nice, the crab wasn’t cleaned properly (who leaves the gills on?) so there was a musky after taste and the mussels no different from the frozen variety found in supermarkets.

Personally, I preferred the simpler varieties. The deep-fried prawns (AED49 for 12) done with and without batter were delicious. A hot sweet nugget that I could have had a dozen to myself.


Even the grilled fish (AED149 for a large size) had potential… nice and meaty, but, sadly overcooked. The chili soy sauce on the side helped flavour and hydrate the fish a bit.

Perhaps the most surprising was the vegetable Hakka noodles (AED29), long chewy egg noodles tossed with julienned vegetables and enveloped in a lovely wok hay. They were so good that we added another order.


With fresh seafood, it’s smart to remember that simple is best. Dipped into hot oil or a faster lick on the grill is all you need. When in doubt, just remember K.I.S.S. – keep it simple, stupid.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
 Address: In the Waterfront Market (Al Khaleej Road)

 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Akira Back (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2018 by

Despite sounding like a Justin Timberlake song, Akira Back is named after a notable American chef, who’s also the co-owner of his first Canadian restaurant. Chef Back is known to blend Japanese cuisine with other cultures; at the Toronto restaurant the tradition continues with Spanish, Korean, and Chinese influences in the dishes we sampled.

Set in the new Bisha Hotel, Akira Back’s entrance is to the left of the lobby. On the second floor, the elevator opens onto a carbon black room with a warm wood sushi bar at the very back … there’s a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel feel.

Their menu also uniquely offers the same dish at different price points, where the cost varies depending on the ingredient used. For example, an aburi can range from $17 for whitefish to $35 if it’s topped with wagyu. I like the concept, diners can find an option that’s “affordable” or, if they really enjoy aburi, order all three.

Many tables were getting the crispy pork belly maki ($14). Despite it arriving with a bottle of overly salty soy, you don’t need it, since every element of the maki is already flavourful: from the melt-in-your-mouth pork to the creamy coleslaw and a thick apple miso. Akira’s chefs don’t shy away from using a fatty piece of pork; the centre of the maki is literally a cube of well rendered fat adjoined with a shard of crispy skin. If you like suckling pig, this is it in maki form.


The baked crab hand roll ($16) also didn’t need any other condiments thanks to the lightly-spiced dynamite mayo used inside. I enjoyed the thick piece of crab leg meat against the soft rice and delicate soybean paper wrapper. While the rice itself could use more vinegar, the consistency was spot on.  


Trying to decide between the cold and hot octopus options, our waiter suggested the octopus crudo ($19). Arriving as large meaty slices, it was tender enough and had a nice natural sweetness. The minced tomato salsa on top made it messy to eat, but paired nicely with the octopus.


The only disappointing dish was the 48-hours wagyu short rib ($32): it was no different compared to a run-of-the-mill short rib, something tender to begin with. The dish was likely cooked sous vide, on the lowest possible temperature, as after 48 hours the inside was still pink. While I can’t be certain I’ve had real Japanese wagyu, what’s used at Akira can’t be it. The meat simply didn’t incorporate the intense marbling you’d expect from the ingredient – there was one very lean cube and another with a thick layer of fat – but had the fat evenly distributed.  


While a bit oily, the kimchi and bacon fried rice ($11) hit the spot… you can taste the heat from the kimchi! Paired with the cooling crudo, it’s a pretty good combination.


Akira’s desserts cater to ice cream lovers – every plate arrives with a small sphere of ice cream or gelato. However, the descriptions can be a little vague. Wanting a richer dessert, I went with the black sesame cheese cake ($12). I should have known that Japanese cheesecake is super healthy and the dish arrives with cubes of what taste like black sesame tofu. Tossed with cubes of black sesame sponge cake, even the pastry was not overly sweet. The most decadent part of the dessert was the soybean powder ice cream, which was more milky than creamy. If you want a light and not sweet dessert, this is the one to order.


Meanwhile, the apple harumaki ($12), something that sounds fruity, ended up being the heavier dessert. Caramelized apple pieces are wrapped in phyllo or soy bean wrapper and deep fried creating a sweet spring roll. It was great, especially when it’s hot, and not too indulgent despite being deep fried.


Akira Back is not authentic Japanese cuisine and the price points are higher than other Japanese fusion restaurants. Like ICONINK’s other restaurants, you go there for the ambience and a night out. This would explain why even on Tuesday the restaurant didn’t become busy until after 8pm. It’s where you go to be seen… Akira’s bringing sushi back.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 80 Blue Jays Way, 2nd floor

 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:

Akira Back Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

CLOSED: Szechuan Legend 半畝園 (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2017 by

Gather a group of ten before heading to Szechuan Legend as their set meals, especially on weekdays when they are even cheaper, are an amazing deal. The $198 weeknight non-spicy menu had enough variety to satisfy.

Of course, you’ll get your seafood fix with a medium four pound lobster done “fishermen wharf” style (essentially deep fried and then stir fried with garlic and chilies). It’s a nice change from the traditional ginger and onion and adds a spicy salty kick to the lobster. Afterwards, the tomalley is used in the fried rice, giving it a sticky and rich (albeit slightly fishy) essence.


The crustacean parade continue with two Dungeness crabs simply done with ginger and onion. Both seafood dishes are decent – not overcooked and incorporates enough seasoning without overpowering the seafood.


Although it’s not really Szechuan, a large steamed golden tilapia, is also included to counteract all the fried dishes. Again, the cooking time is bang on so that the fish flakes away from the bone without the texture turning tough.


Other seafood dishes completing the meal includes a Peking style sea cucumber – a sea creature that despite its name is not actually vegetarian. Normally, I’m not a fan of its soft blubbery texture, but at Szechuan Legend it’s chopped into small pieces and quickly stir fried (rather than braised) keeping them crunchy. Lastly, a plate of vermicelli noodles containing a fair amount of seafood and vegetables; it could use more salt as it’s colourful but tepid.


A favourite for my family is Peking duck, so we were in luck when the set menu included one done three ways. Traditionally, the highlight is the slices of skin cocooned in flour wrappers. They’re fine at Szechuan legend – the skin crispy (to the point the duck may have been flash fried) and the wrappers impossibly thin. Yet, the duck needed more seasoning as without the hoisin sauce, it’d be pretty bland.


On the other hand, the lettuce wraps and duck bone soup arguably steals the show. Large chunks of duck meat is reserved for the stir-fried lettuce wrap mixture and the Styrofoam rice noodles are left out in favour of crunchy vegetables and water chestnuts. There’s little meat within the duck bone soup, but the restaurant adds soft cubes of tofu and quickly boiled napa cabbage to make it hearty. A hot boil of soup is a nice toasty way to end off the meal.


The sole vegetable dish included with the set meal is stir fried baby bok choy with shrimp… boring and rather unforgettable compared to everything else. For this reason, we added an order of the stir fried lotus root ($8.99), which has a great crunchy refreshing texture.


The execution on the crispy half chicken ($8.99) varies. Since we had a larger table, we ordered a full chicken and each half arrived separately. The first looked man-handled and was starting to border on dry, while the second better but the breast a tad undercooked. Even so, we all agreed the sweet and spicy sauce accompanying the chicken was fantastic and helped mask the flaws.


In need of more starches, the seafood fried rice cakes ($8.99) were a nice change from noodles. The chewiness of the rice cakes pairs nicely with the crunchy black fungus; pork slivers, shrimp and napa cabbage completes the dish.


On both visits, dessert consisted of red bean soup. The restaurant’s rendition incorporates what looks and smells like Baby’s Breath. Given a limited amount of sugar was used in the dessert, there was little flavour to hide the floral taste. Nonetheless, despite tasting strange, the red bean soup did have a digestive effect after a heavy meal.


Even without the lower pricing, I’d suggest visiting on a weeknight. The restaurant is generally understaffed so service tends to be slow even when the dining room isn’t full. All the same, Szechuan Legend is a respectable restaurant; for the most part, the food is tasty despite being affordable. You’ll leave full and satisfied … just with a floral aftertaste in your mouth.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 3280 Midland Avenue

 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:



Fishman Wharf Seafood 漁人碼頭 (Markham)

Posted on Sunday, November 06, 2016 by

When your restaurant’s named Fishman Wharf Seafood, there shouldn’t be customers wandering in hoping to get an amazing sweet and sour pork or sizzling beef plate. Indeed, the establishment’s focus is seafood, but in particular, Alaska king crab, which was a bit of a letdown as I really had a hankering for a lobster tower, without the added expense of the crab, and there little options for the tower without the aforementioned crab royalty.

Moreover, many set meals also includes shark fin and when asked if they can substitute it with something (perhaps crab meat?) the answer is no, but they can serve it on the side so those who would rather not have it can have their rice plain. Substitutions are definitely not encouraged.

You really need a group of at least six people to fully enjoy the restaurant – if you can round up a table of ten, even better. They’re known for their set meals and do offer a la carte dishes, but a tower can easily cost $100 on its own, so purchasing everything piece meal is definitely an expensive choice. Also, the restaurant assumes everyone at the table is a hungry teenager as our lobster seafood set for six ($258) was more than sufficient for seven of us; if we didn’t stuff our faces, the dinner could have even accommodated an eighth, despite the waitress urging us to add on a chicken.

The soup and dessert are the slow boiled varieties, both not overly exciting – pork with leafy dried vegetables for the soup and a papaya with white fungus for dessert - but at least flavourful and hot enough.


What I was there for was the eight pound lobster tower, for an extra $10 we changed the preparation ‘fried garlic’ to ‘Hong Kong style’ having heard it’s much tastier. The later still had tons of garlic, but also incorporated deep fried small whitebait fish and a bit of spice. Overall, a decent dish: the lobster not overdone, enough flavour without completely overpowering the seafood itself, and piping hot.


With a salted egg yolk batter covering the deep fried Vancouver crab, it’s different. At first almost offending, the oily powdery crust grew on me and the rich yolk contrasted well against the sweet crab – not unlike a less salty sharp cheese with seafood.


Despite being named deep fried eel, the ingredient likely only underwent a quick flash fry and then was stir fried with chilies and green onion. Normally, the eel has a gamier taste, but the stronger sauce helped mask this and was a tasty sauce.


Although the clam cooked in wine was rather plain (generally I prefer them stir fried with black bean sauce), after all the heavier deep fried dishes, it was nice to eat a less oily one. It’s a shame you can’t really sip the cooking broth – unless you like the taste of pungent Chinese cooking wine.


The steamed grouper was done in the “traditional” method with Chinese wolfberries (adds a light sour element) and black fungus. Also executed affably, but could use a little more soy sauce.  
Even Fishman’s vegetables incorporate seafood, the boiled yu choy incorporating slivers of dried cuttlefish (?) on top. It’s fine, but didn’t actually help enhance the dish.


To end, a large platter of shark fin fried rice. It wasn’t what I expected - a pyramid of fried rice in a pool of crab meat laced shark fin soup. Despite being morally against the shark fin, I have to admit the dish was delicious. However, with so many other elements, the shark fin really isn’t required; personally, I believe slivers of the spongy soft and crunchy bamboo innards (or jook sun) would be even better with the rice.  


Some things to keep in mind: they take reservations but only for large groups and payment is debit or cash only… not abnormal for Chinese establishments. After the meal, I certainly felt I had my fill of seafood.  Lobster, crab, eel, clams and fish … satisfied.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Markham, Canada
 Address: 4080 Steeles Avenue East


 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:

Fishmen Wharf Seafood Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato
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