Endy'

(on the basis of a single visit only, Feb 2007) I thought Splendido was excellent and didn't miss a single step in terms of either service or food. if I recall correctly though, Gordon, you really like Perigee, so you might feel the same way about Splendido as I do: there simply isn't as much to get excited about there. My sense is they deliberately set their bar a bit lower so they can hit it more consistently. And they do. I used the phrase "merely excellent" to describe them, which sounds backhanded but is actually meant to be high praise. anyway, I certainly wouldn't recommend AGAINST going there. My guess is you would be hard-pressed to find a single fault with Splendido but might still come out of it ranking it below Perigee. Which IMO isn't a bad place to be ranked at all.

I would have a tough time recommending Le Sélect to a Toronto visitor. There are simply too many other restaurants that are better by all measures to spend your time, money, and most importantly, your appetite there, if you're only in Toronto for a limited time. for those who live here, it's decent but nothing special, save to say that I noticed that they their Monday daily special is boudin noir, something I've been looking for in the city.

I often see a salad fitting this description (the romaine is also julienned) accompanying samgyeopsal at restaurants. Apparently it's called pajeori / pajuhri. But I have no idea if that's what you're talking about; the ones I've had serve to cut the fattiness of the samgyeopsal (the dressing's predominantly sour) but I don't know that I'd describe it as "refreshing".

1 vote for JKWB.

hmm...I think the message he was sending was that he was uncomfortable with that level of formality (he's only 2 years older). I'd heard about the turning to the side / covering your mouth thing before too, but I thought that was a more extreme level of politeness (older relatives / significant other's parents / etc.). and I think the finger/face comment was a reference to your avatar...

so I did give this a try over the weekend. It took me a few leaves to get the hang of it (I dropped all kinds of stuff out the side of the first wrap), but it worked and was a lot more manageable than having to take bites out of a whole-leaf wrap. Plus somehow the ratio of lettuce to meat was better too. Thanks for starting this thread! of course, then I managed to shock a Korean guy by sipping at (instead of downing) my soju, and also by holding my glass with 2 hands as he was pouring (hey, he was older, so I figured...). Can't win.

samgyupsal (cut into smaller pieces with the shears provided), garlic slices (raw or grilled or both), onion (grilled, and cut up with those shears). I used to put raw peppers in too, except the place I usually go stopped bringing them with the garlic. Wrap the whole thing up in a whole Romaine leaf, dip into ssamjang (dwaenjang?) and take bites out of it. now that I've encountered this thread, I'll try with smaller pieces of lettuce -- thanks! oh, and I usually forgo that salt/pepper/sesame oil stuff if I'm wrapping, but I'm possibly gauche and order rice (hey, I'm Chinese) with my samgyupsal too, and I use that oil with pork and rice.

scoop the rice off the big plate into your bowl, not your plate. newbies tend to do it this way because it's easier to control (observe really young kids growing up in households that eat with chopsticks). As you pick up the finer motor control, you move up the chopsticks for more dexterity/strength/comfort. about samgyupsal or other meats served with the lettuce, are you supposed to rip the lettuce first and then wrap using smaller pieces?

I believe the 7-course was $120 when I was last there, so 6 at $100 sounds in line with what I knew. I don't think I've heard of diners being offered the choice between the 2 tasting menus at Susur. I mean, you don't know what you're getting until you get it, how is one to choose? It's usually just they bring it out, and you arrange swaps amongst yourselves (if you can persuade/coerce your companions).

thanks for the report. I remember 5 of us spent $30 per just kind of grazing, so it's good to get an update on prices. Glad to hear you liked it.

yum, but don't expect anything traditional...and be prepared to shell out.

IMO there's nothing about the 2 to compare; they're totally different. It's not terrible or anything, but I wouldn't put Lee on the list given the amount of time you're here.

is it more important for a review to be entertaining or useful? (I agree it could do both, but which is more important?) a review of a bad restaurant tells me where NOT to eat -- 1 of thousands of restaurants. Should I read thousands reviews to narrow down my list? Reading instead a few reviews that tell me where to eat gives me a nice small list to choose from...

is this the one opened by the people behind Ocean 6 Seventeen? I was given business cards while I was at O617 while in Van, but unfortunately the new place wasn't slated to open until after I left. good to hear about them if it's the place I'm thinking of. Loved my brunch at O617.

some say Terroni (think there's one on Queen West nearish you, haven't been), I like Grazie better, but neither is a revelation. please do post your thoughts on Doku 15 if you go...it's around the corner from me but the whole Asian fusion vibe scares me.

while I can perhaps see their appeal to the broader readership, I think reviews that are distilled into a score or star-rating are worse than useless. I can certainly do without all the extraneous adjectives. But when someone loves a restaurant, I need to know if they mean "the food was just alright, but it was great for celeb-spotting and they make a great martini" (couldn't care), or "it's a hole in the wall and the wine list sucks, but the kitchen is putting out some absolute gems" (sign me up). I can't get that without a few paragraphs. I don't need blow-by-blow food porn or exhaustive lists of ingredients, but WHY they'd give it 4 stars is infinitely more valuable than that they did or did not. then again, I'm also mystified that someone would go see a movie on the basis of its receiving x stars or y thumbs up, but evidently people do. Maybe a subset of restaurant reviews needs to move out of newspapers and morph into a niche in dedicated publications. Meanwhile, a less detailed listing with contact info and star ratings, for those who just want to find a safe, on-budget restaurant on Valentine's Day (that's not meant to sound condesceding; I think such a list would be legitimately and genuinely useful).

sorry that I can't offer any comparison. But my informant who originally directed me to Sun Sui Wah says she likes the Richmond location better *shrug*.

I've been back for just over a week and have finally got the pics up on Flickr. I want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I had a really great time in Van and some excellent meals. I wanted to specifically thank everyone who suggested Ocean 6 Seventeen and ESPECIALLY Rare, places I wouldn't have known about were it not for this thread. I had excellent meals at both (Rare in particular was absolutely incredible). the final list of what I managed to hit looks something like: Korean food on Robson, Guu, Kintaro, Tojo's, Feenie's, Granville Island market, Rare, Vera's Burgers, Lumiere, Ocean 6 Seventeen, La Grotta on Commercial, Rangoli, Mondo Gelato, Kirin, Sun Sui Wah. I did go see Coal Harbour/Stanley Park, UBC, SFU, Gastown, and Kits, but regrettably not many of the other good suggestions here. Also, I thought Blenz was pretty cool , and I'm jealous that soju and many good Unibroue beers are easily available at BC liquor stores places I missed and do want to hit next trip (which there certainly will be) are Vij's and many of the dessert places mentioned in this thread (just didn't have the energy/time/stomach this time). thanks again to everyone for helping make my trip enjoyable and full of food photos on Flickr

I'll add that I think this would really miss the fun and the point of dining at Susur. Better to investigate vegetarian or shorter tastings, in terms of value. I'm also another who feels that Susur is better value than Lee. to me, Susur tasting > Lee > Susur a la carte

can you link to the website? I'd like to know more about this new place. I forget if it's open yet, but I think Claudio Aprile took over the space on Colborne that used to be Cafe du Marché...same location or another one?

about Viva Tastings, I was by there today, apparently they were originally a catering company that then got a stall at SLM, and now they've opened this, their first retail location. the business is still primarily catering, but they now have classes, local/artisanal ingredients (Thuet breads, for example), and some eat-in; the latter is mainly to promote their gourmet take-away, which is the same stuff. They're also LLBO "so you can enjoy a glass of wine while you shop"...which strikes me as odd, because it's not exactly a big store nor a lengthy shopping experience.

I don't understand why ratings get the discussion that they do. When I read local restaurant reviews in Toronto Life, I go straight for the text. At best I'm peripherally aware of how many stars were awarded. but when the bulk (or entirety) of a review is a star or point rating, it becomes completely meaningless to me. Unless I have the exact same tastes as the reviewer, I'm unlikely to agree with their star rating. So I need to know WHAT about a restaurant it is that the reviewer liked, so I can decide whether I might like it. how many of us come to eG to post about a meal we've had? And how often are those posts "7.528/10" or "****"? I don't think humans do (or can) think of restaurant experiences in terms of a number. incidentally, I did try reading Zagat reviews a few times but found they were too focused on their aggregate rating, usually only justified by snippets of quotes from multiple reviewers. I don't have "average" tastes so none of this was helpful to me.

thanks for the link. That was the sense in which I was using "sashimi" as well. we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread (sorry)... francois, I don't think you'll go wrong with Ematei. Downtown is otherwise full of a lot of pseudo-sushi Japanese restaurants, none of which are worth visiting. there's a nice place on Baldwin called Konnichiwa, but IMO it's really only good for its ramen. You might also find Okonomi House interesting, but more as a snack or lunch. It's just east of Bay, 1 block south of Bloor.

apologies for sidetracking the thread and misusing the term. What is the proper usage of "sashimi"? I always think of it as "raw fish" but would like to hear about the additional implications of the term.

just to clarify a little -- are you looking for sushi/sashimi, or other Japanese styles? Hiro and Omi are really only good for the former, and Ematei IMO for the latter (although I see mkjr has named it for sashimi too...).