Mistura

http://www.mistura.ca

Heard of this place due to its famous chef, Massimo, and had marked it on our radar for some time now. Mistura is normally quite pricy, so we figured for $45 each at Winterlicious, we should taste some decent dishes.


APPEARANCE
a tinted bottle, elegant labelonce poured, 
you can see the rich golden colour
Dark from the outside, bright orange sign with playful writing, Mistura is hard to miss on the dark corner of Davenport with Valet parking signs at the front. Once inside a lady traded our coats for a metal number - making us feel important.

SWIRL

smooth and lively - some obvious legscan lightly feel the vanilla character
Walking further inside the long room, we felt like we are part of a magic show - mirrors, long white table cloths, high contrast spot lights, interesting glass structures with candles dancing as the air moved. We sat at an elegantly laid booth table with a long, narrow tablecloths stretching from one side to the other width-wise (a bit restraining, I thought). The paper sheet menus for winterlicious didn't belong there much. With the large Mistura wordmark (in case we missed it), a thick black frame close to it and plenty of text to follow - the menus didn't do their interiors justice, as they cram any available space.

NOSE
citrus, melon, as well as a strange 
unidentifiable aroma
Our polite waiter was in no mood to chat. We were asked to order all at once. I asked for their Tuscan Onion Soup, Trofiette main dish, and a Pistachio Panna Cotta. I asked for advise between their Cave Spring Riesling and 2011 Italian Pinot Grigio, and he recommended the ladder. I asked for 1/4 L and Cheri did the same but for a 2009 Caliornian Merlot. We got some warm bread, so the balsamic & oil dip to the side, as well as the tomato tapanade, came to use.The restaurant ended up filling by 7pm, and the crowd seemed on the older, mature side, and some seemed to be regulars.I have to add, we kept on picking up a cologne (perhaps one of the Polos), sadly we thought it was one of their staff.


PALATE
a bit dry and herbaceous to start, medium-bodied, oaky character
To begin, I got my soup - a light version of French Onion Soup. It had parsley and a bit of pecorino on the crostini floating, which I had trouble chasing and cutting it into smaller bites. Cheri's Braised Quail had a bone sticking out and the rest cut nicely and laid on the polenta, with squash and onion on the side. The meat was a bit dry, but Cheri quite enjoyed it.Next came my Trofiette Pasta - seemingly home made, as they were all so different, I was genuinely amused by the shape. Unfortunately it was a bit too chewy. The pasta came with plenty of cauliflower, some ricotta, parsley, a hint of truffle and perhaps some walnut. It was a bit too very heavy for me to finish and I was definitely getting a bit un- enthusiastic with every dish having parsley. Cheri's small Pork Loin came topped with a bit of Apple, Kale, Chestnut, with some Squash Puree and Onions. The pork was nowhere close to being lean, lard was a good third of it, but overall interesting flavour combinations.

FINISH
a long aftertaste perfect for those with a sweet tooth
Desserts were the best part! My Pistachio Panna Cotta cream reminded me of my grandma's pudding. It was topped with mascapone some fruits and mint springs. It was under subtle orange polenta cake and strange candied oranges on the side. Cheri's Warm Walnut Cake was delicious - crumbed and served in a cup, covered in salted caramel and topped with mascapone and a few fruits - beauty.
Oh, we had to google what Mistura meant (thinking it had to do with Mystery) but it turned out it is a Portuguese word for Mixture/Fusion. The interior would have been a perfect match for Mystery.

Overall.. a Chardonnay needing some work in the midst 
of the experience. 

Yamato

http://yamato.sites.toronto.com/

Cheri's sister gave us a gift certificate for Yamato months ago, but we were waiting for the right time. And so we finally made a reservation, over 6 months later. 

APPEARANCE
dark and ruby, very thick
From the outside, Yamato is written in well spaced Trajan Pro, Japanese characters below it, all knocked out from a purple background with small fans, floating like parachutes above. Walking down to the entrance, you can feel the warmth behind the black framed glass - incandescent paper lights, beige fan pattens on the walls and birch furniture.
 
SWIRL
long legs with higher than average viscosity
This warm space welcoming from the front is actually just the walk-in area, which doesn't seem anything more than a regular sushi place. The host welcomed us and as we informed him of our reservation he walked us to the back and then to the left. On the way, we saw some ikebana arrangements, and it got very dark as we crossed a descending corridor to the second room.

Once inside this dining room, you feel like you are part of the show - dark marble walls, mirrors around, open concept room, big tables with hot plates and plenty of space. People are expecting something, not to mention the numerous kids there and the noise level going out the roof. Some tables had a chef, like our other half, but many were waiting.

NOSE

sweet and sour, very fruity

As we sat we were given their menu - gold, textured, old-looking hard cover with 1 asymmetric flap. On the table lay fan-folded white cloths covering the chopsticks underneath. Inside the menu there are white laminated pages, not the perfect match with those lovely covers.

I picked their Sake Teppanyaki Dinner, which Cheri asked for their New York Sirloin Dinner. Out of curiosity, he had to check what was the Kobe Style Beef market price. We were betting if around under $60, we should try. It turned out to be over $200 - perhaps another time. Our waitress asked if we would like egg on our grilled veggies, and we should've said yes. 

Weeding through the many sakes offered, we asked our waitress for help. After some thinking and confusion, we refined our question - "Which one would Japanese people pick?" She pointed at the Shirakawago Sasa (Nigori Unfiltered Sake) but, I swear, she felt like she's doing something illegal.

PALATE

despite the color, surprising refreshing

The Shirakawago Sasa cake in a blue bottle, served in an ice container- just like any quality sake should be enjoyed - chilled. It was smooth and creamy, not particularly fragrant, perhaps a bit near the end.

We few minutes later we got our clear, onion, miso-based soup, followed by their green salad with a sweet, house dressing.. Now we were getting anxious. Is our show coming? All 7 of us filled our table, and now we were watching the chef on the other side of table clean up. Quickly after our chef came out, dragging a little cart  of raw food. As if somebody was listening to our surprised conversation that chefs are rather international - ours was Japanese. He started off with the veggies cut right in front of us - his knifes looked like pleasure to play with. He put in the salt and pepper with hits, a rather loud melody. As we noticed later on, the egg is the ultimate thing to play with. Some chefs let it bounce in their hat, while ours made it jump a few times and landed it right on the edge of his spatula - to be broken in half. Then he added the rice and served it for the lucky people who picked that option. We got our rice in a bowl on the side. Another trick he did was making a mountain of onion rings and lighting them on fire. To be honest, I felt old to be there or rather lacking a child. Chefs kept on looking at the kids' expressions, parents being often more excited than the kids. I was happy to see a table full of adults, on the other side. Overall, a good vibe though, I can't deny.

FINISH

an intriguing aftertaste, unexpectedly crisp

Food presentation of our plates was not a main concern of theirs, but the flavours really made up for that. My Salmon was very tender and smooth, probably one of the freshest I've had. Cheri's sirloin was a bit dry but still rare inside, not my type a thing. He didn't mind it, but no doubt the Sake salmon was great choice. 

I don't think dessert was an option, but either way we were pretty filled. 

It was quite the experience overall, definitely a very unique night for us.

A delicate Japanese plum wine.