European tasting menus that incorporate Japanese influences to play into food trends or Michelin inspector palettes don’t impress me. It’s the reason I had reservations of trying Radici Project at the beginning. Until I heard the restaurant was started by Kayo Ito, a sake sommelier, and Italian Chef Emiliano Del Frate who also happened to be married. Now this is a mashup I can get behind.

Their immersive tasting menu ($160 per person) begins with an amuse bouche trio including a mocktail palette cleanser that looks fruity but finishes savoury thanks to the garum butter swirled into the drink.

The drink prepares the taste buds for their crab takoyaki that incorporates unused portions of the crab head (in a dish to come) captured in a soft fluffy batter with bonito flakes adding an extra touch of umami. I found the concept of the savoury waffle too similar (and not as tasty) and wish the kitchen used the dollops of creamy burrata and crisp kimchi in something different.

If you don’t like dealing with the crustacean, Radici’s crab dish is ideal as the sweet crab meat is removed from the shell and paired with an almond foam and caviar. What’s finished in a few bites must take a while to prepare but makes for a great start.

The restaurant follows a zero-waste philosophy that you see throughout the meal. So, when their supplier, Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc., started smoking the fish they killed to harvest caviar, the restaurant knew they needed to feature the product on their menu. And what a wonderful idea it was to pair the slice of smoked sturgeon with their crusty airy sourdough and silky whipped butter! The meaty fish tastes like a lean country ham so really works. I’d love to see more restaurants swap out sturgeon for swine. 

I was intrigued by how curing duck breast in beeswax would taste. It seems to condense its flavours as the gaminess was more pronounced, which was why the kitchen paired it with a slice of preserved plum and a pickled vegetable (?), both elements cutting the richness and gaminess of the duck.

The karaage e papacelle is a great fusion dish. It was influenced by Kayo who grew up eating fried chicken, which Chef Emiliano notes isn’t popular in his Italian village… when he ate chicken, it was usually roasted and served with potatoes. So, he decided to marry their cultures by deboning a chicken wing and stuffing it with roasted potatoes. Served with a mascarpone roasted red pepper sauce it’s deliciously addictive, the fluffy soft potato contrasting nicely with the crunchy and juicy fried chicken.

At Radici, pink dishes do not signify frilly and light creations. The beet tajarin tastes like a rich seafood pasta thanks to garum butter studded with smoked caviar. The pasta was done beautifully and left me longing for just a few more forkfuls.

If food scraps taste this good, I say give us more. The cappellacci is stuffed with veal trimmings and served in a burnt onion dashi made from various vegetable scraps. I can still taste the delicious broth that flooded my mouth with flavours, including the ingenious idea of adding small ginger slivers and sumac at the bottom so it ends on a bright note.

You can’t go wrong with halibut and maitake, one poached and the other grilled creating a creamy smoky dish. Yet, it’s the peperone crusco oil that really wakes up the fish adding a bright zing of spice that shone through the two richer elements.  

We’re told to try the veal by itself and leave the portion topped with a cilantro flower last. I was waiting for a huge pop of floral or citrus, but it didn’t taste that different. If anything, the sparkling red wine paired with the dish surprised me more. It paired well with the tender beef and silky sweet smoked parsnip puree.

In fact, I’d recommend going with their drink pairings. The mix wine and sake flight ($70 for 4 drinks) complimented the meal and incorporated such different drinks including a yeasty sparkling sake, orange wine, a white, and the aforementioned sparkling red. 

Dinner ended with a delicious honey cake topped with camomile gel and whipped cream. It tasted so light and fluffy adorned with honey and buttery cookie elements to give the dish extra pops of flavours and textures.

I’ve been lucky to have dined at many Toronto restaurants before they were granted a Michelin star and getting a reservation became difficult. I’m predicting that Radici Project will be a star contender. Their food is inventive and delicious but improving their plating aesthetics and tweaking the service is needed. It’s small things like ensuring the drink pairing is on the table before the food arrives, which can be easily solved by allowing the sommelier to be dedicated to drinks and not also serving food.

At least they have the welcoming and warm environment down. And I enjoyed the whimsical touches like the Jenga block cutlery holder that became a necessity when the wooden ones they sourced weren’t big enough to hold the cutlery. Since Jenga is a go-to game for Kayo, they bought a box, and it’s works beautifully.

As the Radici Project continues, I can’t wait to see how it morphs and grows.