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. 

Amongst the city façade of College Street, Reverie’s signage stands out as a lush green garden. It fittingly presents Reverie at the Park, a place where they want patrons to feel like they’re in a “daydream”. Plus, feel like you're in a park: from the tree root sculptures hanging from the ceiling to the wrought iron gate you walk through to get to the tables. It’s like a walking through a trippy park, at night.

Behind the helm is Executive Chef Jef Edwards, who truly embodies the millennial mindset by learning how to cook, incorporating molecular gastronomy no less, through YouTube! If that weren’t a feat, the kitchen also operates without a walk-in fridge or freezer, to ensure ingredients are fresh. In the winter months, they also draw upon ingredients they’ve preserved through smoking and pickling.

Even their bread ($6) is made in in-house; a non-greasy focaccia paired with bone marrow butter and dandelion pesto. You’d think both condiments would be strongly flavoured, but they were rather muted, a light beefy taste in the butter and hint of bitterness in the pesto. Both are in serious need of seasoning.

Reverie’s menu aims to celebrate Canada’s diversity, incorporating local ingredients. It’s the new-age Canadian cuisine movement with the fusion of other cultures thrown in. The venison croquettes use deer, a Canadian game meat, and incorporates earthy spices. Get through the crispy crust and you’re greeted with a dense flavourful interior, it’s like eating a delicious deep-fried meat ball.

With the smoked beef tartare and enoki ($17), the actual apple wood smoke is faint, especially when you add the powerfully tasty fermented mushroom mustard on it. It allows the diner to really taste the beef tartare and the herbs mixed throughout. In fact, they also grow some of the herbs and produce used at the restaurant – on the roof during the warmer months and by the kitchen with special lights over the winter. 

The dish is pretty, the tartare shaped like a log in a hollowed bone with sprouts of enoki mushrooms peeking through. The “moss” is leftover dehydrated greens… I’m a huge fan of kitchens that try to reduce food waste, it’s an example that other restaurants should emulate.

I don't know what I liked better, the surf or the turf portion of the next dish. The mushrooms looks a lot like the scallop it’s paired with, except firmer and almost has a meaty taste. The sea scallops ($17) are cooked perfectly, most of the flavours coming from the thinly sliced piece of prosciutto on top. 

Both the mackerel and artichoke in the next dish is left raw. The mackerel lightly cured with salt, but otherwise you’re left with a clean meaty tasting fish; so refreshing I would have thought it’s sea bream.

The gnocchi & ricotta ($17) is a house favourite and I can see why. The gnocchi are soft but still has bite and is well toasted to give it a caramelized exterior. Mixed with spinach cream, edamame, charred heart of palm, and ricotta, it’s a hearty but not overly heavy dish. Reverie’s menu focuses on sharable dishes, to make the meal more social, but this is one I could easily have all to myself.

While the veal was slightly overcooked in our last savoury dish, it was still juicy and tender. Surprisingly, I couldn’t taste the porcini in the aligot, an ingredient that’s normally rather flavourful. Our table agreed the predominant flavour was the roasted shishito pepper, which isn’t necessarily bad, rather the dish would be more aptly named as veal with shishito.

If you like inventive desserts, try Reverie’s mushroom and honey chocolate tart with black truffle. It takes some getting used to, the taste of spongy earthy raw mushrooms with the sweet silky chocolate ganache. While I don’t like sweet desserts, even I couldn’t finish the tart. Maybe if the mushrooms were thinner, so the taste isn’t so powerful, it’d be better suited as a dessert.

Who would have thought that pop-up dinners would turn into a restaurant celebrating a one-year anniversary? Ask Chef Edwards, I’m sure he’ll think there’s a dream like quality to it.

• 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!

• Boralia
• Canis