After overhearing that I’ve never enjoyed wild sea eel, otherwise known as anago, he serves anago nigiri cut into two miniature portions on a plate so that I can proceed at my own pace. But it isn’t all hand-fed sushi as Chef Saito is also quick to accommodate personal preferences. The method makes each bite feel like a handmade gift. Instead of placing the nigiri onto the counter and allowing each guest to pick it up (as is typical for most omakase chefs), he serves each piece directly from his hands to ours like customized communion wafers. “Just kidding, it’s Bluefin tuna,” he corrects eventually, emitting a booming laugh as he begins slicing off several pieces of fish.Įven more standard protocol is abandoned during the nigiri portion of the meal. “This is Wagyu beef,” he says, letting the room fill with amazement. Canadian cookbooks don't have the best advice when it comes to food safety.Montreal novelist Kim Thúy pays homage to her 'many mothers' in a debut cookbook.Article content Recommended from Editorial This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He positions the fish up to his ear like a glorious and inordinately expensive telephone that was communicating something only he could hear. Everyone begins snapping photos of the prized fish as Chef Saito takes advantage of the interactive moment. He then retrieves a hulking slab of candy pink bluefin tuna bought from the famous tuna auctions at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market. Unconcerned that the restaurant’s PR person’s face had flushed, he dispenses airy bites of Hokkaido uni onto the tops of our hands as we slurp them back. When asked why he doesn’t have an Instagram account, he answers bluntly: “I have too many girlfriends so they can’t all know what I’m doing.” Preparing for the nigiri portion of the meal, he begins by joking with the seven diners seated at the sushi counter (the restaurant only seats two rounds of seven per night). There is also slow-cooked abalone - whose texture is so pleasantly slippery it could be mistaken for silken tofu - and rare black throat sea perch - which was grilled over charcoal and served skin side up so that its luminescent silver scales lit up the room like a disco ball.Īccompanied by a selection of chilled sake, I could have easily left satisfied after the appetizers. He follows this with a selection of appetizers, including three pieces of sweet and mild grouper sashimi and crunchy sea grapes, plus impossibly buttery mackerel (skewered and grilled over traditional binchōtan charcoal until its outsides were kissed with smoke). But make no mistake, his prices reflect these accomplishments: two set menus range from $380 to $500 per person before drinks.Īt a recent media preview, Saito begins an 18-course omakase by shouting “Kampai” while toasting a champagne flute filled to the brim with gold-flecked sake. Article contentĪfter being awarded one Michelin star in 2016 at Sushi Ginza Onodera in New York City and another in 2018 at just 30 years old, Chef Saito has come to cook in Toronto on a permanent basis. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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