Doku 15
8 Colborne St., 416-368-3658.
Dinner for two with wine, tax and tip, $165.
The hottest thing in Toronto is the resto-bar, and we think we know why. A guy (it's always a guy) who opens a resto-bar figures he'll get the bar business, the crossover business (the hungry drinkers) and the foodie business (the diner who's not a barfly). The latter group he usually hopes to attract by hiring a name chef (they're not that expensive, and they add PR lustre). Witness Lobby (rising star chef Robert Bragagnolo) and Ultra Supper Club (YYZ alumnus Chris Zielinski).
Doku 15, located in the boutique Cosmopolitan Hotel, is the newest resto-bar in town, so hip it hurts. What do they serve? Pan-Asian tapas, of course. Even the name is arch: It means poison in Japanese. You can find Doku 15 by the black Porsche C45 parked out front and the models and wannabes inside. This is a house of boobs and blondes. Both times we go, stillettoed babes are dining with Doku 15's owner, Zark Fatah. Who fiddled while Rome burned? While Fatah sits bedecked with beauties at the table next to us, our servers disappear for long stretches of time. We order Kristapsons smoked salmon rolls. Server says: Here's your "kristapen." I ask what she's serving us. "It's a kristapen." What kind of pen?
We ask another waiter if they have ama ebi, since they fancy themselves a sushi spot. Blank look. I explain that it's raw shrimp. He goes to check and comes back with an affirmative. Another server brings cooked shrimp sushi. I mention that we ordered raw shrimp. "We don't serve raw shrimp," he says.
On that first visit, five large plates arrive at once. The table is crowded, the palate confused. Angus beef and foie gras wonton soup is just plain silly. The soup stock is weak, and as for the crime of boiling my favourite vice in a wonton wrapper, I'm not sanguine about paying $15 for liver dumplings that recall my Boba's chopped liver.
Kobe Kobe is credible sushi of raw beef roll. Seared Kobe beef and shiitake bun is about as good as you get at cheaper places, and lemon grass shrimp are pleasant but overcooked. As for crispy taro taco, I do not approve of mayo in my tuna tartare. Raw fish needs creamy like a fish needs a bicycle.
We wait 20 minutes for butterfish sushi, which is strangely fibrous (a sushi no-no), and then a further 30 minutes (!!!) for dessert of chocolate bread pudding the texture of yesterday's oatmeal and thus not edible. When the server removes it, she does not appear to notice it has not been eaten.
Fatah also owns Hammam Spa, Century Room and Blowfish Restaurant and Sake Bar with chef G.Q. Pan. Blowfish and Doku 15 have beauty in common: You enter Doku 15 through the bar, a fabulous den with purple-lit chandeliers and rose petals strewn around pillar candles. The dining room, in the back, is tall concrete walls with skinny vases mounted on them, and curlicues of wrought iron overhead.
On our second visit we ask the server whether the soft-shell crab is fresh. He says it is, telling me: "All our fish is fresh." I ask where it's from. "Vietnam," he replies. I point out that's rather a long way to bring fresh crab. He holds his ground. I push back. He goes to check with the chef, comes back and says, "Fresh frozen." In the one time of the year when soft-shell crab comes in fresh, how could they 1) not have it and 2) lie about it?
They also do not have sea urchin roe or fatty tuna. Regular tuna sushi is as fibrous as the butterfish. The chef's invented sushi rolls are indeed clever flights of fancy, but the flavours are confused, not clean and crisp. Truffle-scented fried rice is a brown, hard ball of desiccated rice. Green tea tiramisu tastes okay, but that colour should never be on a plate -- except maybe in a horror movie.
Executive chef Pan used to be chef at Edo on Eglinton, where all of Forest Hill goes for sushi. In those days, his touch was light and his fish cutting impeccable. Now, we're confused. Has he gone over to the dark side, renouncing culinary excellence in favour of being cool? Are the two mutually exclusive when it comes to restaurants? It would seem so, judging from the current data.
Fatah has a second Doku planned, for Miami's South Beach. What a perfect place for it: A land where looks matter above all else, style is more real than substance and partying is the new religion.
This year's Toronto Taste takes place Sunday, June 11, at the Hangar in Downsview Park. The event is a fundraiser for Second Harvest, a charity that picks up donated fresh food and delivers it to social-service programs.
More than 70 of the city's best chefs will be cooking, including David Lee of Splendido, Hiro Yoshida of Hiro Sushi, and Keith Froggett of Scaramouche. Tickets are $225, with a $125 income tax receipt.
Call 416-408-2594 or visit .
Lai Toh Heen, scion of the delectable Lai Wah Heen in the Metropolitan Hotel, opened last week. The Chinese tapas restaurant is located at 692 Mount Pleasant Rd., where Square used to be (416-489-8922).
Lola Steak Bistro at 2070 Yonge Street (416-932-0290) is making a big deal of its "lobster foie gras filet mignon burger" for $38. I called Mark McEwan for comment, because Bymark's $36.95 burger (with Brie de Meaux, porcini, summer truffles and onion rings) irritates many people with its outlandish price. McEwan was overjoyed. "At last," he said, "a more expensive burger than Bymark's."
Unfortunately for him, Lola's $38 silliness is not a burger. How sad we are to find bread topped with a small filet mignon, topped with a slice of foie gras, topped with a lobster claw. Expensive, yes; snazzy, undoubtedly. But it's not a burger. Mark, the crown remains yours.