Evolutionary Eclectic Fusion

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e have been on quite the journey these passed weeks as we’ve visited, indulged, and analyzed the fruitful dishes from Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Japan, India, Sweden , Holland, and Australia. Now we wanted to spice up our next encounter for mouth watering and taste bud blasting dishes. And we have found it! Nestled around the corner from Front and Wellington Street located in the St Lawrence Market/Old Town area of downtown Toronto is Colborne Lane. You would never think to find such an amazing yet hidden gem of a restaurant on this back alley street. This style of food is categorized as Contemporary Eclectic or Fusion. Fusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions and cultures that usually don’t tie in with each other, or you would think so before trying. Its presentation on the plate is neatly placed in a way that accentuates its mystery, flavors, colors, and a dare to try it. Claudio Aprile is the owner and Executive chef of this innovative and highly acclaimed restaurant.  He is the only chef in Toronto to receive 6 out of 5 stars.

 His concept is based on more art and flavor than it is on portions. You are advised to order two appetizers or two entrees depending on your hunger. As mentioned before, the dishes preparation revolves around exquisite taste rather than a full plate. I had the privilege to sit down here on a Friday night and be captured from the outside noises to have my senses guide me to a whole new level. You will be in for a treat when it comes to the taste, but you will also be in for a ride when it comes to the bill. Appetizers range from $14-18, which include salads, duck confit, soups, and mousse influenced dishes with fruits and vegetables.  Entrees start at $29 a dish and go up to $41. You then have the delicacy of desserts.  The cheapest dessert starts at $12 and rises to $17. Now, as to some this price range may sound absurd but let me reassure you that you will not be disappointed with the atmosphere, the service, and the rush of euphoria that is going to explode and rush through your body when you take that first bite.This is not an everyday restaurant and should be treated as a privilege to not only afford it but experience every moment in here.

Enough with the teasing let us get down to brass tax and talk details on the beautifully crafted dishes.  Here’s a quick list of some of the succulent dishes available at Colborne Lane. 

micro greens- bitter orange + sunflower seeds + coiled root vegetables

squash soup- duck confit + brown butter + maple + asian pear

foie gras- mousse + apricot + brioche + elderflower + hibiscus
beet salad -grapefruit + fennel sponge + pecan + goat's cheese
seared scallops- coconut milk + sweet chili + citrus fruit + thai basil + crème fraiche
risotto wild mushroom + reggiano + whipped mascarpone + black truffle

arctic char butter-poached lobster + beluga lentils + braised leeks + lemon
black cod saikyo miso + egg tofu + hot and sour mushroom broth + yu choy
lamb loin manchego polenta + tomato + king oyster mushroom + purple basil

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hether you’ve tried it all or you think you have, you haven’t. The amount of science and evolving that will go in to food will be never ending. This is just the beginning. I highly advise you make an appointment, take a date, family, or by yourself, but just go!
Bon Appétit!

Saucy Aussie

The end of World War II brought a great deal of  change in  the Australian cuisine. People from Europe and Asia brought new crops, seasonings, and cooking methods with them. Wheat, rice, oranges, bananas, and grapes are just a few of the crops that grow in abundance throughout the country. Meat has always been a large part of the Australian diet. However, Australians began to be concerned about controlling cholesterol and fat in their diet like many other countries around the world, and have began to decrease their consumption of meat slightly toward the end of the twentieth century. Kangaroo, was once a popular meat in Australia's early history, however, is no longer widely consumed. Today beef, lamb, pork, poultry, and seafood are more common in Australia.Another interesting fact is that Australians call ketchup tomato sauce.

A typical breakfast in Australia may consist of fruit, toast with Vegemite which is a salty yeast spread, fried eggs and bacon, and juice. Lunch may be an apple or a salad with a sandwich filled with tuna or deli meats, and an ANZAC biscuit for a treat. (ANZAC is the acronym for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. Many people think these biscuits were first prepared for troops around 1915 during World War I. A typical Australian dinner often includes leg of lamb or barbecued prawns, roasted vegetables, a salad, and a custard or tart for dessert. Damper , a simple homemade bread, and billy tea , named for the pot it is heated in, both remain a staple for any meal. The national dish of Australia is often considered to be meat pies.

Most Australians spend holidays with family and participate in special events and prepare a festive meal. Since the temperatures are a lot milder than they are here in Canada, meals are often consumed outdoors at a picnic or on the beach. Because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are the opposite of those in North America and Europe. Christmas falls in the middle of summer, when most school children are on their summer vacation. A typical Christmas menu may include a variety of hot and cold meats, seafood, pasta, salads, and many types of desserts. Mince pies, fruitcake, shortbread, and plum pudding are also popular      after-dinner treats.

Easter is also widely celebrated in Australia. A traditional menu consists of roast lamb, beef, or chicken with roasted vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, peas, or broccoli. Seafood, lasagna, and salads are also favorites. Pavlova, an elegant dessert made of egg whites and sugar and garnished with fruit, is a popular Easter dessert. Most children prefer candy, and chocolate eggs are Easter favorites. Treats are often shaped like an Easter bilby, an endangered Australian mammal that resembles the North American Easter bunny.

Plentiful Poland

Polish cuisine is a mixture of eastern european (Lithuanian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, and German) culinary traditions, with some Russian, Italian, and Turkish influence. It is rich in meat, especially beef, chicken and pork, and winter vegetables (cabbage in the dish), and spices, as well as different kinds of noodles. Polish cuisine is hearty and uses a lot of cream and eggs. The traditional cuisine generally is demanding in preparation, and Poles allow themselves a generous amount of time to prepare and enjoy their festive meals. As a decent of Polish ethniticity myself, I can assure you these are very filling dishes packed with flavors that will keep you coming back for more. How else do you think we survived drastic conditions during the war?

   The first notorious dish that comes to mind when people think of Polish cuisine is Pierogis. An affiliated dumpling made up of dough filled with various fillings ranging from sauerkraut, potato and cheese with bacon, to blueberries. There are traditional ways of eating these filling fixings. If you've purchased these frozen from a restauraunt or store then you would boil them until they have rised to the top of the pot. Follwed by frying them in a pan with butter until slightly crisped. Finally, finished with a side of sour cream for dipping. Can't go wrong with this dish.

 Traditional main meals are eaten around 2 p.m. or later, and is usually composed of three courses, starting with a soup, such as popular rosol (which consists of a whole chicken, olive oil, bay leaves, egg noodles, black pepper, carrots and celery soaked in the juices, a great remedy when sick.) Borscht (beet) soup that consists of chunks of beets with celantro and a a touch of cream to give it that sweet, thickened taste, or kapushnak (a sauerkraut soup with ribs slow cooked in apple juice prior to going in to the soup, black pepper, bay leaves, salt, olive oil, and V8 juice.) followed by an appetizer of herring (prepared in either cream, oil, or vinegar). Other popular appetizers are various cured meats, vegetables or fish. The main course is usually meaty including a roast or kotlet schabowy (breaded pork cutlet). Vegetables, shredded root vegetables with lemon and sugar (carrot, celery, beetroot) or sauerkraut are great common additions.

A famous dish not commonly known but was notorious for its simplicity and strength to fill your stomach was called Kupitkee, a poor mans dish. This dish is made up of boiled potatoes to the point of soft and mushy, tossed in a frying pan with sauteed onions and buttermilk. During World War conditions, potatos and onions were anbundance and cheap. Making this an easy, cheap, filling dish for people.

An amazing dish I have found that can be easily butchered if not prepared properly is cabbage rolls. This long awaited dish takes time to prepare and cook but is worth every minute of patience. Green cabbage is peeled, cut (the back stem to flatten and used to roll the fillings), ground beef is tossed in a bowl with seasonings, steamed rice, and tossed to incorporate all flavors evenly. The fillings are then placed in the cabbage and rolled and wrapped like a mini-dumpling. Carefully placed in a roast pot layered with cabbage leafs to cover and hold in heat and flavor, topped with a generous pouring of V8 juice for the rolls to soak in. Usually takes about an hour plus to cook. With preperation and cooking time, your looking at waiting for atleast three hours. Depending on how much you make and how handy you are around the kitchen. Thankfully, we have restaurants and loving grandmothers to aid us in our sin for rich, flavored dishes.  

If your wondering what happens at a Polish dinner table around Christmas time, keep reading. A traditional Christmas Eve supper usually consists of borscht with ravioli– a classic Polish starter, followed by fried carp fillet with potato salad. Carp provides a main component of the Christmas Eve meal across Poland. Other popular dishes include pickled matjas herring, pierogies filled with white cheese and potatoes, cabbage rolls, fish soup, keilbasa sausages, hams and bigos (savory stew of cabbage and meat) and vegetable salads.

Thankfully for Toronto and it being the most multicultural city in the world, you won't have a problem finding a place to eat here. Whether you live here or are visiting, I advise you to capitalize on this and visit one of the 8'000 places to eat. Roncesvalles is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto centred around a north-south street leading from the intersection of King and Queen St. Also notorious for the Polish community. Also Lakeshore West and The Queensway in Etobicoke from Park Lawn to Longbranch has Polish influence. IZBA on The Queensway west is a great, cozy, casual spot to enjoy authentic dishes. Moderately priced from $10-$20 a dish that will lead you to an enjoyable experience. Another great spot to try out for a great date is Cafe Polonez located on Roncesvalles Avenue. Again, casual, quiet spot with a reasonably priced menu for those looking for a cheap, yet rich and filling plate. The list goes on and on, but you won't be dissapointed with any of these ma and pa shops constantly practicing, authentic, traditional family recipes generation after generation.

The Hungry Hungarian

Traditional Hungarian dishes are primarily based on meats, seasonal vegetables, fruits, fresh bread, cheeses and honey. Hungarians tend to be extremely passionate when it comes to their soups, desserts and pastries and the way they prepare their meals.  Some very famous meals in Hungary include Paprikás which is a paprika stew with meat simmered in thick creamy paprika gravy and is often served with nokedli which are more well known as small dumplings. Goulash is another major dish served in Hungary and very well known. Goulash is usually made of beef, onions, vegetables, spices and ground paprika powder.

Hungarians are known around the world for their incredible soups and stews. Some of these include vegetable stews called főzelék as well as cold fruit soups, such as cold sour cherry soup. 

Meat stews, casseroles, steaks, roasted pork, beef, poultry, lamb or game and the Hungarian sausages which are called kolbász and salami are a major part of Hungarian cuisine. The mixing of different varieties of these meats is a very traditional feature in the way which Hungarian meals are prepared. A number of different kinds of noodles and dumplings, potatoes and rice are commonly served as a side dish with main meals. The Hungarian cuisine uses a variety of different cheeses. Some of the most common cheeses are túró , cream cheeses, juhturó, Trappista and Pálpusztai. Hungarian food is often described as being spicy, due to the wide use of hot paprika in a number of dishes.

In Hungary people usually have a large breakfast. A typical Hungarian breakfast generally is an open sandwich with fresh bread or toast, butter, cheese, cold cuts such as ham,), liver, bacon, salami, beef tongue, mortadella, disznósajt , and sausages. Breakfast can also consist of eggs, French toast, rice pudding, deviled eggs, cold steak, pancakes, fruit salads and a variety of pastries.

Lunch is the main meal served in the day in Hungary and several courses are generally served during this meal. Appetizers, which may include fish, eggs or liver are served as the first course, followed by a soup. After the soup has been served the main course is served and this typically consists of a sweet pastry, pancakes, some kind of meat item and a salads. Fruit is most often served following the main dish along with a dessert.

 Some people and children eat a light meal in the afternoon, which is called uzsonna. This is usually an open sandwich. 

Dinner is a much less significant meal than lunch in Hungary. It can be described as being very similar to a typical Hungarian breakfast, usually an open sandwich, yogurt, pancakes  and it almost always consists of only one course.