Torake is a newly opened modern Japanese restaurant in Richmond (130 – 9471 No. 2 Road) using Japanese and French techniques.
The eatery is run by two young chefs who formerly honed their talents at local restaurants including Boulevard and Jess’ Restaurant.
Their minimalist space features bar seating as well a few dining tables.
They currently offer two tasting menu options in their soft opening phase: a regular one at $88 and premium one at $120.
I tried their premium tasting menu and had made a reservation with them over Instagram.
To start, the amuse bouche was a deep-fried shiso leaf with local uni and ikura. The shiso leaf was nicely crispy and the fresh uni was creamy.
Next was madai (Japanese sea bream) sashimi with pickled vegetables and ponzu sauce.
There was the sous-vide octopus with eggplant puree, marinated eggplant and cherry tomato. The octopus had just the right texture and was tender and not overly chewy.
The tempura course featured ebi (deep fried shrimp); hotaru ika (firefly squid); and vegetables. I loved how hot and crispy the tempura were.
The chawanmushi had steamed egg custard, seafood, mushroom, and crab sauce. This was a hearty dish with a rice, flavourful crab sauce.
The sushi courses included
- Akami Zuke (soy marinated tuna)
- King Salmon
- Otoro (fattiest part of tuna)
- Engawa (flounder)
- Mizayaki Wagyu
- Foie Gras
The portions of fish offered were pretty reasonable and perhaps the ratio of fish to rice was a bit more than I would expect.
There was also a fluffy block of tamagoyaki. The negitoro (diced raw tuna) handroll came with a crisp seawood so it was recommended to eat as quickly as possible.
The dessert was a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake made with Cacao Barry with lovely plating.
The service was friendly and polite. I thought all the dishes were executed nicely and portions were reasonable. The only thing was the timing of the dishes as Chef was quite eager and I felt some of the sushi courses came too quickly for me. It might also be due to the fact that the fish were mostly pre-cut and just assembled before serving. He presented them to me one by one. There’s not much of a show from the Chef happening at the sushi bar.
In general, I had a good time at Torake.
