Korean cuisine is not familiar to me, so I had to ask an expert to join me when I dined at Kudara Korean & Japanese Restaurant. Sister #3 hosts international students in her home including those from South Korea and is a food expert in her own right.

She introduced me to Kyung Jae Lee, the gregarious owner of the four table spot.

The beautiful red walls and brightly coloured photos adorning the walls are as a warm and spritely as the proprietor.

“KJ” arrived in Canada in 1997 and purchased this location two and a half years ago. She and her husband prepare authentic Korean and sushi together.

We appreciated the miso soup to start, as it was a frigid winter day when we dined.

Soon after, a hot stone bowl arrived at the table heaped with steamed rice, stir fried veggies, marinated beef and a glistening egg yolk. The dish is dubbed Bibim Bap. Had my expert not been with me, I would not have known that the contents of the bowl are meant to be stirred up immediately so that the egg adheres to the other ingredients and gets cooked from the heat radiating from the bowl. The rice that was at the bottom of the basin stayed there the longest and became crunchy to the tooth. As a result, the complex flavours included sweet, savoury, tangy and salty and the textures ranged from silky to crispy. With the taste of one dish, I was hooked on Korean food!

As an intermission between our two Korean dishes, came a sushi duo of Yammy Yammy which is my sister’s all time favourite sushi roll

and a selection appropriately called the Academy Roll named by one the restaurant’s regular customers. Originally concocted by KJ’s son it contains avocado, crab, salmon and pink roe. The roll is then crispy fried and adorned with a drizzling of sweet chili and mustard sauces.

Last but not least, was the arrival of Dak Galbi-spicy marinated dark chicken meat, cabbage, onions, and carrot threads sizzling on a wrought iron platter. One taste and you too may become a fan of Korean food. My sister predicts it is the new ethnic cuisine trend.

Kath’s quote: “I love food, all types of food. I love Korean food, Japanese, Italian, French. In Australia, we don’t have a distinctive Australian food, so we have food from everywhere all around the world.”- Hugh Jackman

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

Living in River Heights has many advantages; the canopy of elm tree- lined streets is only one of many. The exceptional restaurants within walking distance of our home verge on gluttonous: Fusion Grill, In Ferno’s, Pizzeria Gusto, Chew, Bonfire Bistro, Mona Lisa and now right smack at the end of our street at 1670 Corydon Ave.: Enoteca Wine Repository!  We were very lucky to get a reservation on a recent Friday evening.  We had the choice of 5:30 or 9 pm.  We picked the former, thinking that we would be the only ones dining at such a gauche hour but such was not the case.  The little place was singing with happy diners.

We were celebrating Sister #3’s birthday so we let the guest of honour choose a couple of small plates to start us off.

First up were roasted beets and oranges accompanied by shards of fennel and horseradish and garnished with toasted pine nuts and pumpkin seeds along with a cool ladle of labneh (strained yoghurt).  Olive oil may have been drizzled onto the plate or perhaps the sparkling ingredients simply oozed their natural juiciness.

Along next was freshly made fettucine with lamb sugo which I would describe as a meaty broth, sugo literally meaning the natural juices of a roast. Chevre and a second sauce of parsley, garlic and lemon zest adorned the top and floated around the edges of the dish.

The piece de résistance was a braised short rib, pressed into a smoked potato puree and topped with oyster mushrooms and hot mustard. The essence of the dish was sauce perigeux which is made with Madeira and decadent and earthy, black truffles.  Just a little of the latter goes a long way.  This and all the sauces were so heavenly that we did something that we should have done at the start of the meal-we ordered a bread basket to lap up the sauce. The attentive serving staff tried to clear the plate a couple of times, but we continued to grasp it until the toasted bread arrived.

The Bread Pudding that the birthday girl chose was no ordinary bread pudding as it was made with buttery brioche. The caramel burnt butter sauce caramelized walnuts and in-house made ice cream put the humble dessert over the top.

As opposed to oohhing and ahhing about each dish separately, I have waited until this point. Each dish was simply sensational and it is hard to find the words to say the same thing over and over again.  Simply sensational…  The service is an added bonus to the food.  A team of servers took care of us under the leadership of waiter Doug.  We have met Doug before at Segovia and believe that he is one of the city’s best. That evening, my friend Laurie Hughes who is the publisher of Taste and Ciao Magazine was catching an early dinner with her daughter (in fact, she offered to take the photo of the three sisters).  She loved everything that they sampled too.  Praise from Laurie is high praise, indeed.  Go, just go.

Kath’s quote: “Anybody can make you enjoy the first bite of a dish, but only a real chef can make you enjoy the last.”-Francois Minot

Love-that is all.

Mona Lisa Ristorante Italiano at 1697 Corydon Ave., first opened its doors in 1983 (and we have been frequent visitors for 19 years), but continues to reinvent itself on a continual basis, adding to its size in both directions and renewing and refreshing its concept in unique and inventive ways.  I watched with interest as the latest facelift occurred and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to visit again.  When a business associate of mine suggested that we celebrate our mutual birthdays with a lunch, I knew that the time had come.

The new decor is upscale and elegant with crisp white linens and the outdoor patio which has always been one of my favourites, follows suit.  We whetted our appetites with slices of hot-from-the-oven bread which we dipped into a quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The menu at lunch is quite compact and this I believe is a good thing, preferring when a few items are prepared with particular expertise, rather than many offerings being done with mediocrity.  I did find it somewhat surprising that the only pasta offering was the pasta of the day: a penne with tomato sauce.  But, priced so affordably at $5 with an Italian salad adding another $5, my lunch date thought that it to be a satisfying lunch, especially for $10.  She also commented that the simple sauce was very tasty and well-balanced.

I was not so easy to please.  I read over the menu many times and just could not make up my mind.  So I decided to take a risk and ask our personable server to simply order whatever he thought that I would like the best.  After he inquired if I was partial to veal, he immediately suggested that I try their version with an accompaniment of Bocconcini and Tomato salad.  The escalopes were quickly turned with sautéed onions and accompanied by grilled eggplant, zucchini and red peppers in a simple, rustic presentation.  The addition of skinny slices of red onion was a nice twist on the classic Bocconcini salad rcipe, but required a wee bit of salt to enhance the flavour of the abundant tomato wedges.

Proprietor Joe Grande was enjoying his own lunch at a neighbouring table.  In all the years that I have been enjoying Mona Lisa’s fare, he is a constant figure.  On my last visit, he insisted that I tour the kitchen, to my delight.  The fresh pasta was being lovingly prepared and was drying on massive wooden racks.  The ancient process, still fascinates me every time I witness it.

Kath’s quotes:  “Also, since art is a vehicle for the transmission of ideas through form, the reproduction of the form only reinforces the concept. It is the idea that is being reproduced. Anyone who understands the work of art owns it. We all own the Mona Lisa. ” -Sol LeWitt

Love-that is all.