New Years Eve At Dailo!

If the key to my heart is food, Dailo definitely opened the door. So, let me share with you my amazing New Year’s Eve 8 course dinner at Dailo! I would highly recommend this restaurant to people who want to try a unique fusion of Chinese and French cuisine. Chef Nick Liu does an amazing job of giving a modern twist to his ancestral dishes!

Dailo is located on College Street; a cozy spot with dim lighting and my absolute favourite colour scheme (turquoise and gold). The wallpaper features beautiful exotic birds and eclectic assortment of flowers and with actual chains draped over top.

The service was prompt, although it was New Year’s Eve. The restaurant filled up very quickly, soon after we arrived at 7:00 pm. The server was very intuitive, as well as knowledgeable. He described each dish impeccably, letting us know what we were getting ourselves into.

To start off, each person gets a tapas style dish of shrimp toast and Foie Gras. The Foie Gras was a perfect combination with the slight crunch of the shrimp toast; although I’m not going to lie I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Foie Gras (definitely an acquired taste). For those of you who didn’t know, Foie Gras is French for duck “fat liver” and it has a very buttery flavor.

Next we were served two small bowls of “oysters and pearls.” This dish had a very rich flavor due to the truffle custard. The custard had premium Acadian sturgeon caviar, which is the best in Canada and produced in New Brunswick. For those of you who didn’t know too much about caviar let me fill you in a little. This caviar is unique worldwide because it comes from a fully saltwater sturgeon which makes it full flavored! There were also high end Japanese white soy balls called shoyu pearls (which are basically soya sauce).

The smoked duck prosciutto puffed rice “carbonara” came next as a sharing plate. I personally love the flavor of duck, so this dish was one of my favorites. When I first got the dish my initial reaction was “it tastes like rice krispies”, probably because I found out later that it was actually rice which was deep fried to create the rice krispy form. The server explained to me that there was a cured duck yolk sauce used to create this dish which is a Taiwanese delicacy.

Next we had a sharing plate of “General Tso Sweetbread”; what seemed to taste like an amazing Hakka chicken dish was actually sweetbread. Sweetbread is not actually sweetbread! Sweetbread is an organ meat from the thymus gland (neck) of veal cooked in milk. If someone told me this before, I’m not sure how keen I would have been to try it. I’m glad I did though, because it was absolutely delicious!

Who doesn’t like noodles? We had a small bowl of “Japanese Bolognese” as the next course, the beef was cooked to perfection (medium), the basil and tomato consommé in the broth brought hints of life to this subtle dish.

Then came the grand entrance of the whole lobster. I can’t even start to describe the mouthwatering combination of almond, garlic, chili and basil. It came with sticky rice and all the tools needed to crack the lobster. It was time to tuck in my napkin and get messy!

Even though we were stuffed, who can say no to dessert! The aloe sake sorbet was very refreshing and was followed by coconut rice pudding and chocolate mochi. It was a heavy end to dinner, but the flavors were not too over powering.

The unique combinations and flavors left my taste buds begging for more after each course! I love trying new places and new foods, and if you also enjoy the same, I would highly recommend this place as one of the must try’s in Toronto!

#Foodoftoronto #Dailo

Zahra Dattu

Instagram : @zaradee.xo

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