Best brunch restaurants in Toronto in 2017

Best restaurants in North York Toronto in 2017

SCARAMOUCHE RESTAURANT

 1 Benvenuto Pl., 416-961-8011
It’s still the most elegant restaurant in town. We adore the deluxe ambiance, the smoother-than-silk service, and of course the food that is impeccable. The cuisine is a complicated mixture of contemporary and classic bar mitzvah toronto. Like big fat scallops with jazzy relish of Meyer lemon, shaved raw veg grace and pistachio and olive notes. And superbly moist house-pickled pastrami having a side of foie gras mousse on toast having a designer salad of toasted hazelnuts with dots of prune puree beside endive and poached pears. Intelligent combos. Who slightly smokes set and fresh sturgeon sits white perfection atop spaetzle with trumpet mushrooms and pickled apple? Or serves soft quail with foie gras and other fab fixings? It’s for a Big Night Out where better than the soothing pleasure palace on the hill, although not trendy.

YASU

 81 Harbord St., 416 477 2361
Yasu’s devotion to excellent sushi is unwavering, which is the reason why it’s such a reservation that is difficult to get. They book 30 days out for his or her set dinner, $80 for 18 perfect pieces if sushi made before your eyes and delivered in a serene and measured minuet. No more, no less. No teriyaki, no tempura, virtually no tables. Only a small simple white room with each of the dazzle on the tongue. 12 lucky people sit in the sushi bar watching chef Yasuhisa Ouchi and his helpers do the hand dance, preparing one sushi at a time. You get what was flown in that week, from around the world: Ruby red ocean trout from Scotland, although it changes depending on fish markets. Impossibly sweet scallops from Gasp, Japan or either Hokkaido. Sweet fresh uni from Japan so chip it breaks like glass. Deep red rich toro tuna like butter. Monkfish liver with shiso leaf and ponzu sauce. Just seared hay smoked Spanish mackerel with chili and grated daikon. Like a jewel box that is edible.

LA CASCINA RISTORANTE

 1552 Avenue Rd., 416-590-7819
Chef Luca Del Rosso is that rare man who challenges himself every night to make an ever-changing menu composed mostly of the foods his grandmother made in Abruzzo. This is the countryside Italian cooking that numerous fake to but few master, for it's deceptively simple but many-layered. Chef woos us with his various excellent homemade pastas, frequently scented with truffles. He cooks it with passion and sources meat. Dinner is a long multi-course unfolding of a narrative that is enchanting. Who cares if both room and place are anti-fashionable? This is Italian style, the true deal.

BYBLOS

 11 Duncan St., 647 660 0909
Associates Charles Khabouth (king of clubs) and Hanif Harji bring us dazzling Mediterranean cuisine. Eastern Mediterranean. No hummus ‘n’ pita here. Instead we find remarkable octopus with fingerling potatoes, chili vinaigrette and preserved lemon, uber-crispy bread salad with barely marinated veg, lamb ribs that sell out most nights (and for good reason), a healthy salad of beets with yogurt which has no right to taste this great. Two desserts stand out: Flourless yogurt cake, a combination between cheesecake and panna cotta but lighter and more appetizing than both. And deep fried pastry cream with strawberry fragments on top. To entice us additional — for the Khabouth/Harji mandate is enchantment you can buy — everyone makes an entry at Byblos, down the light cream stairs into the light buzzy room that discusses metaphorically but not literally of a seashore on a Greek isle.

SHOUSHIN

 3328 Yonge Street., 416 488 9400
Walking into Shoushin is similar to entering a Japanese zen garden. Decide to sit either one of only 2 in North America made of rare Japanese Hinoki wood, at the sushi bar, or rest your naked feet on river rocks in a recessed Tatami. The experience is kicked by excellent service up a notch, why it made the list, but the food is. Tuna trio boasts 3 versions of fattiness, cut in ample portions and impeccably fresh. Cooked dishes are rather good too, notably the bonito- spiked miso soup with sweet baby clams. Omakase comes in $80, $120, and $250 versions. If you’re starving go for the middle one, but unless you’re into waygu the top alternative isn’t worth the cash.

PEOPLES EATERY

 307 Spadina Ave., 416 792 1784
The Ave’s ultra hipster goto watering hole before his teeth cut at Susur, and serves small plates that are quite fine thanks to exec chef Dustin Gallagher, who was the chef at Grace and comes from the owners of 416 Snack Bar. Hence the fusion Orientalia on the menu: Pretty good Peking duck and superb crisp General Tso’s tofu. Chubby scallops served on a mini -hibachi with miso mustard eggplant, braised daikon and wonderful yuzu beurre blanc. Wonderful trout sashimi bathed with salad on top and kewpie mayo, in snazzy kimchi. The Avenue’s Jewish history is saluted by chef with crispy infant latkes topped with pastrami, sour cream and pickled shallots -spiced smoked trout. From after-work cocktails that are crafty ’n’ munchies to late night winding down, this is actually the area to be. But cramped and tiny so expect it to feel like a sardine can that is delectable.

JABISTRO

 222 Richmond St. W., 647-748-0222
Till Miku opened, Ja was Toronto’s only outpost of aburi (blow-torched) and oshi (pressed) sushi. Amusing how Ja is much popular . With that comes marginally harried service and less focus on detail. We still adore their aburi and oshi, and the likes of fatty tuna handrolls with tuna that melts on nori and the tongue that crackles like glass. Agedashi is a grandeur of smoky Japanese soup stock with green onion, deep fried BC clams and eggplant. And adroit to infuse miso soup! The house special JaBistroll is real crab, uni and salmon rolled in rice studded with flying fish roe in sauce that’s a cross between hollandaise and light mayonnaise — delightful. Skip the green tea crème brûle — It’s a tad hefty.

ZEN JAPANESE

 7634 Woodbine Ave., Unit 3., 905-604-7211
Some of the most effective sushi in Toronto is in Markham. But all and enter Zen is … zen. One can sit at a table, but best alternative would be to reserve seats at the sushi bar (they’re popular with cognoscenti) and see the three sushi masters create. Omakase here is distinctive from elsewhere: It might be either sushi or sashimi. Purchase agedashi tofu as appetizer and go omakase sushi. The tofu is appetizer, perfectly fried crispy/soft tofu topped with crisp nori shreds and chili in a bowl of smoky rich dashi broth, both soup and an emblematic program. Subsequently the sushi master does foreplay: He grates fresh green wasabi root from Japan, and asks whether you’d like him to brush your sushi with soy (to avoid overpowering it by you dunking in soy). The delight is on: Swoon over fluke (both abdomen and fin parts), mackerel, amberjack, bluefin tuna belly, impossibly soft sea eel. There are untranslatable fresh fish the sushi rice is warm and soft. It ends Super fresh uni in crisp nori. “Eat it quick,” counsels the sushi master. He'dn’t need the nori to go soggy.