I love prix-fixe menus, it’s like being carried through a set-up tasting journey set. Asia Food Fest, described as a “Winterlicious/Summerlicious for Asian cuisines” has rolled out from April 29th to May 15th exclusive to Asian restaurants with over 60 participants! Across the GTA, Asian cuisines of Korean, Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Thai/Laos have made their mark offering a special price for their house favourites.
Asia Food Fest 2016 is hosted by Fanta7 and co-organized by Sweven Media and CGICA. Sponsored by Lee Kum Kee, the very popular sauce brand name is also featured in dishes at various restaurants, also special mentions to the event water sponsor, VOSS. This post will be covering my experience at various selected Asia Food Fest restaurants.
1. KAKA All You Can Eat
An excerpt from the Asia Food Fest page about KAKA:
KAKA All You Can Eat, located in First Markham Place, offers new and vibrant experiences of Japanese Cuisine including various skewers and sushi rolls. An iPad is used to smooth and accelerate the ordering process. Be sure to make reservation!
“But how can an all-you-can-eat location have a set menu?!” You exclaim.
How it works is that you add $1 on top of the regular all-you-can-eat pricing ($27.99 on Mon-Thu, $31.99 on Fri-Sun), and you can enjoy items from their 12 specially created menu, four dishes in total trialed per person.
Between myself and Arp, we enjoyed five items. My two favourites are:
- Tuna & Salmon Tatami with soy vinaigrette & horseradish-yuzu aioli
- Red Wine Braised Beef Tongue (served ontop of horseradish potato puree traditionally, but we got a lettuce leaf on this round) and topped with pickled ginger
- Tempura shrimp on an asian slaw and soft tortilla with smoked paprika aioli
Cauliflower Soup & Curried Crab Meat with Spice Roasted Pepitas
Read this post for more pictures and details of my experience at KAKA.
2. Shanghai ShiKuMen Fine Cuisine
An excerpt from the Asia Food Fest page about Shanghai ShiKuMen Fine Cuisine:
ShangHai ShiKuMen is popular for its “Shanghai old flavor”. Exquisite and authentic Shanghai delicacies include the outstanding “House Special Braised Pork”, “Steamed Pork Buns”, and “Bamboo Shoot En Casserole”. Behind the food there lie old Shanghai culture and sentiments.
Shanghai Cuisine is a new one to me, I felt fortunate to enjoy the menu although not understanding the background of each dish in the owner’s words. Shanghai ShiKuMen presents two menu options for a group of 4 ($27/pp) or 6 ($24.50) throughout Asia Food Fest.
Bring a group of friends and enjoy, my selected pick would be amongst a group of 4, the House Special Braised Pork, Pigeon Soup with Conch and Chinese Caterpillar Fungus and Twin Mushrooms with Vegetables are each highly anticipated dishes.
Read this post for more pictures and details of my experience at Shanghai ShiKuMen.