We really enjoyed Frilu and was sad when it closed. However So Sakata, the chef at Frilu, is now cooking at Dopamina, which opened last fall. It’s an airy space, with lots of natural light. The location is a bit odd, just around the corner from Women’s College Hospital, not exactly a hotbed of fine dining. The food is generally excellent, so I hope they can do well. We easily booked a larger party on a Saturday night. Service was very attentive and informative.
While waiting for others, we sipped on a lovely cocktail Sun’s Out Rum’s Out: Appleton’s, Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur, mango-thyme purée, and yuzu marmalade tea. We then shared three bottles of wine:
- Domaine De Belleviere “Astrancia”, Rosé, Ventoux, Loire, 2021 - red fruits and refreshing.
- Frank Phelan, St. Estephe, Bordeaux, 2017 - still good fruit, with softer tannins
- Chateau Musar, Hochar Pere et Fils, Lebanon, 2020 - quite interesting, lots of cherries, but not as good as some of the other wines from this producer.
We started off with pillowy-soft Japanese milk bread with white sesame butter. We had to resist ordering more.
The daily crudo featured BC spot prawns with Beluga caviar, whey, burnt cream, and lemon thyme - sweet delicate prawns, nicely accented with the other elements.
Gem salad came with a shiso and cucumber dressing, pear, and horseradish - sounded kinda boring, but this was great and we ordered a repeat.
Grilled asparagus lay on an umami-rich white miso vinaigrette, and was topped with shredded dried egg yolk and guanciale - very nice.
Gnocchi was simply and deliciously done with fresh peas, pesto, and pecorino romano.
The other past was even better, with squid ink dumplings filled with chorizo and lobster, with a parsley sauce.
Barely cooked steelhead trout came in a rich clam dashi, studded with roe and accompanied by some wilted greens - gorgeous and one of the best dishes overall.
In a fun take on schnitzel. Ibérico pork was expertly fried with a sesame-inflected coating and then served with green apple and sansho gremolata.
Desserts are the one area needing improvement. Baked chocolate custard was not that remarkable, although the tonka cheesecake ice cream was quite nice
Gin cake with passionfruit & gin syrup and salted mascarpone sounded interesting, but was also only OK.
Will be going back to further investigate.
