Edible Obsessions | Torafuku 2017 DineOut

Dy-No-Mite Roll - Torafuku 2017 DineOut

Torafuku is a contemporary Pan Asian restaurant that is just on the cusp of Chinatown. Many of us pass by it without even a second glance, but this hole in the wall is far larger and bursting with amazing energy. I was appalled by how full this restaurant was and it is only a testament of their delicious menu items.

Their menu is set up slightly different from other Dineout Restaurant participants. The Torafuku menu is set up to be shared family style; however, it also means you can only choose one dish from each category. For those of you who know me, I am not a big seafood eater, but my friend really wanted to try Torafuku and since I always end up choosing the places we dine at, it only seemed fair to let her have one pick.

Rye So Messy Chicken Wings - Torafuku 2017 DineOut

We went with the Dy-No-Mite roll as our first appetizer. The roll contained prawn tempura, avocado, cucumber, steelhead, fresh mango and togo aioli. I picked out the prawn tempura and steelhead and gave it to my friend, but the remaining parts of the roll were delicious! Also, when it comes to me, you can never go wrong with fresh mango.

For the second appetizer, we ordered the Rye So Messy Chicken Wings - literally finger licking delicious ramen crumble coated, Rye and Korean chilli marinade finished with mango glaze (yes mango) and kfc sauce. The chicken wings were crispy and full of flavour, with a bit of sweetness from the mango glaze to balance the spice from the marinade. The meat practically fell off the bone. Probably some of the best chicken wings I have ever had and also the fanciest!

Fresh Off the Boat - Torafuku 2017 DineOut

Torafuku also earns some bonus points from me as they served some complimentary dishes in addition to the menu items. From what I could observe, all diners also received garlic popcorn and a big bowl of kale salad! I have never had kale salad before, so this was a first for me. I know, I live in Vancouver and I have not had a kale salad?! Just think of spinach, but requiring three times more chewing due to it being far more fibrous. So definitely a bit of a mandible workout.

As I mentioned earlier, my friend really wanted to try Torafuku, so I wanted her to choose the menu items and even if it meant choosing something more seafood focused. We had the FOB (Fresh off the Boat) as our entree. Sitting in a bowl of "fuku" style Laksa was artfully arranged crab, scallops, prawns, clams, salmon, market veggies and a flakey puff pastry. Laksa is a Malaysian Chinese full of flavour soup that I sopped up with the puff pastry. My friend ate all of the seafood and said it was perfectly cooked and bursting of flavour. I am going to take her word for it as we both are huge foodies!

The Milk & Cookie - Torafuku 2017 DineOut

Of course, when you are with me, no meal is complete unless it involves dessert!!! Torafuku must have known I was coming because they did not limit us to only one dessert between the two of us. I wish all restaurants could follow in Torafuku's exemplary dessert rule. The Milk & Cookie was a refreshing vanilla panna cotta with a layer of yuzu gelee and a garnish of raspberry coulis and an almond black sesame shortbread. Astonishingly I was so full from the meal that I could not finish the panna cotta. The oddly named "magic stick," was a creamy chocolate ganache sitting atop of a hazelnut feuilletine and matcha crumble and a scoop of condensed milk ice cream. I tend to not like ganache heavy torte like chocolate desserts as they tend to be just a big piece of dense chocolate. However, the condemned milk ice cream was divine and the matcha crumble was a great textural addition to this dessert. Between the two desserts, I would probably go with he panna cotta unless you really like chocolate tortes, then choose the magic stick.

The Magic Stick - Torafuku 2017 DineOut

This was a great dine out experience and I highly recommend Torafuku if you are still planning on doing a dine out. You could taste the freshness of the ingredients they used and the staff was alert and attentive regardless of how insanely packed the restaurant was. I even fell a little ill during the dinner, I vomited the first course, but the staff were so sweet and checked on me throughout the night.

Let me know in the comments below what Dine Out 2017 restaurants you have visited.

BYES