We here at Eat North have long been fans of chef Eva Chin, following her from afar as she continues to do dynamic things in the Toronto food scene. One of the things we have come to especially look forward to is the chef's annual Lunar New Year menus at Avling Kitchen & Brewery.
This year, it has me this close to hopping on a plane just for dinner!
On January 28, the chef will be offering up a five-course Lunar New Year set menu at $88 per person (there is also a vegetarian menu available) from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The menu includes everything from a dim sum platter to kick things off (with beef and tangerine peel siu mai, honey-glazed char siu sausage rolls and more) to yu sang lo hei ("prosperity toss") salad with cured BC rockfish, honey pomelo and violet moon plum vinaigrette, and braised cornish game hen with longevity noodles and eight treasures.
For dessert, chef Eva Chin has created a sweet potato and coconut tapioca dessert soup with warm sea buckthorn nian gao (Chinese New Year cake). The sea buckthorn and the aforementioned rockfish are both great examples of how the chef strives to incorporate ingredients that are identified as "Canadian" into contemporary Chinese dishes.
Reservations for for Avling's Lunar New Year dinner on January 28 can be made via Tock.
Avling also has something pretty cool happening the week prior by way of their Hokkaido Brunch and Dinner ($45 and $85 per person respectively) on January 22 featuring a collaborative menu by Chin and New York-based chef Emily Yuen, as well as sake pairings and insight from author and Air Canada enRoute's Canada's Best New Restaurants writer Nancy Matsumoto.
