Slice of Asia

Dubai: Dining at Toshi, we had Asia on our plates. Chinese duck, Japanese edamame, Malaysian satay, Indonesian goreng… why bother taking a physical culinary tour of Asia, when you can experience it all under one roof?

On that Saturday night, my partner and I wanted variety. We’d just come to the tail end of a day that needed an adventurous meal to round it off. And adventure was what we got at Toshi.

We started our journey with chilled cocktails and steamed edamame (Japanese young soy beans), before moving on to an Asian must-have: a bowl of steaming Miso soup. Normally, the soothing white miso paste, infused in water, with seaweed and soft tofu is the balm to all my aches. It’s my pick-me-up, as well as my I’m-on-top-of-the-world dish. So, when the soup did arrive, perfectly presented in deep white bowls with silver spoons to drink from (not traditional, I know, but then again, I was at a five-star restaurant, not a streetside café in Japan), I was ecstatic.

The colour was right, the aroma was perfect. But first spoon in and something was off. Way too much miso and not enough water, made me skip the soup and move on to my starters instead: the cleverly presented Toshi Signature Sushi dish, the Caterpillar, while my partner dug into the Toshi Chef’s Special: a mix of six sushi, nine sashimi and four maki rolls.

As delightfully fresh and masterfully cut as the sushi and sashimi was, I was still more impressed with the way my Caterpillar arrived. Similar to an unagi roll, the Caterpillar, an inside out sushi roll, came stuffed with rice smoked eel, along with crabsticks and cucumber, topped with avocado. The orange fish roe on the top and crabstick eyes often makes the Caterpillar a children’s favourite.

Moving on from the giggles of the dish, it was time to get serious with our main course. Having gone the Japanese route thus far, we decided to venture to a new cuisine.

Keen on his mission of finding the best Peking Duck in Dubai, my partner dined on China’s imperial era favourite, expertly rolling the crisp skinned flesh into the paper-thin pancakes with strips of scallion and other finely cut vegetables and a sweet hoisin sauce.

While my partner continued his journey through the flavours of Beijing, I travelled further south into the inroads of Indonesia, sampling the country’s favourite rice dish, Nasi Goreng. This Indonesian version of fried rice came along with a fried egg on top and chicken and prawn skewers in a satay sauce. Although not the most appetising dish at first glance, it’s hard to resist the goodness of the sweet soy sauce, mixed in with the chilli after first bite.

Despite our best efforts, the servings were too large to work through entirely, and with a heavy heart, I had to bid goodbye to about half a plateful of some of the tastiest rice I’ve eaten.

For dessert, I ordered a plate of the Malaysian Pisang Goreng, deep fried banana rounds served with green tea ice cream and a brown sugar sauce. Although not a fan of the slightly-soft outer shell, the warm, gooey banana on the inside, mixed in with the caramelised sugar, made this dish finger-licking tasty.

My partner’s ordinary sounding Lychee (a South East Asian fruit) Tart was the surprise hit of the evening though. Juicy, fresh and light enough to eat two of, the tart went down a hit, more so that I ever dared imagine.

Walking away from it all, at the end of an evening well spent, I realised that this wasn’t the last time I would make the long drive back to Tecom, all for the pleasure of one more shot at authentic South-East Asian food.