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This is the Thursday, Sept. 25 edition of Food Crawl, the Star’s weekly food newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week Mhel‘s Agebitashi, $16, 276 Havelock St. This is the first of the new Bib Gourmand entries in this year’s Michelin Guide that I’ll be checking out over the next few weeks. Bib Gourmand is Michelin’s designation for more affordable spots compared to its starred selections. While the prices here are higher than what I usually cover in Food Crawl, I think the value is still there, especially if you treat it more like a date night or special occasion meal. The menu at Mhel is dictated by what chef and co-owner Young Hoon Ji sources from local fisheries and farms. While it isn’t static, if the agebitashi is still available, it’s a great place to start. This Japanese dish features fried eggplant (the restaurant uses Mitoyo, an heirloom variety) and sweet lesya peppers from Tamarack Farms. Frying removes the grassy bitterness that raw eggplants and peppers can have, while rendering them tender-soft without turning mushy. The vegetables are then submerged and chilled in a light dashi (kelp and dried fish) and soy sauce-based broth, dotted with tiny sakura ebi (dried, pinkish whole shrimp). It’s rich in umami, but not so salty that I couldn’t resist drinking the broth straight from the bowl. A bit of finely grated ginger on top adds a cooling, peppery pop. I should’ve asked for the steamed rice to come out earlier to soak up the broth. The restaurant Opened in summer 2023, this 30-seat spot tucked on a side street near Dufferin subway station is run by husband-and-wife team Young Hoon Ji and Seung-Min Yi. “Mhel” translates to “anchovy” in the Jeju dialect — Yi’s mom is from the South Korean island — an apt name for a restaurant where subtle sweet and salty flavours from raw and charcoal-kissed fish, along with pickled vegetables inspired by Korean and Japanese cooking, are the common thread. The menu is a collection of small and medium-sized plates meant to be shared, ideally over bowls of steamed rice so you don’t waste a drop of sauce, marinade or broth. I always recommend grabbing a seat at the bar to watch the cooks gingerly grill pieces of fish and vegetables over charcoal, rotating the skewers with one hand while gently fanning the smoke with the other. Also on the menu There’s always some iteration of charcoal-grilled fish. On my visit, a piece of fatty kanpachi ($40) with ultra-crispy skin came with an auburn chorizo and sakura ebi sauce: sweet and savoury, with a whisper of heat that had me spooning every last drop over a bowl of steamed rice ($5). Specifically, it’s pearly, short-grain rice from Japan’s Shimane Prefecture, prized for pairing with fish thanks to its slightly sweet profile. A small plate of oiji muchim ($9) — Korean pickled cucumbers with sesame, garlic, and gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) — cut through the fattiness of the fish to round out the meal. On the drinks side, there’s an extensive sake list that climbs into the hundreds per bottle. I started with an aperitif of Kagura Mitsugo’s shiso liqueur, which reminded me of sweet cherry juice ($16 for two ounces). To finish, the purin (caramel pudding, $10), made with Sheldon Creek cream and Tamarack Farm maple syrup, adds a local twist to the classic Japanese dessert. Explore the area To kill time before my reservation, just around the corner from the restaurant is The Monkey’s Paw (1067 Bloor St. W.), a rare antique bookstore that always has a dependable selection of mid-century cooking pamphlets and entertaining guides that are always aspic-forward. After an early dinner, head across the street to catch a screening at Paradise Theatre (1006 Bloor St. W.), a destination for independent and classic films (the October calendar is stacked with back-to-back heavy hitters).
