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| - When I see Asian fusion or as Nick Liu calls it "New Asian Cuisine", I'm usually skeptical as it usually equates to small portions with high prices. I don't mind paying for good food, but if I can get something similar in Chinatown than the place had to offer, then it's nothing special and just hyped up by being known as Asian fusion because of an extra ingredient or two.
I have walked by DaiLo on many occasions and was always curious to try the place because of Nick Liu, but being known as an Asian fusion place, it just kept me astray.
My first visit was last week and upon entering the restaurant, the hostess was very welcoming and friendly. The place is beautifully adorned with both Asian and western furnishings which is fitting for the Asian fusion restaurant. Plus I love how the DaiLo was designed to look like Chinese character which adds a nice flair for the Asian inspired menu with some modern western touches.
I was happy my first visit was with a good sized group of five to try their tapas style menu. The chef's tasting menu looked like a great deal priced at $55/person, but since we had a few people at the table with food allergies we couldn't choose that option because everyone at the table must order the tasting menu. Therefore, we ordered a variety of plates to share that varied in food quantities and prices.
Fried watermelon ($9): sounded odd, but interesting at the same time. Anything fried is good, right? Watermelon was lightly breaded and fried to a nice crisp served with bean sprouts, basil leaves, pickled melon rind, pork floss. The flavours definitely blended well together and was very tasty. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste.
Fried Silken Tofu ($11) was served with a smoky miso sauce, seaweed salad, honey mushrooms. Seemed a little pricey for what we received, but the tofu was definitely silky and smooth and all the ingredients tasted well together. Plus again anything fried is good.
Ponzu Beef Carpaccio ($12): 90 day Olliffe rib cap, yuzu soy caramel, truffle dwarf peach, pickled chili, fried garlic, cilantro. It was definitely flavourful, but a little too saucy for my liking (which is unusual as I like sauces) and all the ingredients seemed to mask the real taste of the beef. I guess I'm just used to beef carpaccio as a stand alone meat dish that is lightly marinated with no saucy residue.
Mapo "Doufo" Halloumi ($14): Montforte halloumi with grilled scallions, black bean chili sauce, fried chilies and garlic. For the small dish we received this seemed very overpriced as we only received perhaps a handful of the halloumi in small pieces (i.e. 5 pieces perhaps 6)
Sticky rice at $3 per bowl was a little on the dried side and not as sticky as I would expect it to be. I only had a few spoonfuls which I drenched with sauce from the silken tofu dish.
Sweet and Sour Pork Hock ($14): Po Po's original sauce, crispy shallot, garlic, almond crumble served in a small bowl with a side of jelly fish slaw. The pork definitely tasted like my grandma's sweet and sour pork spareribs minus the almond crumble. Pork was tasty, but rather small in portion as we probably received 10 pieces of pork.
WIld BC side stripe prawn Banh Xeo ($20): This dish is a fried Vietnamese crepe served with with pork terrine, bean sprouts. basil, chili jam vinegar which needs to be cut into portions, then placed in lettuce leaf and wrapped like a roll. It was delightful as the ingredients blended well together which added to the flavourful taste. I'm not sure if this warrants the price because it wasn't too overwhelming.
Mongolian grilled lamb neck ($29); Two pieces of meat served with sambal pickled cucumber & celery, chili, chive pancakes and hoisin. The lamb was very tender and tasty as the meat fell off the bone nicely. Probably the most enjoyed dish of the night for me since it was meaty goodness.
The good thing about tapas style eating is you get to share with your fellow diners, but because of the small menu and the limited selection due to food allergies in our group, I felt like we didn't have enough food and I was still hungry. Plus being a group of runners, we all have a healthy appetite, but because we had a late reservation, we didn't over order as we didn't want to eat too much so late in the night.
I will probably come back to try the chef's tasting menu with friends who don't have any food allergies in order to sample a wider range of the menu.
Overall, food menu is a little pricey, but the flavourful food makes it reasonable and the service we received was friendly, efficient and timely. Plus the presentation of the bill in a lucky red envelope added a nice Asian flair. Luckily for us we didn't order too much food or drink too much, so our bill was reasonable. Most cocktails priced at $14 and wines by the glasses from $10 and up are the norm for places like this.
It's definitely worth a try if you're in the neighbourhood.
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