Toro Restaurant and Bar: The Deal Grocer Special

I’m in pretty much a no-spending budget so I can’t afford to eat out as much as I did.  And I’m try to eat my fair share of quality places on a fair budget.  One of the deals I¹ found Toro’s Degustation Menu² on Deal Grocer.

I don’t really know much about Toro, although my sister was saying Chef Sau del Rosario was brought in as a consultant.  I’ve learned not to buy into the celebrity chef hype but you can’t help but expect more from places like this.  Toro³ is actually a Japanese restaurant — Japanese-Mexican fusion, I should say.  I’m not a big fan of fusion, but the bland flavors of Japanese cuisine and the bold flavors of Mexican cooking should make this interesting.

First course, Salmon Nigiri.  It’s a small fillet of salmon with Japanese rice.  I love the smokey flavor of the salmon here.  Underrated part is the onion that its topped with.  Really brings a kick to the dish.

Next dish is a platter of Volcano Maki, Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna, Toro Maki, and the famous Toro Nori-Chos.

To be honest, everything started to taste the same with that sauce.  Don’t get me wrong, the sauce is great.  The only problem I had was with the crispy rice.  The tuna was fine, but the crispy rice part tasted a lot like the boxed chicken nuggets sold in supermarkets.  And I don’t mean that in a good way.

What are Nori-Chos, by the way?  They’re Toro’s take on nachos made Japanese-style.  It’s crispy seaweed (I think) topped with that red sauce they topped with the other dishes on the platter.  Pretty good.

At this point, I was actually feeling quite full despite the small servings.  The heaps of rice in the sushi makes for a heavy stomach filler, which ended up fine for me.  Next dish was the Age Dashi Tofu.  It’s ironic being Chinese and not eating tofu, but I did try it.  Not bad, sauce was definitely the star.  Tofu was cooked well, crispy solid on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside.  Like a bland brain, definitely without the aftertaste.   Yeah, I just compared tofu to brains.

I was pretty excited for the next dish, Ebi Tempura Tartare.  Like Marc, tempura is pretty much a staple for me in any Japanese meal.  Intriguing dish since a tempura is a fried dish while a tartare is finely chopped raw meat.  Interesting combo.

It’s another platter served with fresh carrot sticks (blah), and Ebi Tempura served with 2 sauces.  The red one (at the right most) was served with what I thought was the same sauce they served the first platter with.  The middle one was actually pretty interesting.  The sauce was made from Wasabi, which I wasn’t able to get at first.  I liked this dish and I’d say that it doesn’t taste raw.  In fact, I’m kind of doubting it’s really tartare.  It’s either they scammed us with the dish name, or they “un-cooked” the shrimps really really well.   Both seem likely.

Pork Gyoza is always nice.  And when they tell you that the sauce is made from bacon, you can’t help but expect to wet your pants a bit.  Minced pork topped with… more pork?  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment.  Granted you don’t want overpowering bacon flavor (or maybe you do) that’ll give you a heart attack, the sauce was a bit bland for me.  There was a salsa on the side, which worked a bit better for me than the bacon-based sauce.

I have to confess I’m getting full, so much of the excitement has died down.  Salmon in Caper Sauce was OK.  Nothing special in my book, but you can really taste the salmon flavor.  Looks really nice though.

Last dish was Spicy Beef Fire Bowl.  First reaction, “Ugh, rice again!”  Second reaction, tastes a bit more Korean than Japanese or Mexican.  Still, a bit more familiar with the plain rice and viand flavor.  You can’t go wrong with Japanese rice.  The meat was tendon-y and vein-y.  I wish they had used a better cut of meat.  Not bad, but I was seriously too full to finish this dish.  Not spicy at all, though.

I almost forgot all about dessert.  I usually don’t save room for dessert and there were 2 of them!  First was a shot of Butterfinger Dessert Shot.  BUT, they ran out.  They offered us a Snicker Doodle instead.  I like Snickers more than Butterfingers, but I’m lost trying to find a joke here somewhere.

Lastly, a Turtle Pie, which was a chocolate ice cream cake topped with caramel and nuts.  If I’m not mistaken, crust was made from Oreo bits.  Really good, but I’m not a sweet tooth so I took a bite and gave the rest to my sister.

Overall, great meal!  Consider the following: (1) I’m not a sushi lover, (2) Not a fan of fusion, (3) I hate driving all the way to The Fort, and (4) I expected much, MUCH less, I thoroughly enjoyed this meal.  Really full, interesting flavors, and great dinning experience.  Great deal at P995.00 (or $22.10) for a 12-course meal (worth about P1,200) and a great showcase of the must-try’s of Toro!

And I found the service to be great.  They don’t bug you when you don’t ask, they explain each dish as they are served, and they do even what they probably think are the most ridiculous things customers can think of⁴.

And no, it wasn’t me.

Toro Restaurant and Bar: The Deal Grocer Special 2011-11-09

’m in pretty much a no-spending budget so I can’t afford to eat out as much as I did.  And I’m try to eat my fair share of quality places on a fair budget.  One of the deals I found Toro’s Degustation Menu on Deal Grocer. I don’t really know much about Toro, although my …