Mhel in Toronto takes the number two spot on the Top 10 list of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024.
Mhel
Toronto, ON
2 2
Prestigious Partners
Street Address
276 Havelock St.
City + Province
Toronto, ON
Reservations
Yes
Website
A fish swims across the glass door beneath the words “Mhel is anchovy.” The small gesture of translation, from South Korea’s Jeju dialect, serves as our first indication of the quiet ways Mhel reveals its depth of thought.
The tare-marinated dak guyi (sauced and grilled chicken leg and thigh) sizzles with sansho peppercorn and soy-pickled ramps.
Inside, co-owner and general manager Seung-min Yi addresses a four-top. We climb onto a pair of stools at the 12-seat bar, facing a wakame-green wall and no-frills kitchen. Chef and co-owner Young Hoon Ji bends deep at the waist as he slices slivers of Shima-aji (striped horse mackerel) for sashimi. After separate stints at restaurants in Seoul – Yi’s at Michelin-starred Joo Ok, Ji’s at the izakaya Ichie (followed by Pompette and Grey Gardens in Toronto) – the couple’s first restaurant is a harmonious ode to Japan and South Korea. Their emblematic anchovy is a nod to its importance in both cuisines.
Chef Young Hoon Ji skins farmed kanpachi from Kochi, Japan, to serve two ways: raw and charcoal grilled.
We start with bubbles. Yi sets down a shivering Masumi sparkling sake for me and an enlivening, non-alcoholic sparkling Saicho tea for my friend. Soon after, Ji places a narrow footed bowl of potesala in front of us. The potato salad stuns with acid-bright pickled ramps and zings of green garlic. Ontario peas add sweet vegetal notes, and a soft-boiled egg rests on top. It’s familiar yet foreign, like the nostalgic rush of déjà vu you sometimes get in a place you’ve never been before.
Seung-min Yi readies jars of purin for dessert.
For a spot-on pairing, ask Seung-min Yi to recommend a sake with your order.
Chef Young Hoon Ji grates mazuma wasabi straight from the stem.
Chawanmushi made with Trillium Organic corn and Sheldon Creek organic cream.
An eggshell-white dish curves protectively around our next course: charcoal-seared kanpachi sashimi and charred broccolini finished with negi soy and brown-butter toasted panko. One bite in, I see why. I don’t want to share it, either. We do find pleasure sharing the generous stack of napa cabbage kimchi, made by Ji’s mother, peeling back crisp leaves in between bites of dak guyi, a charcoal-grilled chicken thigh with sansho peppercorn that tingles on the tongue.
Mhel is anchovy and so much more.
A stack of napa cabbage kimchi, prepared by Young Hoon Ji’s mother.
Don’t miss: When it’s on the menu, jump at the opportunity to order the o-yi, Aldergrove Farm’s unagi cucumber, sliced Jabara curi-style and marinated in yuzu and dashi.
Prestigious Partners
