Tochi's Hut

Tutti Matti.  Summerlicious stop.  A block away from MEC.  This Italian restaurant is located in a single story rectangular building wedged between two high-rises.  The exterior really reminded me of a shoebox.  As you enter the restaurant, you immediately notice two things: 1) the restaurant seating is essentially the front area and one long row of tables down the length of the restaurant, and 2) the open concept kitchen emanating the most wondrous of aromas.

Our reservations was for a party of 8 for 6:30pm.  Two peeps ended up bailing on us last minute.  When we told the restaurant staff that only 6 people will be coming, they were not very pleased.  I bet they turned away some Summerlicious reservation requests.  To make matters worse, D came late and did not arrive till 7pm.  We sat around for 30 minutes without ordering anything.  The waiters must have been annoyed even more that we were holding up the table.

Anyway, moving onto food.  Summerlicious has two flavours - a $25 dinner and a $35 dinner, depending on the restaurant.  Come to think of it, I have always attended the $35 variety, so Tutti Matti would be my first $25 sample.  The food from the kitchen smelled so good, so I had high expectations.

I settled on the following three course meal:

Carpaccio di Trota
cured rainbow trout carpaccio served with fresh red onion and beet vinaigrette

Talapia
oven roasted talapia wrapped with potatoes and served with seasonal vegetables

Bubu
warm chocolate cake with caramel and vanilla ice cream.

The appetizer was Carpaccio di Trota.  I was told the name just means slices of raw trout, which was exactly what was served.  I have never had raw trout before, unless it was part of some sashimi that I was fed.  The trout was fresh, but quiet bland.  I liked the red onions and vinaigrette.  However, after my disastrous effort at making vinaigrette once, any vinaigrette that tastes half decent earns high marks in my books.

The main entrée is Talapia - its main ingredient is a fillet of talapia.  Yeah, that's the name of the dish.   Who names their dishes so simply at a fancy restaurant?!?   Despite the shortcomings in its name, this dish was damn awesome.  Very thin strips of potatos laid on top and below a huge fillet of talapia.  The potato wrapping was roasted till it was almost crispy (aided by a flame torch, I'm sure).   The potato somehow held the flavour and juice of the fish intact.  As you cut into the fillet, a strong fragrance just envelopes your senses.  I can almost taste the fish before eating it.  I eat fish quite a bit, and I have not had such a FRESH, well-prepared fish in a long time.  I'm not sure if they spiced up the fish in any way, but if they did, they only brought out and fortified the richness of the Talapia.  Everything was almost perfect with this dish, the texture, aromas and the flavours most of all.  I don't know how else to describe it.  You have to try this dish to understand. 

For dessert, the Bubu (not derived from Yogi Bear) was not really spectacular - the warm chocolate cake was nice, and I liked the fact that it was not too sweet.   The name was the best part of the dessert - for once, it was something kind of unique!  Though Bubu was definitely the better of the two dessert options (other being some weird looking meringue).

Overall, the meal was better than I expected.  The talapia was so awesome - this dish alone makes it worthwhile to come back for a second visit.  I am going to go to the supermarket, get some Talapia fillets and try my hand at making Tochi's version of "Talapia".   Tutti Matti gets 4.5 / 5 Tochi Stars.  Lost 0.5 stars for some stupid dish names.