First Look: Masheel Bistro brings a mix of traditional and modern Korean to Little Italy

In the 1980s, sushi restaurants struggled to get diners through the door.  It was a foreign concept.  What could be so appetizing about raw fish?  Fast forward to present day and you’d be hard-pressed not to find a sushi restaurant on every downtown street.  But this process is nothing new.  Every cuisine needs pioneers and spokespeople to propel it into the mainstream.  

That is exactly what the husband and wife team at Masheel Bistro intend to do for Korean cuisine.  The name Masheel comes from the village adage: “Go hang in the village to meet new people.”  The restaurant’s general manager, Gabriel Jeon states that they want “people to come to the restaurant with no hesitation and enjoy themselves.”  

 
Chef Se Yeol Oh, owner Sae Young Kim and Manager, Gabriel Jeon. 

 

”Korean cuisine is more than just $6.99 bowls of pork bone soup and stone pot rice,” says owner Sae Young Kim.  He and his wife have taken over the space that formerly housed Pho Huong, a Vietnamese noodle restaurant in the heart of Little Italy.  The neighborhood has steadily been collecting non-Italian restaurants to balance the area’s bars and pasta-heavy establishments.  

 
The restaurant features a variety of cocktails. Pictured are the the rum and lemon grass and sojito apple drinks.

 

Beverage options are plenty; ranging from your traditional Old Fashioneds and Manhattans to soju-infused creations like the Sojito Apple, their take on a mojito with the addition of Fuji apples.  

 
Masheel's beef tartare is served with gochuchang and various spices 
 

Kim’s wife, Seung Ah Choi used to own a traditional Korean eatery back home in Seoul.  She makes all the restaurant’s sauces.  Together with her brother, who has worked in restaurant kitchens in New York, Paris and Hong Kong, the menu is a marriage of the siblings’ culinary backgrounds.

 
The Masheel shining salad with beef tartare, toasted pumpkin seeds, radishes and oranges.

 

Sticking close to the collaborators’ fortes they offer a fusion of traditional and modern.  The Masheel Shining salad ($8) comes adorned with toasted pumpkin seeds, radishes and mandarin oranges and the beef tartar gets a Korean make-over with the addition of gochujang, a hot pepper paste that is to Koreans what Sriracha is to North Americans.  

 
The Jjim dak, a slow cooked chicken dish served in a soy reduction with an assortment of vegetables. 

 

More traditional dishes such as Jjim Dak ($13), a slow-cooked chicken dish that is reminiscent of a hybrid of bœuf bourguignon and duck confit hybrid can be found on the menu.  The chicken is slow-cooked for 13 hours with an assortment of vegetables and doused with a soy reduction.  It is exemplary of Korean cuisine, as Kim states that “most Korean foods take a lot of time to cook; it is slow food.”  

 
Deep fried shrimp tossed with signature apple sauce, served with sliced apples and tomatoes.

 

The chef de cuisine is Se Yeol Oh, who has worked in many Korean restaurants back home before moving to Toronto to pursue a culinary degree at George Brown College.  His most recent gig was at Oyster Boy on Queen West.  When asked what his approach to cooking was, Oh states “I think of all the dishes I put out as something I would cook for my family.”

Of course those looking for the familiar and typical kalbi beef short ribs, kimchi fried rice and bulgogi bibimbap won’t be disappointed either as they are also options on the menu.  One thing you won’t find though is that $6.99 bowl of pork bone soup.  

The menu currently has but one dessert option listed as their “signature” crème brûlée ($8) but offerings will expand in the future.  

Masheel Bistro is opened 7 days a week and also serves brunch on weekends.  

Masheel Bistro, 598 College St., 647-348-5333

Yvonne is a food and drink writer, always in search of delicious.  Decor and service be damned, food is king. Follow her on Twitter @th3hungrycat.  Warning: don't look at her "feed" if you're hungry.

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