Government Chef Rikku Ó’Donnchü of Korean fusion restaurant Doshi. (ROBERTO GONZALEZ)
Doshi, a Korean American superb eating restaurant in Winter Park, is the most recent mission from brothers Johnny and Jimmy Tung. The Tung’s first foray into Orlando in 2002 was Bento, an reasonably priced Asian-American fusion spot specializing in crowd-pleasers like California rolls and Common Tso’s hen.
Orlando has grown up quite a bit since then. Diners will drop lots of of {dollars} on a single meal. Excessive-end, chef-driven ideas have gotten the brand new norm, and the Tung brothers have tailored with Doshi.
Due to the growth of The MICHELIN Information into Orlando, they’ll court docket cooks from across the globe, desirous to earn their first star. For Doshi, the Tung’s have recruited Government Chef Rikku Ó’Donnchü. Initially from England, Rikku has frolicked in 3-star Michelin kitchens, together with The French Laundry.
At Doshi, Rikku gives a $175 per individual, 16-course tasting menu, which he makes use of to showcase his molecular gastronomy chops. There are seven tables within the elegantly adorned eating room. However the very best seats are the six spots on the “chef’s desk,” the place Rikku walks you thru every dish.
The meal began with 5 small bites. Rikku’s plating is world class—every dish a canvas of superb artwork. A standout was the truffle rice, tightly wrapped in toasted nori and topped with truffle caviar. One other spotlight was the eggplant nigiri, glazed with a candy and bitter sauce.
Jellyfish adopted the small bites, braised in its juices, with selfmade gochujang, compressed melon, and a radish salad. Meals doesn’t get a lot prettier than this. I solely want they’d tone down the seasoning, because it was too salty for my style.
Rikku describes his Korean fried sweetbreads as a “nod to the south.” Deep-fried on the skin, tender within the middle, with silky buttermilk on high. Suppose buttermilk fried hen with collard greens however exchange the hen with sweetbreads, remodel the collards into kimchi and end it with buttermilk foam. It was great.
Crab ice cream, danjuji, on a sea cracker with inexperienced mustard. (ROBERTO GONZALEZ)
My favourite course was the 21-day dry-aged duck. The fillet was cured in Korean barbecue spices and accompanied by a wealthy duck broth and three purees—black sesame, white apple, and black garlic with anise; the spicy, candy taste of the anise made for an incredible complement to the duck. The sweetness of the apple balanced it out. As a bonus, there was a ball of duck confit, somewhat smaller than a golf ball, lined in dried apple pores and skin.
As a segue from savory to candy, we had been served a witch’s caldron of dry ice and flash-frozen yuja yogurt, a citrus fruit extra generally known as yuzu. Diners had been bathed in a frigid cloud, making a theatrical contact to hold us into the desserts.
The ultimate chunk of the night was a banana-salt caramel tart, topped with a beneficiant serving to of Sevruga caviar and gold flakes—a decadently candy and salty end to a splendid meal. Orlando certainly has come a great distance.
Doshi
1040 N Orlando Ave., Suite 104, Winter Park
407-571-9264
