SMALL PLATES, BIG TASTE
Bundok adds to 104 Street vibe
Our Journal colleague Gordon Kent turned in a positive brunch review of Bündok last year, but we were curious about the Ice District bistro’s dinner menu, which has attracted many loyal, vocal fans since opening.
It’s an attractive, contemporary, smartly-lit space, very much of the indie chef-owner design sensibility of the day. We’re talking storefront window, polished cement floor, high ceiling with exposed ducts, a kitchen-facing dining bar, fetching fixtures, an elegant, if basic, black-and-white colour scheme with a sexy, priceylooking bar setup. Back in the loo is a wonderful Edmonton poster which lists the likes of Moe Berg and Chi Pig as “notable” native citizens, which cheered me right up in the midst of another spring snowstorm.
The lunch/dinner menu of shareable small and smallish plates is mercifully concise, and not wedded to any particular theme or ethnicity beyond the inspiration of the chefs and what makes sense locally. This is also wise.
It was a pleasant couple of hours — and thankfully not rushed along by the sort of rigorous, assembly line hurry-up-and-gob-it-down treatment some small plates/tapas establishments foist upon unsuspecting guests these days.
Our server was professional and classy throughout the meal, explaining the dishes without sounding like a pompous and slightly snapped grad student quoting epic poetry.
We began with a lovely, eyecatching plate of refreshing sea bream crudo (Thai basil, citrus, chili, olive oil, apple, $16) that brought a couple of us back to the inspired ceviche of coastal Mexico, with apologies to Italy.
Throughout the evening, we grazed on servings of pommes dauphine (gruyere, grilled green onion aioli, $8), grilled apple tartine (Oka, honey, $11), roasted cauliflower ( breadcrumbs, capers, creme fraiche, $11), a sort of salade composee of kohlrabi, kale, cabbage and puffed wild rice with a nutritional yeast vinaigrette ($14), and grilled hen served with roasted potatoes and Swiss chard ($22).
Each dish was worthy, some more than others. Full marks for careful presentation. And surprising, too, in a good way. Who would have thought that among the above-mentioned, the kohlrabi dish might well have been the star of the night.
Trust me, you have to try this. The thin strips of delicious, nutty kohlrabi — not generally a showstopper, even in tony vegan establishments — shined among the other greens. The puffed wild rice garnish sounds a tad pretentious, but they pack an amazing amount of flavour. For years, nutritional yeast has been a secret ingredient (Google “glory bowl” and try out the dressing) and it is sublime on this dish.
Yes, cauliflower is hot just now on menus, but why not, after having been overlooked (and, er, overcooked) for so long ? Here is a tasty take on nice blackened florets. And doesn’t creme fraiche and capers make anything wonderful?
For those in search of a single dinner plate, look no further than the (also shareable) hen. Gorgeous-looking and cooked to perfection, this is the juiciest, best tasting fowl we’re savoured this year, and that’s saying something.
Lower down the food chain were the potatoes, which were fine, but essentially choux-elevated tater tots with a nice dipping sauce, and a bit overpriced. I forgot that pommes dauphine are not the pommes dauphinoise (a.k.a. scalloped potatoes) we were expecting, so this is partially my dumb fault.
Also somewhat meh was the apple tartine, in spite of the inspired addition of the melted Oka and a decent piece of bread. I have an old Oka poster in front of our treadmill that gives me the will to live.
Of the two desserts we sampled, the posset ($9) was by far the best, a dreamy bowl of sweet, thickened, lemony cream with a touch of mint. Heaven.
Let it be said that there were other temptations on the seasonal bill o’ fare that look promising. I have it on good authority that the gnocchi, for example, are superb, which would put them in a very tiny local club. And as you have no doubt gathered by now, it’s up to the diner how much or how little you choose to eat. The food prices are very fair. Four of us walked away perfectly sated for 100 bucks, which is quite impressive — even amazing — in small plate land, in a lovely room. Downtown.
Booze? Well, it’s what we have come to expect. I did find a lovely bottle of French Malbec for just under $50, which is par for the course in this restaurant class, sad to say. They also serve up some snazzy sounding cocktails and once it gets warm, a person could move over to cider or beer.
Chef-owner Ryan Hotchkiss and his staff have much to be proud of with this endeavour, truly a welcome addition to the crowded 104 Street restaurant walk.