Cheap Eat of the Week: the pork belly ssam from Yours Truly’s snack menu
By Gizelle Lau
David Chang takes Toronto with pork belly ssam (Image: Gizelle Lau)
The concept of the snack menu has hit the ground running in Toronto and it doesn’t look like there’s any stopping it. Eateries like The Black Hoof, 416 Snack Bar and Grand Electric have made the bite-size sexy, doing away with the three-hour long fine dining tasting menus that we’ve had to put up with for the sake of a good meal in the city.
Yours Truly (a place we told you about a month ago), offers two short tasting menus for dinner, but the place really shines with its snack menu. Changing almost daily, it’s hard to resist visiting often to taste your favourites before they’re gone or to try new dishes that are completely different than the last.
On one late night visit, I was sitting with another writer/friend enjoying the snack menu (where everything is $10 or under). We ordered the Trinidadian doubles ($6), the Thuet bread with whipped duck fat ($5) and the pork belly ssam with ssamjang chili paste and marinated coriander ($7 for three wraps).
As the ssam came out and was placed on our table by one of the back-of-house chefs, my friend quietly motioned to him as he walked away, saying: “That’s the guy who does the snack menu. He’s Toronto’s David Chang.”
Biting into the tender, delicious pork belly ssam before us, my mind raced in excitement, thinking back to recent visits to the Momofuku restaurants in New York City, home to the legendary chef David Chang.
I wondered: “Could it be true? Will this be the guy who’s going to change the face of food in Toronto, who’s going to put delicious but casual Korean-influenced snacks like soya sauce eggs, pork buns or ssam — like the really delicious version I’m eating right now — on the map in this city?”
“Wow,” I replied, impressed, yet trying to stay cool. “What’s his name?” I was hoping I might be able to remember it, despite a few drinks, so I could Google it the next morning and carefully watch his rise to fame as he changed the dining scene in Toronto.
“David Chang,” she said.
Yes, this young chef, who helps put together the snack menu at Yours Truly — along with head chef Jeff Claudio — is actually named David Chang. He might not have the star power of his NYC counterpart, but the pork ssam I just ate is proof that this snack menu has some serious potential.
Yours Truly, 229 Ossington Ave., 416-533-2243
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