Orote

I brought my salon team here for our first celebratory dinner since the pandemic. We are so pleased that we chose this restaurant. Every dish was delicious, inspiring, beautifully prepared, well explained and we loved every moment of it. We also added on the chicken ssam as well as the rice dish and this was the right amount of food. Our server Tatiana took incredible care of us and made our night very memorable. I would highly recommend this restaurant.

Great service, staff were attentive and friendly. Food was unique and very different to other restaurants in the city. Particularly enjoyed the sea bass, short rib, rice cakes and sweet potato ice cream. Cocktails were a hit as well!

I really wanted to like this place. It’s always fun to hit a buzzy new place. The service was good- very friendly, enthusiastic people who seem excited about the restaurant. They were attentive and kind. The service, sadly, couldn’t save the food. I found much of it under seasoned and tepid. The add-on chicken ssam was the best bite, and I found it on the dry side. The pumpkin and lobster skewer had a distinct taste of burnt oil. The halibut was incredibly overcooked and the clam dish was totally overpowered by the bitter greens. Finally, the buckwheat chocolate dessert was a let down. We need more fun, daring prix fixe restaurants, so I hope for the best for Orote. But after this experience, I won’t be going back until there’s a promising menu change.

I finally tried Orote restaurant, that has been on my list ever since I found out about it from “Actinolite”restaurant Instagram post last November. Orote was a very “fun”restaurant to dine in, no “A La Carte” menu but 6 courses $78 solid tasting menu. The seasonal tasting menu had a parade of different textures, garnishes of interesting herbs, that were balanced with the right amount of acidity, nuttiness & sweetness. One of the things I noticed was I that Chef Kwang loved to use a crumbled type of grain & nuts to elevate the fun texture. Presentation style were very contemporary, at the same time following very much a sophisticated fine dining plating style. Chopsticks & spoons were the cutlery set for each course and all the pieces were already sliced well, so a knife was not needed. Cozy, neutral & somewhat casual orange tiger mural was cool atmosphere with elegant accents also went really well with the food theme. You would not feel weird if you walk in with T-shirt & joggers. 4 people dined together and we added two additional items of Chicken Ssam & Corn Chive Rice$12 each, so we could try basically everything on the menu. Portion size wise…I could have been full without those additional items. I ended up asking for a doggy bag for the corn chive rice. Seasonal local ingredients were added to every course which made the food taste so fresh. Chef Kwang himself served some courses to the table and explained the dishes to help us to understand better. I learnt something new, like pineapple weed vinegar. It took slightly over 2 hours from start to finish and service was very smooth. I'm not sure how it would be on a busy Saturday night though. I had a similar type of experience at Richmond Stationbefore covid era with their secret 7 course tasting menu not a secret any more. It was that same level, creativity & quality of food to me. But I am not sure how they can come up with $78 for 6 courses during inflation time even though they can make it up with wine orders to pair with dinner. It is a miracle. “Strawberry” Amuse. At first I was not sure if dessert was served as a first course by mistake, but two bite size, well dressed strawberries on a pine nut paste definitely played the role of "amuse - bouche mouth amuser". Second amuse, “Hamachi with Green Plum” garnished with shiso leaves & sunflower shoots. I assumed green plum was added as an extract form, as it was listed as a component for the dish. “Korean Chicken Ssam additional $12” seasoned with soy sauce & Korean chili powder, was plated under a blanket of refreshing pickled radish. Great summer dish! Egg Custard a.k.a GyeranJjim, in black bean milk was like velvety Chawanmushi and very fun to have with crunchy peas, asparagus & pear. Some types of crumbles added more interesting texture to the dish as well. It was one of my favourite dishes of the day. Mandoo. Tofu mushroom stuffing was fantastic and the shimeji mushroom was nicely sautéed, before being added to the broth. I would prefer traditional Korean dashi broth to Japanese bonito broth though. It is just my personal preference. Charcoal grilled Chicken Breast was the highlight of the meal. Breast was so moist, tender & smokey. It went great with corn puree, nooroongji crumble and new onion. White Fishfrom Georgian Bay was also excellent. The main entree game in Orote was strong. Sliced and rolled yellow plum had the same texture of crunchy daikon. The fish was prepared really well, with crispy skin & soft meat. Corn & chive rice with soy sauce additional $12, had a rich buttery flavour and was very aromatic. It was quite filling as well. We were stuffed at this point. To finish, we got Rice Ice Cream again with crunchy rhubarb & some type of crunchy roasted crumble. It was a perfect finish. I am already waiting to check out the new menu this fall.

This place is a gem. Rushed to come here before they change up the menu. Service was just amazing. Explained all the food in detail which indeed made the whole experience and tasting much exciting. Food was also terrific. Some may find that a few of the ingredients are bland, however when you enjoy them together in one bite, each ingredients compliments each other and creates a very pleasant taste. I've heard that their prix fixe menu changes every few months. Will definitely come back to try!

Orote is a tasting-menu only restaurant that brings a breath of fresh air to Toronto’s Korean food scene that is overly saturated with Korean fried chicken and stews Incorporating different techniques, flavours and textures, the Korean-inspired dishes here are elevated yet approachable. A 6-course tasting menu currently runs at $78 with optional add-ons available, and is very well worth a try for foodies craving something unique. Don’t forget to try a few of their cocktails along with your meal - their Soo Jeong Gwa cocktail with Canadian Club and cinnamon pop is super tasty! For more great eats, check out and follow my feed @instantonium on Instagram

Great food and drinks. Food was really delicious and we were surprised with the drink selections to go along with it. Definitely would love to come back for more food and drinks. The menu seems carefully selected and had something for everyone. I would suggest to go in a group of 2 or more so you can order everything on the menu as there are 2 options for 3 main dishes. We had a really good variety and recommend adding the truffle to the rice cake dish. Misoyolk rice was good with the galbi dish as well but depends on how full you are.

Orote’s tasting experience had some delectable highs which I found in the opening pork belly course which gave a new take on surf and turf. The add on chicken Ssam was a satisfying and balanced bite and something I highly recommend anyone to add on. I found everything in between somewhat lacking in depth in one way or another; not bad but just landing a little flat. This was all made up beautifully with their finishing dessert however, I could eat that delicate barley cloud any day anytime. My guest and I had also ordered their miso and egg yolk rice but it might have been forgotten; it was however on the bill. I’m sad I missed out on that it sounded like some great comforting flavours!

Orote presents a six-course menu $78 where there are some decisions: a choice of main course and whether you want any of the supplementary ingredients and courses. It's not overly exhaustive, I settled on the fish and as a table we decided to add on everything we could. Let the ride begin. It starts off slowly, as we made our way up the dinner hill. The thinly sliced pork belly with boiled daikon and pickled parrilla leaves is a dish that's better as a whole than each of the individual parts. Yet, the kitchen needs to work on balance: there's too much parrilla so the acidity overwhelms the delicate pork belly and the chunk of irregularly cut daikon makes it really difficult to create a roll. If these ingredients were smaller, the diner would have a better opportunity to taste the paper-thin pork belly and its dusting of savoury shrimp powder. We begin to pick up steam when the skewer of lobster and pumpkin robata arrives. It was fantastic, each bite augmented with black garlic and bits of walnut. The spices and grilled preparation gives the lobster such a unique taste that I couldn't register the protein during the first bite, wow was it meaty. As we make our way to the top of the plunge, I'm momentarily skeptical of the "salad" course... there's an awfully large portion of what looks like unadorned leafy greens. We're told to make sure to dig to the bottom where we'll find poached mussels and a wonderful consommé. All in all, I didn't mind the leafy greens and sticks of daikon, it made for a nice cleanser between the grilled lobster and the following dumplings. I just wish the greens were quickly blanched so it wouldn't cause the rest of the dish to cool down so much. Make sure you get every drop of the lovely soup. I was thrilled with the two plump mushroom and tofu dumplings. On its own it may seem a bit plain, but as I broke them apart and had bits of it with the bonito dashi, it was delicious. If there's one thing Orote does well it's their soups - they seriously should consider having a larger soup course. For this dish we added shaved truffle $10 but it didn't make that much of a difference. Give me an extra bowl of dashi any day. This is a long review, check out Gastroworld for the rest.

Was really excited to try the tasting menu, but unfortunately, they changed it to à la carte after the new year serving Korean ish dishes in a minimalistic style restaurant. None of the drinks really turned me on so i didn’t drink but my fav was the KFC chicken. Super crunchy and flavourful with a hint of spice. The croquettes were fried perfectly with truffle mayo and ham pieces on the inside. The tuna was very underwhelming, but the fish was fresh. The potato dumpling things tasted like wannabe under cooked potato gnocchi LOL don’t order that. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious the miso cod was, it was cooked perfectly being so tender and moist. Like crazy tender. The yolk rice was cool but I thought it would’ve been yolky and moist lol and it was $12. We got both the desserts which were rice ice cream, and soy bean cake, which was like a soy bean tiramisu. Both nice palate cleansers