Here’s what to eat and drink at Toronto’s opulent supper club

A Toronto restaurant that serves pan-Asian cuisine among opulent interiors is honouring seasonal specialties with a brand-new fall menu.

Located steps from St. Clair station, Ultra is a luxurious refuge from the concrete jungle laying just outside its doors. Every detail, from decor to garnishes seem meticulously chosen to invite a sense of opulence and total sensory fulfillment.

The carefully crafted menu from Chef Frias, alongside cocktails by mixologist Nishantha Nepulongoda are no exception — pointedly focused on blending classing Asian dishes and ingredients with unexpected flavours and textures.

While the restaurant keeps a permanent menu on offer year-round, Chef Frias told me he’s passionate about adding new offerings that reflect seasonal ingredients and dishes best consumed at certain times of year.

Enter Ultra’s new fall menu, featuring a new cocktail and three dishes specially tailored to facilitate cozy, autumnal vibes while staying faithful to the restaurant’s pan-Asian cuisine.

When the fall comes, I, personally, am almost exclusively interested in eating (or is it drinking?) soup. If you experience a similar passion — or, really, even if you don’t — the new Tom Yum Soup ($12) is for you.

A faithful interpretation of the Thai classic, the soup is rife with treasures in the form of hardy shrimp, mushrooms, tomatoes and lemongrass, all cooked in an aromatic, coconutty broth that warms you from the inside out.

The name Bang Bang Cauliflower ($21) may elicit images of deep-fried kernels of the vegetable dipped in the ubiquitous sweet chili sauce, but Chef Frias’ interpretation of it is vastly different.

A charred cauliflower steak, cooked to be moist yet crisp, sits atop a healthy dollop of Bang Bang sauce, surrounded by grilled peppers and onion for a dish that’s decidedly vegetal in flavour.

Veering all the way to the other end of the spectrum, the restaurant’s new Pork Belly ($46) is decadent in every sense of the word. An impressive portion of juicy pork belly with candy-like crunchy skins rests atop a bacon and apple jam and honey glaze. 

The recently-introduced French Kiss ($24) is like a dessert and a cocktail mixed into one, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s just an average sweet drink.

The chocolate-infused drink contains chocolate and cherry liqueurs and Amaretto to embody the flavour of a chocolate-covered cherry (which it’s also garnished with), that’s decidedly tart up front with a nutty, toasty after taste.

The permanent menu, too, is nothing to scoff at.

Start off your meal with the Wagyu Carpaccio, follow it up with robata-grilled Teriyaki Cornish Hen or szechuan-spiced Short Rib.

Add Biang Biang noodles or Thousand-Layer Potatoes and wash it all down with an Ultra Negroni or Thai Spritz and, I can guarantee, you’ll be in fine form for your seasonal hibernation.

In a city where Asian restaurants are a dime-a-dozen (not that I’m complaining), the team behind Ultra seems all about attention to detail and commitment to excellence. 

That’s apparent in every element of the experience, from the restaurant’s design to its service and, of course, the food.

Ultra is located at 12 St. Clair East.