Via Toledo

Section 1·The Last Table

I ate my last dinner at Via Toledo on Wonhyo-ro in June 2026. They stayed open there through June and moved to a new space in Sindang-dong in July. I had assumed my previous visit was the last one, but a call for bookings was suddenly posted, so I fired off a DM in a hurry and only just managed to get three seats for myself and friends.

I had almost always come here on a full buyout, but this time we shared the room with another party, and the chef said he had accepted us because he trusted my friends and me.

Section 2·A Salad Of Tomatoes

The opening was a tomato salad. It is not on the regular course. The other party we were sharing with ran very late, so the chef sent it out as a special.

A salad built from a wide variety of tomatoes. On top of the many-coloured tomatoes went tomato jelly, mozzarella, basil pesto and basil, and crisp bread chips.

Each tomato differed in texture and taste, and because they had been allowed to ripen the acidity was less pronounced than expected and the sweetness was good.

Above all the mozzarella tasted very good and added complexity to a composition that would otherwise have been all fruity tomato.

Section 3·Not Champagne

The first wine of the evening was Bellavista Alma Assemblage 1 Franciacorta. Franciacorta is a sparkling wine made in Lombardy by the same metodo classico as Champagne, meaning a second fermentation in bottle.

Bellavista was founded in the 1970s by Vittorio Moretti and counts as one of Italy's best sparkling producers. This Alma is built on Chardonnay blended with Pinot Nero and a small amount of Pinot Bianco, with a portion fermented and aged in oak. There was a touch of apple and a fruity impression, the weight was on the lighter side, and there was a slightly drying tannic feel on the palate.

Between that lighter weight and the slight shortfall in maturity, the moment I drank it I could tell this was not Champagne. Even so it went well with the tomato salad, and as an opening it was good.

Between that lighter weight and the slight shortfall in maturity, the moment I drank it I could tell this was not Champagne.

Section 4·Pizza Fritta

Next was a one-bite morsel of sea bass, potato and caviar. It had good body, the bass kept its texture and flavour, and the salinity of the caviar was judged well. A single bite where neither the bass nor the potato gave way and each showed its own character.

Then pizza fritta. Cheese cream and pistachio pesto inside, mortadella on top, a rereading of Neapolitan street food.

The salinity of the mortadella came through and made it savoury, and the balance was very good. It was better this time in particular.

The cheese and the tomato were quite intense, and eaten all together the flavour was something else. I have eaten this pizza fritta two or three times, and this was the best of them.

Section 5·Vitello Tonnato

The vitello tonnato, which has appeared on every visit since the broadcast, is a beef tartare over a tuna sauce with radicchio and egg yolk on top. The chef explained it as a rereading of the Italian classic that pairs veal with tuna sauce.

The beef kept its texture rather than turning mushy, and the tuna and beef textures went well together. The flavour of the tuna was good.

But with the sparkling alongside, a taste of iron came through in the dish so strongly that it was hard to eat. The pairing of that wine with this food was where things fell short.

But with the sparkling alongside, a taste of iron came through in the dish so strongly that it was hard to eat.

Section 6·Vongole With Breadcrumbs

For pasta, the vongole here had always been made with squid in place of noodles, but this time it was made with real pasta.

I am no expert on pasta shapes, but I think he said it was a thicker spaghettini.

On top went carabineros, breadcrumbs and bottarga.

I mixed it lightly before eating, and the vongole that day was properly delicious. The quality of the mussels was good, the texture of the carabinero prawn on top was good, and eaten all together, the layering of textures was excellent.

The quiet star of this vongole was the breadcrumbs. The toasted bread aroma coming off them made the vongole more layered and better for it. This vongole was well balanced and very good.

Section 7·Sicilian Orange

Next was sea bass with a stuffed squid. The bass was cooked on the firmer side rather than soft and yielding, which is not my style, but its flavour was quite deep, and that part was good.

The squid had good texture, and the couscous inside, shaped to stand in for roe, added to the complexity. To be blunt the squid had more impact than the fish.

It went well with the orange sauce, and the fennel underneath gave a bright lift that was good. The chef explained that in Sicily they use sea bass with orange and fennel together.

The second wine, a white, arrived here. Gaja Ca'Marcanda Vistamare 2023. The only white of the Ca'Marcanda estate that Angelo Gaja founded in Bolgheri in 1996.

For the 2023 vintage it is a blend of forty percent Vermentino, forty percent Viognier and twenty percent Fiano, each variety reportedly fermented separately then blended, with the Vermentino in steel and concrete, the Viognier in French oak and the Fiano split between the two. Vistamare means a view of the sea.

The nose was that of a white from somewhere quite hot. What surprised me was that the low acidity that so often lets such wines down was not much in evidence, so I liked it quite a lot. The chef said it is one he treasures and had opened it for us.

Personally I like reds from many countries but play favourites with France on whites, and, set against a well-made French white, the acidity here was a little short, though the balance was good.

Section 8·Saffron And Grouper

The best of the evening was the risotto that came next. A saffron risotto with red-spotted grouper on top.

The flavour, the cooking and the moistness of the grouper were insane. The cooking was simply excellent and the fish itself seemed to be a good one.

On the previous visit the same risotto carried a lobster wrapped in prosciutto and fried, and back then the lobster was slightly overcooked and felt out of balance with the fried exterior. Switching to grouper made it a far better match, and it tasted better too.

The risotto had decent texture too, and something like a roasted tomato gave a lift of acidity that was good.

Section 9·Cheek And Truffle

After that very good grouper risotto came beef cheek ravioli. Ravioli, which you might call Italian dumpling pasta, filled with beef cheek and shaved over with Australian winter truffle.

The truffle aroma was better than I expected, which surprised me, and it turns out that in Australia, where the seasons are reversed, truffle comes in around this time.

The filling tasted good.

The sauce, the ravioli and the whole combination were quite rich and heavy, and while the impact was good, I wondered whether it weighed down the flow of the course.

A slightly lighter dish inserted here, or a little weight taken out of this one, would have been better.

Section 10·Lamb And Nobile

The main was lamb. Effectively the same composition as the previous visit, but the execution seemed to have improved further. Rack of lamb in a pistachio crust with morels, radicchio and a kabocha sauce. I thought it would work as the main on the course at the new place, and it did appear on my first visit there.

The cooking was between medium and medium rare, done softly and well, and the flavour was good.

Since the ravioli with beef cheek had come immediately before, a beef main would have been too rich, and using lamb was a good decision. The morels were a good size with good texture, and the radicchio did the work of cutting the fat, so it was a thoroughly satisfying main.

For the last wine I ordered a red. Carpineto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva 1997. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is a Tuscan wine built on Sangiovese, called Prugnolo Gentile here, blended with Canaiolo Nero and others, and in style it is said to sit between the finesse of Chianti Classico and the power of Brunello.

Carpineto's Riserva is roughly ninety percent Prugnolo Gentile with ten percent Canaiolo Nero, aged in large Slavonian oak and some French oak.

It was the 1997 vintage, and it was like a well-aged Bordeaux, thoroughly satisfying. It went very well indeed with the lamb and the ravioli.

The aged nuance and the tertiary aromas were very good, and there was a fine brightness to it that Bordeaux does not have. The depth of a wine coming up on thirty years. Everyone was happy with the wine that evening, which was good.

Section 11·Arrivederci, Wonhyo-ro

The last dessert was a Basque cheesecake with lemon curd and a chip on top, and this dessert was a little disappointing, simply ordinary.

The cheesecake itself was ordinary and without much impact, and the synergy with what went on top was not to my taste. This is my own bias talking, but I think strawberry or a berry compote on top would have been better.

I brought a small gift for the chef that day. I made him a cake using photographs taken in this Wonhyo-ro space from before he appeared on television, and on the cake board I wrote "Arrivederci. Wonhyo-ro 83-gil 7-2."

He liked it a great deal, which felt rewarding, and there was a sense of having grown alongside him that I liked.

Via Toledo seems to be growing steadily more polished and more closely aligned with fine dining. He has closed the Wonhyo-ro space and has been open in the new Sindang-dong space since July.

The new space uses the second and third floors, and the third works effectively as a private room, so after the official opening, I am told, it will take bookings of more than ten at a time. He also said he plans to revive in Sindang-dong the feel of the old buyout format, where a Roma to Napoli concept was built into a course with train-ticket-shaped cards.

It was an honour to be there for the final days on Wonhyo-ro, and I am looking forward to the new restaurant in Sindang-dong.