GAME OF CHEESE – CLOSED

Game of Cheese is a new restaurant in Markham from the mind of Chef Frank, head chef at Kaka All You Can Eat, featuring a menu of fusion dishes that stars, of course, cheese. When I first heard about the concept, I wasn’t sure what kind of cuisine to expect. Cheese boards? Fondues? Cheesecake? Luckily, I was invited to discover the menu for myself, which turned out to be a fusion of Japanese, French and Italian flavours.

Disclaimer: All food and drinks reviewed below were provided complimentary. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

Dinner began with a tall parfait each for Stephen and I. His had passionfruit, mine had mango and both were creamy and topped with a scoop of refreshing, incredibly tasty sorbet. I was so surprised with how much natural flavour was packed into the housemade dessert. Add in the textures of jelly, cream and fruit slush, this parfait was really good.

From the food menu, we started with an order of Baked mussels with cheese and mentaiko mayo. The melted cheese was gooey and the mayo had a generous amount of mentaiko adding lots of umami and seafood flavour to the meaty mussel. A touch of furikake added even more seasoning, making the dish addictive slurp after slurp.

Aside from appetizers, the other two main sections of the menu were pastas and pizzas. Stephen and I couldn’t resist the Black Truffle Carbonara Tagliatelle with smoked pancetta, plenty of parmesan cheese and tons of truffle. Topping the plate of creamy pasta was a poached egg with the perfect runny yolk. With so much earthy flavour from the truffle in the dish, I felt like the chunks of button mushrooms in the sauce weren’t needed and distracted a bit from the pasta. Priced at under $20, the plate was such a good value and made with good quality ingredients. For anyone who’s never tasted black truffle before, the Black Truffle Carbonara Tagliatelle would be a great initiation. For our pizza, Stephen and I tried the Seafood Pizza, which was loaded with salmon, scallops, and crab on a yuzu cream sauce base, and topped with wasabi mayo and tobiko. I found the pizza had a lot of potential but was actually overloaded with toppings and sauce. I really enjoyed the flavours but could have done without the salmon and perhaps only one sauce. Looking at the Game of Cheese menu on their website today, I couldn’t find this exact pizza listed. One thing I really respect is when a restaurant takes feedback from their diners seriously and continues to evolve their menu. Game of the Cheese is still a fairly new restaurant and it’s great to see Chef Frank refine and fine tune his dishes.

The dessert section was less cheesy but had a wide variety of items. I loved the Layered Creme Fraiche Panna Cotta with sake jelly, cherry blossom and a lychee raspberry compote. So so good. Getting a spoonful with each layer was sweet and tart, creamy and jelly. Topping all the layers was a scoop of Chef Frank’s delicious sorbet. This dessert may only be a seasonal item, I would say if it’s on the menu, get it! We also tried the Oreo Green Tea Cheesecake, which had a dense texture and a strong matcha flavour. If Chef Frank ever decided to open a dessert cafe, I’ll be there when the doors open!