n a city where everyone's always moving on to the next best thing, no one can get over Rain. The celebrities can't, and our readers can't either. And now that the fickle heat has moved on to newer and shinier (if you can imagine) venues, the Rain concept is showing it’s true strength as not just a slick space, but a quality food emporium.

To keep the beautiful people coming back, the dining room still remains still as good-looking as its patrons. And Keith Rushbrook, Dan Menchions and Jenny Lee of Toronto’s II By IV design firm, had that in mind all along. The transformation of this former prison for women into a spot so slick, it was meant to keep you coming back, even after it’s newness has worn off.

Inspired by the palette and textures of Southeast Asia the lounge remains true its namesake metaphor; two 15-foot waterfalls cascade down one wall, owning the space, while a partition of frosted glass, with a window cavity, separates the dining from the lounge space. Low tables behind a barricade of giant bamboo or share the illuminated communal table for 20. The charcoal grey concave barstools have seats of molded foam. On the left is the circular entrance to the unisex washroom area.

Frontmen Michael and Guy Rubino’s much-lauded dishes haven't slipped a notch. The offered 13 dishes ($9–$25) and five sides ($5–$8) are meant for sharing. A dish of marinated grilled tofu with grilled mushroom plays middleman to the complex textures of sweet Japanese eggplant, zesty greens, all seasoned with soy and light grill char.

Miso-marinated cod, grilled perfectly, is set on a smooth black stone and surrounded with Japanese salad of tatsoi greens and daikon sprouts; Roast tandoori duck breast with a honey-sweetened sauce. Deep-fried plump shrimp in tempura batter cloaked in shiso leaves on wooden rods with a salad of nori, the sauce a yuzu ponzu in a wooden box for dipping.

Creative desserts are heavy on the chocolate theme: a layered array of gingersnap, chocolate ganache and cashews topped with a fat lychee; bananas coated with soya noodles and dark chocolate is sweetly bitter.

After devouring all of this, the month you waited for a reservation seems truly fitting.


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Reader Reviews

Beauty and Flavor
Paolo, Toronto
May 11, 2004
this has got to be the pinnacle of contemporary dinning. Service was so helpful and knowlegable. The experience on my eyes was as equally as pleasurable as the food. And the food... Puree's that melt your mouth and make a great dish an everlasting experience. Pieces of pineapple accompanied one of our spinach mains and it just showed a concious effort to make a dish more then it can be. These are truley the best chefs in town.


A great N.Y.C. touch
Tracey Rioce,y Unionville
April, 8, 2004
Rain has finally grown into the place it needs to be, shipped off the
moronic bouncer, has more interesting people showing up. I saw two good looking guys pull up on some really wild Harleys, only to hear them talk about currency trade's all night..oh well. The food is to die for and the service is excellent. The
washrooms are a great N.Y.C. touch. I'm coming back for it all especially the
martini's.


Well worth the money!
The German, Toronto, ON
Aug 10. 2002
I have read a lot of things about Rain, and am embarrased it took me so long to try it myself. I don't think anyone can argue the design of this stunning restaurant--simply fantastic. As for the food and service I was, at first sceptical, due to the mixed reviews. In my opinion, Rain is a top notch restaurant-- the service was nearly perfect, the food tasted great, and the presentation was incredible. The Sashimi platter and the Gyoza are just a few things I got to try there and they were great. I am deffinately going to revisted Rain in the near future, and can only recommend it. (Yes, for some it may seem a bit pricy, but it's well worth the money!)


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