At The Pass with Nuka Batsaikhan

🕒 5 min read

At The Pass is a weekly series showcasing Toronto’s best chefs. You won’t find any celebrity chefs featured here. Perhaps you already know these fine cooks, but maybe not. They’re not famous - yet. But it’s time these talented, passionate, hard-working chefs got a bit of the spotlight.

Currently

Cook/Kitchen Manager, Donna’s

Formerly

La Palma, Pinky’s Ca Phe, Fat Pasha, Rose and Sons, The Drake Hotel

Favourite dish to make right now

Meat pies, veg pies, sweet pies.

Last cookbook purchase

Ratio by Michael Ruhlman.

Have you read it/tried any recipes

Yes, I read it to get some guidance and ideas. I like to use ratios in anything applicable such as sauces, dough, fillings... I find it easier to understand the food composition rather than following a recipe word for word.

One dish or ingredient you’d like to see gone from menus

Gold flakes.

And one dish or ingredient that you’re excited about right now and would like to see on more menus

I wasn’t sure about okra for a very long time, but recently I learned how to cook them and they are amazing.

Biggest influences

Right now it’s Jed Smith and Peter Jensen. In the past: Julian D’Ippolito, Leemo Han, Ihn Huh, Kevin Gilmour, Christopher Sanderson, Jeremy Gries and Anthony Rose.

If you could eat at any restaurant in the world

Midnight diner in Tokyo.

Last thing you ate

Rice bowl with chicken, eggplants, and tomatoes.

Three must-have ingredients always in your fridge

Butter, lemons, and parmesan.

Guilty pleasure

Fast food and instant coffee.

Top 3 favourite Toronto restaurants

Loga’s Corner, House of Gourmet, Edulis.

Top 3 favourite Toronto bars

I like all the bars Ihn and Leemo create: Hanmoto, Pinky’s Ca Phe, Seoul Shakers. The most recent one was Shaker’s Club. They didn’t have a chance to fully open the space, even though it’s been my drinking place after work during the pandemic. Looking forward to the next one.

Go-to drink

Light beer.

One habit you have in the kitchen that you should lose, but can’t seem to shake

Sometimes I have a bad habit of forgetting to set timers for time-sensitive projects. Thankfully, I get saved by my teammates or a sudden rush of realization and it still comes out good, almost always.

We even have an acronym for it in the kitchen – FTP, which stands for Forgotten Timer Perfection.

And one habit you have in the kitchen that will inspire young chefs

Having an attitude of eagerness, openness, lack of preconception when learning or re-learning something. After cooking for over 10 years, sometimes I still feel like a beginner.

Hidden talent

My partner said I have a green thumb.

Best career advice you ever received

I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do with my life after high school. My mom suggested trying out cooking school because she thought I was good with my hands and with food. That brought me here today. Thanks Mom.

Worst career advice you ever received

I have nothing.

Your advice for a young cook starting out in the business

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Later, they will turn out to be your biggest lessons and you will love them. Be kind to yourself and the people around you. Go with your gut, there are many ways of doing things. Most importantly, enjoy and have a good time.

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In order to support chefs during this time, the monthly At The Pass series is now WEEKLY. Know someone in Toronto or GTA who should be featured? Submit their name for consideration. And yes, you can nominate yourself.

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