Seto is in an historic house, that predates the Great Fire of Newfoundland,  with 2 rooms set up for dining.  They seat just 36 people with 5 tables in front and 6 in the back.  The old wood tables are set with padded armless chairs and large paper napkins.  New age music plays in the background and the lighting is low with some also provided by candles.  The small menu has lots of dishes suitable for sharing and one special of the evening was introduced by the server.  This is the 4th year they have been open and they also operate a food truck.  Service was super friendly and helpful.   In a really small kitchen Chef Ken Pittman creates all the dishes, many inspired by his grandfather who was among the first Chinese immigrants to Newfoundland.  He uses fresh, local ingredients that are native to the province while adding an Asian twist to the dishes.  It was a fabulous meal and I urge you to try it if you can.

 

We started with their homemade biscuits served with molasses butter.  They came out hot with a crisp exterior and and a dense yummy interior.  The molasses butter had a bit of salt mixed in and it spread perfectly on the tender wonderful biscuits.  You wanted to have some on every bite.  An excellent start to the meal.

 

The Vegetable Fried Rice was made with an organic jasmine rice, farm egg, onion, peas, Thai chili, crispy garlic and shallot and hoisin aioli.  This was excellent.  The great crispy bits combined with the chewy well seasoned and perfectly cooked rice to yield terrific savory bites of blended ingredients.  We scarfed up every bit of this delicious plate and I was beginning to think the meal wouldn’t take long cause because we were devouring the delicious food as fast as it would come out.

 

Gnocchi were mixed with Newfoundland moose, sichuan, chili, greens and peanuts.  The tender gnocchi were perfect with the amazing moose meat.  A bunch of wonderful spices gave it just enough kick, but not too much.  The crunch of the peanuts added a great bit of texture to the velvety, tender and moist meat.  Another winner.

 

Pork belly came with red cooked jasmine rice, pickled shiitake, greens and peanuts.  We got the smaller size of the plate and that still meant we got several nice slices of belly.  All the ingredients were good in this one but overall it was not as spectacular as the previous ones, but don’t get me wrong, it was still quite good.

 

Kalbi duck breast was served on spicy noodles, farm greens and vegetables with kimchi purée.  The duck was tender and spicy and nicely rare.  It was served in slices on the noodles and greens all sitting on a spicy great sauce.  This was another excellent combination – really full of flavor and texture.

 

For dessert we had a flakey pastry with rhubarb jam and cream.  It was the only dessert offered and not to be passed up.  The pastry had lost some of its crispness, maybe being made ahead but it was the perfect accompaniment to the well sweetened rhubarb and sweet cream.  It was a fine finish.