The Best Thing I Ate All Week: Butter-Roasted Cabbage at Royal Dinette

Possibly the only time in the history of eating that cabbage stole the show.

The humble cabbage is, without a doubt, the underdog of the produce aisle. Rarely does it get a chance to shine, it’s relegated to do the heavy textural lifting for vegetable soups and summer slaws but flying under the flavour radar…until Chef Alden Ong got a hold of it.Royal Dinette‘s new executive chef worked some magic to turn this oft-ignored veg into the star of the show. Among a table full of head-turning dishes from the Restaurant Award-winning room‘s new Spring menu—cacio e pepe mushroom tortellini! Ling cod with anchovy caramel and fermented rutabaga!—it was a platter of butter-roasted cabbage that lingers in my mind.Of course, the buttery-but-crunchy leaves got some help from charred leek oil, house ponzu and crispy lentils, but even with these supporting players, the dish was truly a tribute to an unsung hero—and a delicious opportunity to get my daily dose of veg.Roasted cabbage, $16, Royal Dinette

More from the “Best Thing I Ate All Week” series:

Clam Chowder at Crab Park Chowdery

Queso Fundido at La Mezcaleria

Marrow and Octopus at Juniper