The Tomato Toast at Chef Justin Yu's T Rex, Houston

Touted as one of the best new restaurants in America, T Rex tucked away in the by-lanes of Houston is a gastronomic ride in all ways. Starting off with folks from Houston not having heard of this place, friends were a little upset that someone from India was there to take them to a restaurant, robbing them of their bragging rights. After begging and pleading for a same day reservation knowing that we were an hour or so away, we agreed to arrive at the restaurant and go back if they couldn't seat us.

As luck would have it for me and the two other folks from India, they had a cancellation and we were seated in a corner, but with a full view of their open kitchen. Our Houston-ers couldn't see what the fuss was all about. Until the tomato toast arrived, that is.

An unassuming plate with a single slice of bread, seemingly dunked generously in ketchup arrived. One bite is all it took to realise that, clearly, this isn't some unassuming piece of bread and obviously no ketchup. That the 5 of us ended up ordering 4 portions through the course of the meal is no surprise. That, the menu at T Rex has changed, but the Tomato Toast hasn't is definitely no surprise. This simply cannot leave the menu.

Yes, there were other dishes. The crispy rice was a stunner in its own right. The mushrooms with pasta was no laggard either. The pumpkins held their own. But there was no dish to match the greatness of what seemed to be the simplest of restaurant dishes. A humble little tomato toast.

The Belgian chocolate with candied almonds and the Paris-Brest, a kind of a donut with cheese in it were the closest matches to an early dinner that was dominated by a slice of bread dunked in an extremely special tomato sauce. That might sound lame, but trust me, if you are anywhere in America, this is worth a shot. If you are close to Houston, get you backside there and dear Houston-ers, if you haven't eaten here, which rock are you guys under?