Location: 398 Church St, Toronto (Yonge & Carlton)
Cuisine/Style: Japanese Pub
My thoughts:
I have to admit, when I came into the restaurant and saw how packed and crowded it was, I almost wanted to pass on this restaurant. Further, my girlfriends and I came here around 6:30 on a Sunday night and was told that there was an hour-long wait (yes, on a Sunday!). We were all pretty hungry and almost decided to go elsewhere. I am very, very glad I did not. I was literally blown out of my mind at how amazing the food was!
The 'restaurant' is actually a Japanese-style bar/pub that also serves snacks/small dishes. Small portions. Prices were on average $6-7 a pop, which might seem really cheap, but given the small serving sizes, wasn't actually that cheap.
Here is what we ordered:
- Sashimi salad: This was a salad with various types of sashimi served over mixed greens and strips of pickled turnip. A wasabi mayo sauce was drizzled over top. This dish was not bad. The sashimi was definitely very fresh. The thing was, however, I didn't feel like the various things really melded with one another. I felt like I was just having sashimi with lettuce, if you know what I mean. Not bad, but I am not sure if I would order this again. Just not my cup of tea. I'm just not a big salad person, but if you are, you may like this.
- Aburi salmon: An appie consisting of lightly seared salmon sashimi with ponzu sauce and wasabi mayo. This was slightly similar to the sashimi salad, but tasted much better. Perhaps maybe because there wasn't anything to compete with the delicious taste of sashimi. I would recommend this.
- Takoyaki: Fried octopus balls with sweet Tonkatsu sauce and mustard mayo. My second favourite dish of the night. These were unbelievably soft and fluffy little balls with a small piece of octopus in the centre. I don't know what the soft, fluffy part was, but it was mind-blowingly (is there even such a word?) delicious. I was simply floored by the taste! The sauce was a little bit salty, but I am telling you, it was perfect with the food. I would recommend this in a heartbeat. Loved it!! I would come back just for this! It was a little taste of heaven!
- Okonomiyaki: Deep-fried pancake with Tonkatsu sauce and mustard mayo. This was similar in taste to the Takoyaki. It must've been partly due in part to the sauce. The food part was quite similar to the octopus balls as well, in the sense that it was also quite loose and fluffy (not as fluffy as the octopus balls, though). But overall, I thought this tasted similar enough to the octopus ball to give this the same second-place rating.
- Oden: An assortment of Japanese-style hotpot items, including egg, radish, squid & fish cake, puffed fish cake, deepfried tofu and bamboo shoot. Okay, this was the last thing we ordered, and after being so impressed by most of the things that we had ordered, I have to say, I had high expectations. But this was quite disappointing. I found it to be salty and the flavour a little strange. I personally would not get this again.
- Unagi Doria: A rice dish topped with BBQ eel, mushroom and cheese. This was hands-down my favourite dish that night. The richness of this dish resembled that of risotto, but I guess what I would have guessed to be Japanese-style, because of the sauce. The sauce was sweet and thick, which made the rice taste absolutely heavenly. I would have never expected this combination of foods to taste so amazing. It was the perfect marriage of all the ingredients. I would recommend this in a heartbeat. Two thumbs way up!
One of my girlfriends absolutely adores cheesecake and we were going to order a slice of the Roasted Green Tea Cheesecake for dessert. Before doing so, however, we asked our waittress how big (I should say small) the slice was, and she indicated a little square with her hands. Not enough to share amongst three people! So we decided to go elsewhere for dessert. My friend suggested 7 West Cafe.
Location: 7 Charles Street West, Toronto (Yonge & Charles)
Date: March 13, 2011
Cuisine/Style: North American cafe
My thoughts:
We ordered the Dulce de Leche cheesecake, which for those of you who don't know, is a caramel cheesecake. It was very rich and creamy, which is good for a cheesecake. My cheesecake-loving friend really enjoyed and she definitely got her fill. However, I am not a big caramel person. I prefer rather plain or fruit cheesecakes. Also, the price was $6, which was a little pricey given the size. I think we should have stayed at the first restaurant. Oh well, I will be returning to that restaurant in the near future, and I will try it out!
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