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| - 3.5 stars
This place doesn't look like much from the outside and I never thought to come here, with so many other great options on Baldwin. But when I came to Baldwin with a hankerin' for sushi and Etsu was closed, I decided to try this place out instead.
On a Saturday night, the place was pretty busy. Luckily, my DC and I managed to get a table without a reservation. The space is quite small and intimate. Our server was cheerful and friendly, getting some green tea for us right away. The menu is pretty simple. It's mostly a la carte for dinner (no bento boxes), with a few sushi and sashimi platters in the ~$15-25 range. As others have mentioned, they also offer a $50 omakase menu for groups of 2 or more.
I found the prices to be very reasonable and the quality of the ingredients and nice presentation were better than I expected from such a casual looking place. We had:
- Agedashi tofu - good size for 2. The shaved radish has a nice ginger flavour in it.
- Tempura appetizer - my litmus test for a good Japanese restaurant, and they passed! Nice and light, and the tempura sauce was delicately flavoured. You get 2 shrimp and assorted veggies (asparagus, yam, this purple root vegetable).
- Grilled eggplant - not on the regular menu, but a special. It's a whole eggplant, so it's actually really big. It came with some of the shaved radish and bonito flakes, similar to the agedashi tofu.
- DC had the sashimi B combo and said it was very tasty and fresh
- Spicy salmon roll - great, with not too much rice or too much tempura bits. Avocado with the salmon was a nice combo of textures.
- Vegetarian futomaki - egg, tofu, shiitake mushrooms, slivers of green onion... proof that veggie rolls don't have to be boring
Only a couple minor things I think could be improved: timing of dishes coming out could be better coordinated (my DC's sashimi and my sushi rolls came ~15 minutes apart), and they could refill the green tea more frequently so that it doesn't get cold. Otherwise, very happy with our experience here! All this at $50 for 2 people, including tax. We left very full and I think we'll be back. Next time, I'll be sure to save room for dessert (black sesame ice cream, green tea panna cotta...).
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