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| - Kiu is a new Japanese izakaya place right in the heart of downtown Markham. I came here with 4 other friends on a Saturday night after a great raptors win but the experience was disappointing. Before I get to the food reviews, I want to warn everyone that the seating here is very limited, despite looking huge from the outside, the bar, kitchen area and sushi bar took a lot of available seating spaces, but the decors is very nice here.
Food, well I have to say many dishes were disappointing, but let's talk about the decent ones first:
Ramen is delicious here and the price is somewhat reasonable. We ordered the Red Dragon Ramen ($16) and the Roasted Garlic Ramen ($11). The ramen in both had very good texture and chewy (a must for me!) and the amount of ingredients in these ramens are great. If you love eating spicy food, you will like the aftertaste spiciness from the Red Dragon Ramen.
Kiu Beef tataki ($12) was another dish I wanted to highlight, it didn't look too appealing when it was put down, but after trying one, the sauce and garlic chip on the beef were a killer combination!
The Pressed Sushi ($20) and the Daily Sashimi Platter ($50) were terrible. Pressed Sushi is probably the worst I ever had, and it's not even comparable to Miku and Jabistro! If you are charging such a premium price, I expect quality somewhat close to Miku or Jabistro standards. The searing fish didn't have enough oil, sushi was small and the fish was tasteless. But the worst of the worst is the Daily Sashimi Platter, for $50 you have around 25 pieces of average quality fish you eat at AYCE, all i saw were regular Tuna, octopus, red snapper, mackerel and fried fish skin? Sashimi didn't taste fresh and some were cut very thin and weirdly (like the octopus).
If you are going to Kiu, stick with the ramen, appetizers and sake, but stay away from anything from the sushi bar.
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