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| - Located in Richmond Hill, Joe Yee is a breath of fresh air for the veggie foodie. How often do you find vegetarian Japanese places around Toronto?! My family and I ventured here from Scarborough after reading Helen's review, only after it'd been open for 5 days. The staff here seem to be new to the restauranting industry, as they do not have a good grip of what good waitressing is yet (i.e. how and when to bring the bill, asking whether we need help). Although they are very polite, some of the servers seem very shy.
The interior is very clean, with about a dozen tables or so, with the windows covered in coloured placards, introducing recommended dishes. Useful to the local community is the fact that the menu is marked with both Chinese and English. There is a sushi bar with the glass partition where sushi is typically made; it actually freaked out my sister and she asked if the 'fish' was really fish, despite the fact the restaurant is clearly marked as vegetarian! The only downside is that the 'sashimi' - made in Taiwan - has milk powder in it, and is not vegan.
My aunt and I actually went outside to look at the appetizers (obviously an awkward situation once winter rolls round) and choose the deep-fried 'shrimp' ($6.95). I was quite upset that there were only four pieces, because it was one of the most delicious things I'd ever eaten!
In addition to that, the avocado mango roll was quite yummy, as well as the 'chicken' sushi roll. There are quite a number of typically non-vegetarian speciality rolls which have been made veg-friendly, such as the cream cheese and 'salmon'. I hope to come back and try the whole gamut!
As a vegetarian restaurant, the location might be unusal and farther than where its clientel may be looking. If it were downtown, there'd definitely be a good stream of customers coming here! Keeping my fingers crossed; I'd like to see Joe Yee become a hot spot!
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