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| - Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner last night, my friend and I ended up at Ematei. He mentioned an "authentic Japanese restaurant", so I decided to check it out with him. If it wasn't for him, I would've definitely overlooked this place. It's like a hidden gem on St. Patrick. It was a Monday night, so not many people were in the restaurant - so we quickly got a seat. A little dark on the inside, it was a little quaint place, and fairly relaxing.
There was quite the selection hefty - so it took us forever to decide what we wanted. Not only that, my friend and I decided to share the food among us both. So that a bit longer. The waitress quickly brought out a small appetizer that contained pickled vegetables for us to start. Using my trust Yelp app for the BlackBerry - I got to see the other reviews to see what everyone else recommended.
So here's the food that we got from most recommended to the least (however, all dishes were great!):
1) GRILLED BLACK COD: This was absolutely delicious; had a little buttery taste to it, and the fish was the smoothest I've ever had. Definitely a recommend!
2) HOTATE BUTTER: Butter scallops with carmelized onions in a sizzling dish. I was so amazed by how the flavours worked together. I never had buttered scallops before, so I have nothing to compare to, but it was better than the hotate carpaccio that I had a Guu Izakaya.
3) ASPARA BACON: I like bacon, I like asparagus. 'Nuff said.
4) MISO SOUP: Not your typical miso soup - they added some enoki mushrooms to give it more flavour. Loved it!
5) BEEF TONGUE: (Forgot what it's called on the menu). Just a bit too chewy for my liking. I think they added a bit of pepper on it for taste.
Overall, a great experience. A bit on the pricier side -- I think it was about $50-$60 for those dishes in total.
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