I can't recall the last Japanese restaurant I've been to in the GTA where there was no Chinese on the menu, the servers were fluent in Japanese themselves, and come to think of it, no AYCE -- so I was pretty stoked for what was to come. We had reservations for a weeknight and while there were plenty of walk-ins, this petite 28-seater restaurant does fill up so calling ahead is a good idea.
We weren't sure about the portions of the tasting menus; ordered a la carte and the 3 of us were plenty stuffed at a reasonable price too (just over $30 pp):
- SASHIMI PLATTER - a mix of tuna, white tuna, shrimp, scallop, uni, salmon, Hamachi; 1-3 pieces of each.
- TUNA AND WHITE TUNA SUSHI
- SPIDER ROLL - delicious juxtaposition of crisp soft shell crab with creamy avocado & "dressing" (probably a spicy mayo). nicely done.
- SHRIMP TEMPURA - this batter seemed thicker than what is usually offered, and therefore much more heavy. resembled something we make at home, so this didn't seem particularly special
- UDON - fantastically "Q" (al dente) noodles with a few nori ribbons here and there.
- UNI HAND ROLL - i recall my first experience with uni as slurping a watery sac of briny rawness - terrible. THIS, however..this was J.I.M.P. good. so sweet and creamy. there was no skimping either; the uni tunneled all the way down through the roll, its creaminess oozing into the rice to the very last bite. (man! i'm salivating just thinking about it)
- HOKKE - marinated (in miso, perhaps) and grilled. it could have benefited from a little bit of sweetness to balance out the strong umami that lemon juice couldn't even penetrate. what really impressed me was that the fish was butterflied THROUGH THE SPINE. whadeoumeannnn.
Service was slow at times, but honestly the food was so good I was pretty blissed out and didn't mind.