Written by Stephanie Loch and Chris Tran aka @ctfillah88 (GFT guest writer)
If you’re looking for the best authentic Japanese food in town, then Kinka Izakaya is the place. Not only is the food amazing but the service is excellent, proving their motto “serving people happiness” true! I was invited to a grand opening event there, not that the restaurant was new, it has been at 398 Church St. for a while, but the name was changed from ‘Guu Toronto’ to ‘Kinka Izakaya’ due to the ending of a franchise agreement between Kinka Family Inc. and Kitanoya Marketing Corp. The name ‘kinka’ means golden flower and symbolizes happiness in the Japanese culture.
Our first dish was an appetizer called ‘Gomaae’. The blanched spinach was served steaming with black sesame sauce drizzled on top. The tartness of the spinach was cut by the sweetness of the sesame sauce to create a juicy combination. The deep green also contrasted nicely against the black oil dressing.
Our next dish was hokkaido scallop sashimi called ‘hotate carpaccio’. It was served cold and had a wasabi dressing which added a refreshing kick. It was garnished very nicely with grated beet and lemon.
After that we had ‘Gyu shabu salad’. This salad consisted of iceberg lettuce, red, yellow and green peppers, and purple cabbage, the colours of the rainbow! Shabu-shabu beef was set on top with black sesame dressing. The beef was thinly sliced so each bite had a good ratio of meat to salad.
Moving on to the heavier dishes we had ‘karaage’, which is deep fried chicken. It was so tender and flavourful because it was marinated in soy sauce. The pieces of chicken were bite size so you could pop them in your mouth like popcorn if you like. Yes they were that good! But don’t forget to dip them in the garlic mayo dipping sauce before!
Next we had ‘kakimayo’ which is baked oyster with spinach and mushrooms. The oysters were dressed with a garlic mayo and topped with melted cheese. Literally mouthwatering!
Our next meaty dish was grilled beef short ribs known as ‘karubi’. They were seasoned with salt and pepper to bring out the real grilled flavour of the beef. The scallions dipping sauce added some extra flavour. The meat just fell off the bone! ‘Gindara’ was my personal favorite if I had to choose. This grilled black cod was marinated in miso as cod does not have a very strong flavor on its own. This gave the cod a buttery texture that was ‘oh so tender’. A yuzu miso sauce was also drizzled on top to really make this dish delicious.
Our last main dish was called ‘buta kimchi bibimbap’ (pictured at top of article). It was served beautifully in a scorching stone bowl filled with rice (which created a delicious crust on the bottom), ground pork, kimchi, assorted vegetables and egg. The way it came sizzling to us added to the experience of this dish. The egg was soft inside so once broken it became like a creamy spicy sauce when combined with the kimchi.
Finally dessert! We were pretty full and satisfied by this point but there’s always room for dessert. This was a smooth almond tofu that left the palate feeling cool and fresh.
To wash it all down we had to try their beer mojitos which were served in big Sapporo mugs. A bubbly beverage with a hint of mint and lime made this drink dangerous!
All in all, Kinka Izakaya is as authentic as it gets! With a loud and busy atmosphere you’d swear you had just stepped across the Pacific and into one of the best Japanese restaurants around. The kitchen is open so you can watch with amazement as the chefs cook up these delightful dishes and share them with you. Also you may pick up some Japanese during your visit there as you’re welcomed with a warm “Kon’nichiwa!” and parted with “sayonara!” Can’t wait to go back again or try their other locations including one in Montreal. Kinka Izakaya Original 398 Church St. (416) 977-0999 www.kinkaizakaya.com
izakaya… It’s been around 1 year since I last ate or drank at Nome Izakaya and it was definitely busier during a recent visit with some friends! People were waiting to be seated right at 6 pm when they open. It was also a tuesday, where they feature $1 oysters! These were malpeque oysters, which were fresh, light and sweet. They were all cleanly shucked with the meat completely separated from the shell and we ended up slurping down 3 dozens of them! We also ordered a few rounds of Sapporo beer, which was available on draft. Pints ($6.50+tax) and XL Mugs ($10.80+tax) also come with frozen foam on top that kind of looks like whip cream and keeps the beer extra cold. Nome Izakaya does a really good job of serving ice cold beer, with the chilled/frozen glasses used for their draft beer.
Also ordered a few more Pitchers of Sapporo ($18.80+tax) to keep the party going! The environment is quite noisy at Nome, but not as rowdy as Guu- noone will yell loud japanese greetings at you when you enter Nome. We shared a few other dishes including the Tuna Coin Roll ($16.50+tax)- a deep fried rice coin with spicy tuna and cherry tomato on top! The Japa-Burger was served as sliders with sliced ribeeye beef and some nice smokiness. We also ordered the Maguro Avocado tartare ($9.70+tax), which was a nice mix of tuna sashimi, avocado decorated to look like a cool looking dessert. We were also lucky enough to try the new Asian fusion Fish Taco with deepfried monkfish. The asian flavours with the edamame beans and seasoning really come through. Nome is a great izakaya/drinking option in North York! Gets busy for $1 oysters on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Nome Izakaya Japanese Restaurant 4848 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M2N 5N2 www.nomeizakaya.com (647) 347-7937
sushi... I just posted about some cheap sushi, so it is fitting for this post to be about some quality, pricier Japanese food. I went to check out Inakaya Japanese Sake Bar, which is like a 2 minute drive from my house. The name alone intrigued me as I have never been to a sake bar in Toronto. Inakaya is a really nice place all around- from the moment you see their entrance to the small yet classy decor inside (their walls are even lined with bottles of Sake.
There were tons of items on the menu and between the 7 of us we sampled quite a bit of their menu. Each of us ordered a Sushi Moriawase ($26 + tax/tip) for ourselves, which is basically a plate of assorted sushi. The presentation of this dish was sick, as we each had a long plate with 7 different types of nigiri sushi (Tuna, Toro, Shrimp, Ikura, Unagi and 2 others that I don't remember what they were) and 6 pieces of tuna makis. Each piece of fish was really fresh, especially the Toro, which literally melted in my mouth. One thing that some people might have an issue with is that the sushi chef here has a really heavy hand with the wasabi. Upon eating each nigiri sushi piece, you can feel the bite of the wasabi (although I thought this was awesome and complemented the fish really well).
Johnson and Vivian also ordered some Uni nigiri sushi (aka Sea Urchin), which they said was really fresh and they ate them up as quick as they came to our table. A couple other items that we ordered included Grilled Cod and some Grilled Scallops. I tried the Cod, and I thought it was pretty good, but nothing especially good about it compared to other places. Since this place is a "Sake Bar," we obviously had to order some Sake as well. They had a huge 1 page list of around 30 different types of Sake. These different Sakes ranged in price as well, from as low as $6 to $200+ for a bottle. None of us are really ballin' or sake lovers, so we ordered 3 small bottles of some pretty standard sake that you could grab at the LCBO. When you order a bottle of Sake, they come around to your table and let each person choose from a variety of unique, cool looking sake cups that come in different colours, materials and sizes (we had lots of stupid fun arguing over the cups.lol).
Finally, to finish off the meal, we ordered some Black Sesame Ice Cream (~$5). This was not cheap, but it tastes soooo good. This isn't the typical vanilla based sesame ice cream you can buy at T & T. This black sesame ice cream is literally infused with black sesame as it is even completely black in colour. It tastes damn good too (keep in mind that this ice cream will make you look like you're eating dirt- it covers your mouth and teeth with black stuff, so rinse your mouth with some tea afterwards, lol).
Inakaya Japanese Sake Bar isn't a cheap place but it is delicious (typical meal would probably run you around $40-50/person depending on what you order). They also offer Omakase(お任せ) for $65/person, which is basically a higher end price fix menu with the chef's selection of a series of 7-10 different dishes. I am looking forward to try this, and I will post a review when I do.
Inakaya is located in North York on the West side of Willowdale, just North of Sheppard. It is impossible to miss as it is clearly the only Japanese restaurant in a pretty residential area. I'm not sure if they have dedicated parking spots, but we just parked on the side streets of the residential neighbourhood.
Inakaya Japanese Sake Bar 126 Willowdale Ave Toronto, ON
cheap sushi... If you're looking for some good value for sushi, Sushi Bong is the place to go. They offer giant portions for cheap prices, which are 2 key aspects for an awesome deal! This is a small Korean run restaurant in North York that mostly does takeout for people in the Condos around the area. It really is tiny, as they only have about 6-8 seats in the entire place and very often, more than half of the customers in the restaurant are just waiting for their takeout.
I live pretty close to this place, so I come here whenever I need a quick and cheap sushi fix. Me and my friends usually order the same thing every time we're here. For 2 people, we order the Dynamite Roll ($5.95) and the Sushi Bong Special (I think its around $10). The Dynamite Roll (pictured bottom left and right) is HUGE! It is seriously the biggest roll I have ever seen as each piece is almost as wide as your fist and it is basically a California roll filled with Tempura Shrimp and covered in tempura giving it the crunchiness of a Dynamite Roll. This roll alone will fill one person up! The Sushi Bong Special (pictured top right) gives you a little more variety as it comes with 17 pieces- 3 Salmon sushis, 1 Unagi sushi, 1 Snapper sushi, 4 pieces Salmon Roll, 4 pieces California Roll, 4 pieces of California Roll with salmon. The food is pretty decent as well, although this is not the place to go if your looking for super high quality Japanese food and super high quality fish.
Sushi Bong is an awesome place if you are looking for quantity and a good deal. The Sushi Bong Special / Dynamite Roll meal I always get comes out to under $20 after tax/tip and fully satisfies a quick sushi craving. They are super fast as well (seems like you wait max 2 or 3 minutes for your order), as I will often be in and out of this place in under 15 minutes. It is located in the Northtown plaza below the Northtown Condos just south of Yonge/ Finch (it is right off Yonge street). You can either park in the plaza (limited spots), Yonge Street or park in the free Metro supermarket underground parking lot next door.
Sushi Bong 5 Northtown Way North York, ON M2N 7A1 (416) 227-0022
japanese fast food... One of my friends, Shirley, who is part Japanese suggested that we try this place called Manpuku. Manpuku Modern Japanese Eatery is a small sit down restaurant that serves Japanese dishes other than sushi (ex. noodles, rice dishes and small Japanese snacks). The place is run by actual Japanese people, which is hard to find in Toronto (especially with all the Chinese and Korean run sushi places).
I was also there with 2 other friends, Mark and Shiaang, and each of us ordered a bowl of Niku Udon ($5.99). The Niku Udon was just a basic bowl of udon topped with beef and green onions. In terms of taste, this bowl of noodles was delicious, as the broth tasted just right and the bowl of noodles was filled with beef. For each bowl of noodles, they also give you the Japanese Mixed Chili Pepper Powder, which both adds and brings out the flavour of each noodle dish. We also ordered a serving of Takoyaki Octopus Balls ($4.99). Each plate came with 6 takoyakis, which are balls of batter fried with diced octopus inside each ball. It is also covered in a mayonnaise like sauce and bonito fish flakes, which move around when it comes out hot. If you've never seen these bonito flakes move around on hot food, it actually looks pretty cool as the dish looks like it is alive! (see video)
Manpuku is different than your typical Japanese restaurant in Toronto as they offer customers a chance to try quality authentic Japanese dishes other than sushi. It is located in the Village by the Grange food court across from OCAD. This is a good place to drop by for a quick meal as they even advertise their food as "Modern Japanese Fast Food."
Manpuku Modern Japanese Eatery 105 McCaul St. Unit 29-31 Toronto, Ontario M5T 2X4 (416) 979-6763 OPENING HOURS: MON-WED 10am-8pm | THU-FRI 10am-11pm | SAT 11am -11pm | SUN by appointment
sushi... I was chilling with some friends who live downtown and we decided to grab dinner at Avocado Salad + Sushi. It was a pretty nice night out so we decided to sit out on their patio, which is pretty nice considering they have a patio for a sushi restaurant. My friend, Fei (who also has a food blog), recommended that we should try the bento boxes as they are decently priced and would fill us up.
A bunch of us each got Bento Box #6 w/ Chicken Teriyaki ($13.95). This meal came with Chicken Teriyaki, 1 california roll, 7 pieces of sashimi, 1 miso soup, 1 salad and 2 gyozas (aka deep fried dumplings, although they were served as boiled dumplings here). This was the biggest bento box combo and seemed like the best deal, so we each either got 1 of these or split it. The sushi was decent, tasted pretty good, but nothing too special (your typical bento boxes). In addition to this, we also all shared one order of edamame beans (~$3-5, don't really remember the price. I thought that this place was pretty nice in terms of having a patio and very friendly waiters.
For people who live around the area (especially the surrounding condos) or go to school around the area (ie. UofT), this is pretty convenient for an affordable non all you can eat sushi meal. They also offer 10% off for students (so just show your UofT student card, or whatever university you go to... or just borrow someone else's to get the deal). Parking in this area will cost you money. The closest TTC subway station is Bay Station.
sushi... When I get sushi, I mostly go to all you can eat sushi places, but decided to go along with some friends to Ginza Sushi for dinner. My first impression of this place was that it seemed very modern looking with lots of colorful lit up tables. Looking through the menu, most of us decided to share the combos for 2 that they had.
We had a Combo 1 ($22 + Tax/Tip): Miso Soup, Seaweed Salad, BBQ Squid, 2 California Handrolls, 1 big bowl of vegetable fried rice, 2 Dragon Rolls and ice cream. This is definitely a good deal to get for 2 people as you get lots of food for pretty cheap. The dragon rolls are definitely a highlight as they look and taste delicious.
We also had Combo 3 ($25 + Tax/Tip): Miso Soup, Seaweed Salad, Spider Roll, Rainbow Roll, Salmon Kamikachi Roll, Sashimi (4 Salmon, 2 Tuna, 2 Snapper), Sushi (2 BBQ Eel, 2 White Tuna, 2 Shrimp) and ice cream. This meal tastes better as they even give you a pretty good selection of sashimi (which is pretty fresh here). Unfortunately, this combo does not really fill you up since the portions are pretty small for 2 people. They should definitely include an extra roll or a big bowl of fried rice to make it perfect.
Other than the combos for 2 people, 3 others split a big tray of assorted sushi and sashimi, the Party Tray "Special" ($90). This is awesome if you want to split it with some people as it comes with 90 pieces in the form of tasty sashimi, sushi and maki rolls.
They finished our meals off with either mango or green tea ice cream. Ginza Sushi is a pretty nice place to get some non all you can eat sushi for a decent price. It seems like these days uptown is mostly filled with the all you can eat places (not complaining about it, but its good to take a break from AYCE). They are located in the plaza on Finch, between Leslie and Bayview.
sushi... There was a previous entry aboutIchiban Fish House @ Spring Garden in North York. We went another time to get the Chirashi (different types of sashimi on rice), but I was feeling extra hungry, so I decided to get the Super Chirashi that they had on the menu. It was around ~$14-$15 (normal Chirashi ~$10). The main difference was that the Super Chirashi is much bigger, with a box that is double the size of the normal Chirashi (see picture). The Sashimi selection is about the same, but in larger quantities. In the Super Chirashi, they also give you some other stuff like Kim Bop (korean style sushi), Large Salmon Roe (different from the smaller flying fish roe) and some other random items. If the Chirashi is not enough, this is a good choice as you get larger quantity and variety in the dish for about ~$5 more. This location we went to is located at Yonge and Sheppard, @ 15 Spring Garden Ave.
Parking in this area cost money on the street (until 9 pm) but if you wanna try, you can park across the street where the Condo Developer Showrooms are... it's still a risk, but from past experience, noone cares if you park there.
sushi... I went with a couple friends to Ichiban Fish House on Spring Garden in North York. None of us we're too hungry, so we didn't want all you can eat, which led us to this close by place. Ichiban is a pretty big restaurant with a family type atmosphere. The owners of the place are Korean, much like the large population that makes up the area. One person recommended that we try the Chirashi (which is different types of sashimi on rice). The Chirashi is a box of rice with a wide selection of raw fish on top. As you can see from the picture, they give you Salmon, white tuna, red tuna, snapper, shrimp and some other stuff. None of us really wanted to waste time looking at the menu, so 3 of us ordered the Chirashi. My other friend ordered a dish called Hae Dup Bap, which is basically a variety of Sashimi on a bed of salad. It also comes with a bowl of rice (white or brown/purple) and you mix it all together with some spicy sauce as well. Both of these dishes were really good as the selection of fish was fresh and the portions were enough to fill the average person (if you're not average, just go to all you can eat sushi! haha).
Quick Notes: There are many different Ichiban locations in Toronto but they are not the same(different owners, different qualities, different menus). This location we went to is located at Yonge and Sheppard, @ 15 Spring Garden Ave.The Chirashi was about ~$10 and the Hae Dup Bap was about ~$12 I think.
Parking in this area cost money on the street (until 9 pm) but if you wanna try, you can park across the street where the Condo Developer Showrooms are... it's still a risk, but from past experience, noone cares if you park there.
... btw, a post about my recent attempt at the LoneStar 72 Oz. Steak Challenge will be posted soon (I'm just waiting on some pictures from my friends)
Moving on to the heavier dishes we had ‘karaage’, which is deep fried chicken. It was so tender and flavourful because it was marinated in soy sauce. The pieces of chicken were bite size so you could pop them in your mouth like popcorn if you like. Yes they were that good! But don’t forget to dip them in the garlic mayo dipping sauce before!
‘Gindara’ was my personal favorite if I had to choose. This grilled black cod was marinated in miso as cod does not have a very strong flavor on its own. This gave the cod a buttery texture that was ‘oh so tender’. A yuzu miso sauce was also drizzled on top to really make this dish delicious.
Our last main dish was called ‘buta kimchi bibimbap’ (pictured at top of article). It was served beautifully in a scorching stone bowl filled with rice (which created a delicious crust on the bottom), ground pork, kimchi, assorted vegetables and egg. The way it came sizzling to us added to the experience of this dish. The egg was soft inside so once broken it became like a creamy spicy sauce when combined with the kimchi.
