Review #3: Yuzu no Hana

12 March 2020

My last day in Toronto, I’m going to miss this place. Last night’s fabulous dinner at Canis is still in my head…

I had time for a leisurely lunch before I head to Pearson to fly home. I decided to revisit Yuzu no Hana, a Japanese restaurant I had enjoyed many years ago. In fact it was May 2014 the last time I visited this place. I got there early for lunch at the sushi bar.

I had mentioned to them I was interested in the lunch sushi omakase, and indeed I decided to do that. In the meatime a wee opener…

Nothing too special, a little egg tofu cake and good miso soup. Toronto is perpetually overheated indoors, so the soup didn’t really help. In any case, I watched the sushi chef work on my stuff and was a little saddened that it will not be a more traditional, piece-by-piece service; rather, a big ol’ plate with all the pieces…

Well, I have to say I wasn’t very impressed by this selection. They did mention the lack of good shellfish/bivalves, which for me is always a total disappointment. I like my raw fish, of course, but I like a balance. And this omakase really shows no balance. And when it comes out in one big plate it really takes the joy out of it.

AND THERE’S STUPID EDIBLE GOLD ON MY TORO. In fact most of the additions on the pieces were either an unnecessary distraction or actually a hindrance on enjoying the fish. Nothing was “bad” per se, but nothing really impressed. The suzuki (sea bass) was perhaps the only piece that kind of stood out. It was disappointing.

I still had some beer and was way ahead of schedule, as I didn’t anticipate this one-serving omakase style. So I ordered some ala carte pieces. First up, o-toro…

Again, just doesn’t do it today. Not bad, but nothing special. In fact, that’s the verdict so far, it’s like any corner sushi shop really. Though it’s clear that the pieces for the ala carte was far, far larger than for the omakase, which is actually again extremely disappointing there is no consistency. You can’t get away with this shit in Japan or real serious sushi places.

Next up saba (mackerel), my usual favourite. Again, so-so, but nothing special. Not the richness I’m used to frankly. Then finally, anago.

Probably the best items of the day, quite large portions. Again it’s annoying to me that the omakase was of such a limited selection that made little sense, then the ala carte pieces were so much better. It almost seems like the omakase sushi selection is a gimmick instead of the day’sbest offering — which it should be.

I settled up and headed out, disappointed with this place. It’s definitely nowhere as good as I remembered from the past, and frankly it’s no better than any corner sushi place. Really poor effort here, one of the more inferior omakase sushi experiences I’ve had in ages.

There’s better options in Toronto these days, give this place a pass until they get their act together again.

Yuzu no Hana
236 Adelaide Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

* I made it home after some unnecessary delays, no thanks to an inept American Airlines. Frankly after all the COVID-19 mess ends and people start to travel again, I will avoid American Airlines for its ineptitude and unfriendliness. I’ll leave it at that. Fly Delta, Alaska, Virgin Atlantic or Southwest, folks.

** On a more personal note, this is likely the last entry in this long-running blog. Thank you all for reading and support over the years. Please stay healthy and good luck to everyone.

Review: Canis

11 March 2020

After that heavy dimsum lunch at Kwan Dim Sum, I was pretty spent. I had to deal with some trip logistics no thanks to an extremely unfriendly American Airlines… After all this ends and travelling becomes more normal again, guess which airline I will NOT use?

Sigh…anyway, I got all I needed to get done during this unplanned trip, so that’s good — knowing I probably won’t be able to come up to Canada for the forseeable future. One of the unfortunate side effects of this growing crisis (at the time) is the lack of bookings at restaurants, and I was lucky to have gotten one for Canis — a place I had wanted to visit for awhile. So when I saw the slot last week, I took it.

Unfortunately the restaurant was almost empty all night, a sign of the growing concern in Toronto; after all, TO went through a terrible time during the SARS crisis years ago (when I also visited afterwards to help local businesses). But I was glad to have one last good dinner before things inevitably escalate.

My good friend met me at the restaurant as we took a window seat. I nursed a cocktail as he arrived and after a little bit we proceeded into our tasting menu. My first (and possibly last) tasting menu of 2020 began with some housemade sourdough with some nice house-churned butter and ricotta with carrots.

Tasty stuff, and I enjoyed the bread despite being not a big fan of sourdough in general. A good start. Then the next set of items arrived.

The oyster was quite nice, helped on by the chilli oil. But it’s the lamb tartar that really stole the show here. Top quality lamb, deliciously uncompromising. Lovely stuff. A nice start, and that all went well with a strange tipple from nearby Guelph. Then next up, the duck liver parfait.

Beautiful presentation, quite delicious, the liver being of excellent quality again. The currant, mild fermentation I can feel, brought out the already tasty duck liver nicely. Good technique, touching on Nordic influences but without runaway fermentation and pickling. Then a pour of a silvaner from Alsace and we have a tasting of trout.

Beautiful dish, just yells NORDICS here, though perhaps mid-Baltic sea in influence. The tasty trout and roe comes out brilliantly with the horseradish sauce. Excellent dish.

Then a junmai from Gifu was the surprise next pour as we have the halibut. Unfortunately my camera may have imbibed too much as the photos disappeared from my phone! I have no idea what happened to them but I have a witness that remembered I took them! Oh well, but more importantly the fish. I’m not a big halibut fan, but this was a fantastic rendition, with shiitake all in a fragrant dashi. I really wish I got a photo here because this was an excellent dish!

Really enjoying the dinner, from the company to the service to the food, a great “last hurrah” of sorts. Everyone sensed things were going to turn worse, so… But in any case, next up a delicious Blaufränkisch is poured as we move into the meats…

Oh dear this beef is amazing. Just lovely soft yet strong texture, with amazing flavours. The celeriac was a nice side to mop up the sauce, but this beef is just fabulous. Sorry for the bad photo, my camera had obviously not recovered from eating the photos from the last dish… But really excellent, tied for the best dish of the night with the halibut. And finally, for the last savoury of the evening, a flavourful grenache is poured for the two-part lamb dish…

First is the rib (one for each of us, mind you), which was extremely soft and tender, with quite nice flavours.

However, it’s the loin that’s the real star here, the quality of lamb is excellent. I love lamb that tastes like lamb, and this definitely does. It comes really, really close to drawing even with the halibut and beef as best dishes of the night, showing the excellent quality of this kitchen.

I was sad that our savouries are done as wee palate cleanser followed by the dessert…

After all those excellent savouries this was a bit of an anticlimax to the evening, but being not a dessert person anyway, a simple dessert helped to wind the evening down well. My friend is an Estonian-Canadian, and I’m basically an adopted Estonian, so the buckwheat-centric morsel, tinged with chocolate, was apropos to mark the end of our dinner, to break bread for the last time for awhile.

An excellent evening of dine dining I must say. First of all, I didn’t say much about the service, but our server was fabulous, really going over the wines in the pairing well. Compared to my first night here in Toronto at Kiin, it was night and day. And the flavours were night and day too, as all the flavours tonight were fabulous. There was not a weak savoury dish all night, and it is very rare for me to say that for a multi-course tasting menu. Kudos to our excellent server and the fabulous kitchen!!!

Now that’s a great “final dinner” to have before I head home tomorrow, knowing things are going to get extremely messy in a matter of days, if not hours.

I honestly cannot wait to head up to Toronto and visit Canis again, may be the best dinner I’ve had in Toronto in 25 years of visiting. Very, very much recommended!

The only negative thing all night? I really need to lecture my stupid Samsung Galaxy S-10 about eating pictures of very delicious dishes…

Canis
746 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post-script:  I went for a nightcap at a popular cocktail bar further west but left after a relatively short time, rather horrified they were trying to pack people in at the bar despite all the empty seats elsewhere in the bar. That ain’t happening now I’m sure, and this was less than a week ago…

A Tale of One City – And Two Dimsums

10-11 March 2020

One of the big advantages of going to Toronto is the amazing amount of ethnic cuisines available, and most of them are on the genuine side, without being “dumbed down” — well, almost all… I won’t rehash my issues with some of the other places in Toronto that broke this rule, but one cuisine that’s always genuine in Toronto is Chinese.

The day before, while running errands and nursing an awful hangover after that bland dinner at Kiin — and the excellent drinking/eating session afterwards at Zakkushi — I decided to visit one of Toronto’s Chinatown institutions — Rosewood Asian Cuisine.

Now Toronto has not been immune to the extremely unfortunate sharp downturn in business for Chinese restaurants, as idiotic stereotyping and racism has started to run out of control during this global crisis. I decided for that reason to go support these businesses. Plus, I wanted to have some good dimsum, and Rosewood is known for good dimsum.

Rosewood has an all-you-can-eat lunch special that covers a rather large range of dimsum, and I was hungry despite being hungover, so I had a enjoyably big lunch there. I ordered things in 3 rounds, so it doesn’t look like my table was overwhelmed. But here I won’t go in any specific order but will talk about the dishes. The tofu roll was pretty good, a good opener.

The steamed ribs, always a hit for dimsum feasts, was also pretty good. The shumai is reliably good; I have rarely eaten shumai that I didn’t like… BTW remember, as with EVERY photo I post, you can click on them for a larger version!

The egg tofu with shrimp was the weak dish of the day, the flavours extremely bland and difficult to eat — especially for a chopstick-challenged person like me. The pork and vegetable dumplings were quite good, and thank goodness I let it cool down before it scalded my tongue. I know many people are not fans of tripe, but always one of my favourite dimsum dishes, and done well here…

And finally, some braised tendon. You don’t see this too often anymore, and this was done quite wonderfully. I could have eaten another dish of this.

In fact I could have eaten far more, but I decided to not abuse the all-you-can-eat thing with pre-quarantine gluttony (yes, I expected it within a week or so after this trip). Plus I can see they are hurting, with the restaurant half-empty during what should have been a busy lunch — and one of the adjacent tables some stupid joker abandoned a bunch of FULL DISHES and left. This kind of abuse of an all-you-can-eat restaurant, plus the food wasting, just shows absolutely poor values of some people. I nearly chased after him to shout at this moron.

But after I finished I thanked the staff and headed on out, as I needed to run to a few more places before I met my friends later for that dinner at Quetzal. The next day I had to go to the north part of town for something, and I decided to do another dimsum lunch, this time at the also-well-regarded Kwan Dim Sum near St Clair Station.

It was also empty during what should have been a busy lunch period, so that again saddened me. Not all-you-can-eat, and I ended up running up a bill double of yesterday’s — despite getting less food. But it was generally worth it. Again, not in any specific order, though also again not all at once!

I have to say the curry cuttlefish was quite nice, a dish I’ve not had in ages. Really nice flavours here.

The steamed tripe, again one of my faves, was a little more flavourful here than yesterday, though yesterday’s was also quite good. The pork dumplings, again allowed to cool off so it doesn’t scald me, was definitely better than yesterday’s version.

On the other hand, the ribs were not as good. The flavours were good, but the pieces were a mess and there was a lot of loose (and sharp) bone, which is difficult if you try to eat the ribs with some finesse (and without making a spectacle of yourself). The shumai, what can I say? As good as always. Again, it’s very difficult to make a shumai that I don’t like…

And finally, a dish I don’t often get because too often they’re not done well, it’s chicken feet. Here it fails a little. The flavours are a little untraditional, and it was cooked very unevenly. The weak dish of the lunch.

I thanked them after the larger-than-expected bill and headed on out. I’m not sure which of the two venerable dimsum joints was better. Both were convivial with attentive service. Some of the dishes were better at Kwan, some were better at Rosewood; and both had a very weak dish (the tofu and shrimp at Rosewood, the chicken feet at Kwan), but overall the dishes were quite good. So I guess Rosewood is the winner being all-you-can-eat and half the price of what I paid at Kwan.

But as it’s the last time I’ll be able to eat dimsum in awhile, I definitely am glad I got my fill of it here in Toronto before I head home the next day. But please do support your local Chinese joints if you can, especially the ones that do genuine Chinese food (and not the awful “westernised” dishes with identical menus) — now probably only via delivery due to restrictions in a great part of the world. They have been hit even harder than everyone else in this sector because of ignorance and racism, and that’s tough to swallow.

Rosewood Asian Cuisine
463 Dundas Street West

Kwan Dim Sum
1496 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Review: Quetzal

10 March 2020

Well, I did pay for that bit of needed excess. The food and drink at Zakkushi was what I needed, especially after that lacklustre food at Kiin. Despite the hangover I had some errands to run, which is why I had to come up to Toronto. A big dimsum lunch later, more running around.

Had a chance to catch up with another friend over a few beers before meeting up with another good friend at the popular Mexican restaurant Quetzal for dinner. The three of us had a few drinks before one had to run, so the two of us adjourned to our table.

I like the restaurant, though it’s way, way too dark inside. I hate having to use my phone’s screen light to read the menu. But we decided to share a few items and just ordered like that. Having been to South America a few times, I remember the old rule about ceviche in the evening, so we skipped down and just ordered a few mains. Soon the food started to show up. First up, the squid.

Pretty good, though for me the fermented masa tortilla’s texture was a little bit of a clash with the squid. Nice flavours tho. Sorry about the poor photos. Either I’m out of practice, or Samsung has not improved the focus function in their low-light captures for yet another generation of phone cameras…

Next up is the pork, which was delicious. They definitely do their meats well here. And finally, the skirt steak.

Again, quite good. Flavourful, and as much I love garlic I didn’t need to use the salsa. We also got a nice roasted oyster mushroom but my Galaxy S-10 produced a photo that looked more like Frosty the Snowman, so I’m not gonna post it… But it was good, though we probably should have gotten some greens to go with all this good rich stuff!

A thoroughlly enjoyable dinner. Quite good meats again, they worked so much better than the squid. The desserts soon came and they were pretty good — spiced chocolate sorbet and horchata ice cream.

And I enjoyed a nice mezcal flight as well to help close the night. Good stuff.

Enjoyed this dinner, the flavours were there to experience, no dumbing down of ethnic flavours here, unlike last night’s blandness at Kiin. Service flowed very well too, perhaps why this place is so busy compared to Kiin. In any case, we left happy and full.

Definitely a good place, recommended. You’ll enjoy the flavours.

Quetzal
419 College Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

* Quetzal has pre-emptively — and responsibly — closed temporarily since I was there last week to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Please do go and support all your local restaurants like Quetzal once things get a little better!

A Tale of One City – And Two Dinners, Part II (Review: Zakkushi)

9 March 2020

With that relatively poor experience at Kiin for dinner, I was still hungry (and thirsty) so I decided to seek out more of both. I wandered west on foot from Kiin and after about 15 minutes I found one of the places I had listed as “check out if you got time” — Zakkushi. It’s a izakaya chain with locations in Toronto and Vancouver. Now I’m usually not a fan of any chain, but the menu looked good and they opened until midnight, so…

Again, not too busy, you can see the COVID-19 fears are starting to hit the service industry in Toronto (note the date, it’s before it really struck the US and way after it flowed through Asia and Europe was starting the worst of it). I ended up ordering a pricier-than-I-should-have-ordered sake and a few small dishes…

Quite delicious, but perhaps that’s because it’s been so fecking long since I’ve been in Japan… The ankimo was good enough, the shishamo so-so (I can’t believe I said that), the gizzard quite good, but it was the grilled meats that really won the day here. The belly was sublime and rich, the beef gorgeous with garlic between each piece on the skewers.

This is the first night I’ve manage to relax in awhile, and the first trip I’ve taken (aside from the short Delaware road trip in December) since September, so I was going to go a bit crazy, so more sake and more food…

The hotate (scallops) were so-so, but again the belly was a winner. And being me, I have to have my saba (mackerel) when I’m in an izakaya…

Pretty good, but it reminded me of Japan so much turned me a bit melancholic. I had more sake to finish, so for a dessert I went with one last round of pork and beef…

I finished up just as they reached their closing time, so I thanked the friendly and efficient staff and headed out and waited for a street car to bring me back to downtown so I can stumble back to my hotel.

The night started off not so great at Kiin, but ended quite well at Zakkushi, thank goodness. A night-and-day set of experiences in one evening food- and service-wise, that’s for sure. You know which of the 2 I’d recommend…

But I’m gonna pay for it tomorrow morning…

Zakkushi
620 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A Tale of One City – And Two Dinners, Part I (Review: Kiin)

9 March 2020

I made an unscheduled trip to Toronto as I needed to do a few things that I’ve put off, and I wanted to get it done before travel is restricted in North America (seeing how things are playing out in Asia and Europe it’s inevitable). And luckily prices were on my side, and I had a very small window to get this trip in with the anticipated escalation timeline, so I pulled the trigger just 72 hours before taking off.

I got to Toronto and luckily was met at Pearson by a good friend as we went to visit the grave of the great Oscar Peterson before heading into town for a quick lunch. Checked into a so-so hotel near Union Station (convenient for getting back to Pearson) and tried to unwind and plot out all my movements for the next few days.

I had a dinner booking not far at Kiin, a well-regarded fancy Thai place. I got there and offered to sit at the bar. Mistake. The staff was so busy (despite the restaurant being half empty due to the growing pandemic fears), especially the poor bartender, who had to make drinks AND serve tables (aside from me being the only person at the bar), it took ages to get a drink. I also ordered and hoped the food didn’t take as long. It didn’t, as my starter arrived soon.

A selection of their house dumplings, an interesting selection and quite beautifully presented certainly. Unfortunately, as often as not, wonderful aesthetics on a plate don’t always translate to taste. I was told to go in a certain order, and not sure if that worked. The first, miang kung (shrimp and pomelo in a betel leaf wrap) was completely overwhelmed by the roasted coconuts, and lacked the bite that the server warned me about. Next up, the mha hor was basically a nut ball with a pineapple on bottom. A good sweet-ish piece with a good nutty texture, but it seems disjointed with the pineapple, and the advertised chilli never appeared. Next is the blue chor ladda, which is a jasmine rice flour dumpling. This didn’t work for me much as it just seems like more of a texture than flavour play. And finally, the thoong thong (wonton-wrapped chicken and shrimp dumplings) also didn’t work as all the earlier flavours made this item absolutely bland. What I have never said eating in Thailand before is the word “bland” but that’s the verdict so far…

Now what seriously annoyed me at this point was that as I was still eating my starter, my main course arrived. And they also asked if I wanted rice, and I said sure.

This pork jowl dish was relatively good, but again a bit bland — the curse of ethnic restaurants that “dumb down” to appeal to the masses, despite Toronto being the most cosmopolitan city in the world… They “warned” me not to touch those peppers, but I basically pulverised them into the meat for some nice heat. It’s Thai food, it needs the heat to bring out the other flavours. But I was also anticipating my rice, and it never came. I was about half-way done before I could get a server’s attention, and they had totally forgotten. So I said to just cancel it. I finished the dish, was still a little hungry, but with the way this FoH is, I’m not gonna bother.

I stayed for a few drinks chatting with the bartender, so that’s cool. But he kept being called away to do other things, which is kind of ridiculous since he’s working as bartender, barback and table server — while the other servers are either MIA or refuse to look to see customers trying to get their attention. Very poor FoH training here.

If times were usual I’d certainly not tip as well as I did, but we do live in worrisome times and I’ll overlook this poor FoH night in order to support this besieged industry and its scared workers any way I can. Having gone through a similar calamity in the industry in NYC in 2008, I more than sympathise with all the good men and women in this industry who are under intense stress right now.

However, I headed out disappointed. The food is overrated, and the service issues made it a trying evening. Oh well… But I was so frustrated I chose to look for more food (and drink) to compensate for this lacking experience…perhaps a second dinner?

Kiin
326 Adelaide Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada