Izakaya Sushi

Izakaya Sushi
294 College St.

A couple of weeks ago I found myself in the College and Spadina area having bought some computer parts and was in desperate need of some lunch. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and find a sushi restaurant that I hadn’t reviewed and fill my belly as well as the content for this site!

But until very recently, I have been looking for work and at the time I was very definitely on a budget. Luckily Izakaya had a great lunch special where you could pick any 2 rolls and get soup and salad for $6.95. Heck, I got my sushi far cheaper than I could get McDonalds! Plus it came with some sort of fried rice noodle snack that were savoury and resembled uncooked  spaghetti, only far tastier.

I opted for Spicy Tuna and a “Crab Tempura” roll. The crab tempura may have simply been tempura fried crab stick, but it was surprisingly good. Not too much and not too little of anything. Though I think I would have added a bit of cucumber for a bit more crunch. The Spicy Tuna was just about right, and while it could have used just a little bit more “spicy” there was a pretty good amount of tuna in there considering how little I paid for it.

For $6.95 I think I got about the best value of any of my sushi meals so far. I would definitely reccomend Izakaya for a lunch destination. The food was superbly priced and the quality was excellent. Two thumbs up!


November 1st, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: sushi | One comment

Sakura Sushi

Sakura Sushi
394 Bloor St W

Well, if the address of Sakura sushi sounds familiar, it’s because it is occupying the space of an old favorite. Yes, sometime back J-Time sushi closed, and in it’s place Sakura opened. I decided that while nothing can take the place of the establishment where I was introduced to Salmon Pizza, I’d give it a whirl. It’s certainly going to make my google map look a little odd.

They had a reasonably priced all you can eat menu at $12.99, and since I’m on a budget I decided to go with that. There were some interesting trade offs on the AYCE menu that maximized the choices for the diner, and wouldn’t break the bank for the restauranteur. Normally with AYCE, the rolls have about 1/2″ of rice to fill you up. Not so here, the portion was just right. However, there was no Tuna on the menu. Fair enough. I guess I skip spicy tuna this time!

The salmon Pizza was really quite good, even though it took a fair while to get down to it as the rice patty was covered in a chopped mixture of salmon, tempura, onion, tobiko, and maybe even some eye of newt. Regardless, it was excellent, one of the better examples of the “hash” style as opposed to the “slab” style of Salmon. Sometimes a little is a lot. The Spicy Crab was merely crab stick mixed with spicy mayo, but a bit of tempura for texture put it a step above. Finally was the Crunchy Roll, which was a California roll replacing the crab stick with salmon and tempura. Again, very simple, but well done.

The menu was fairly varied in the simple AYCE style, and I’d go back again. The one thing that does need to be changed is the lighting, as watching your food change colour from blue, to green, to red, etc. was distracting and a little annoying.

It’s not J-Time, but I’ll be back!


October 19th, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: sushi | Leave a comment

Sushi Delight

Sushi Delight
461 Danforth Ave

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Well, thats mostly because I’ve spent so much time this summer either looking for a job, or indulging my biggest addiction. Yup, cycling has over taken sushi thanks to all the carbon fiber and a super fast gruppo. But sometimes, just sometimes they intersect.

One of my fellow co-riders with TBN, the Toronto Bicycling Network is also a reader of this blog it turns out, so this past saturday after the usual group ride we headed off to his neck of the woods to find sushi instead of the typical Tim Hortons.

Dave lives around Danforth and Broadview, and has apparently been visiting Sushi Delight for years. Since I’ll visit any old place, having lunch at a restaurant that has been given a ringing endorsement is a welcome treat. Dvae had a nice looking bento that I wish I had taken a picture of, and I must admit I was eying his Ebi Nigiri.

Personally I decided on some standards, as the prices for the a-la carte sushi were quite good. Naturally I opted for the Salmon Pizza ($7.95), an Avocado monomaki ($3.50) and the ubiquitous Spicy Tuna at $4.95. We’ll dispense with any sort of review on the monomaki, you’ve gotta be pretty incompetent to mess that up, and this roll certainly wasn’t messed up. The spicy tuna was a bit different. I’ve never had spicy tuna that also included cucumber and avocado. It didn’t necessarily detract from anything, but I don’t really think it added anything either. Still, the tuna was generously proportioned and I made it disappear rather quickly.

Last up was the Salmon Pizza. I can honestly say at this point that I am a connoisseur of Salmon Pizza. What a strange thing to be an expert on. Overall the pizza was excellent, but can you complain that there was just  a bit too much salmon? I like an nice equal balance of rice patty and fish. The only real complaint I can muster is that there was just a little too much onion. It did somewhat overpower the other flavours.

Service was quick, and the free miso actually contained nice chunks of tofu. There’s another place 2 doors down that I’d like to try, but barring that I’d certainly go back to Sushi Delight!


October 11th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: sushi | Leave a comment

Japanese Restaurant Serves World’s Largest Sushi Portions

While Sushi Bong makes some huge maki rolls, I think this takes the cake:

http://www.odditycentral.com/travel/japanese-restaurant-serves-worlds-largest-sushi-portions.html

Here’s the video from the link:

(New Toronto review coming very soon!)


huge sushi by islandlifer3

September 26th, 2011 | Category: misc | Leave a comment

Kiiro Miya Sushi House

Kiiro Miya Sushi House
257 Eglinton Ave W

Every once and a while I discover a gem. The reason that I really started doing this blog, well, other than a combination of hunger and boredom. Last week my wife and I went for a walk along Eglinton West, as she’s still fairly unfamiliar with the neighborhood. We wound up venturing past Avenue Road, and at that point I started getting hungry. Hungry enough to start looking for some Sushi take away.

I do recall there being a different establishment at this address a while ago, and Google street view tells me it was called Sasaya sushi. No idea if it’s just a re-dressing or a completely new place. But we went in and started peeking at the menu. Now, Melanie isn’t a sushi fan so I was on my own, but I liked the pricing and the fact that they gave us a drink as we sat at the bar and watched the prep and perused the menu. I grabbed Spicy Tuna for $6.95 and a Tiger Roll for $8.95.

When we got home I was pleasantly surprised to see the hand written note. While the “Miso Soup” was added in, even a form letter when hand written shows a higher level of effort in trying to obtain repeat business. While you might not be swayed by that, you will be by the food. the Spicy Tuna was just the way I like it, nice portions of Tuna, and not drowned by mayo or tempura. Could have been a bit spicier, but still very good. The Tiger roll was  a cucumber/avocado roll topped with Ebi, sweet shrimp. Very, very good. Like a fancier nigiri sushi only without the wasabi.

While it’s a bit far for a walk and take out, it’s definitely high on my list for a dining out place. Colour me impressed, and Kiiro Miya recommended.


August 15th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: sushi | Leave a comment
 
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