Toko Sushi

Toko Sushi
637 Yonge St.

So yesterday was a very frustrating day. Bad mood and all that. So after getting home from work and doing my chores, I sat there on the couch and realized that I didn’t want to stay at home last night. But then neither did I really want to go out and hit the clubs or anything. So I wound up texting a friend to see what she was up to. As it turns out my friend Linda was dolling herself up to go out to nowhere in particular. I suggested dinner and a movie, and even though she had already eaten, off we went.

As an aside, the movie “Moon” is really quite good. Not what I expected.

But while Linda had eaten, I hadn’t. But I had come prepared just in case. Why, after the movie I might have suddenly felt the urge so I dropped my old Sony point and shoot in my pocket as I left the house. It’s funny how you get used to equipment. It was strange taking a photo without looking through the viewfinder. Stranger still was noticing after downloading the pictures that the flash was needed, unlike my DSLR.

Linda was a good sport, and even though Sushi isn’t really much of her thing, she accompanied me to Toko Sushi on Yonge St. This place is actually sort of cheating, as I had been here before. But I liked it in the past, and I knew it would make for a good review. Sadly, Linda has gone the way of the vegetarian, so she stuck with an Avocado & Cucumber Roll ($3.50) that looked like it would make a nice refreshing snack on a hot summer day. I think I may have made it my goal to teach her how to use chopsticks though.

But as I said, I hadn’t eaten yet other than a quick snack of Edamame after I had gotten home from work, and I basically devoured the entire menu with my eyes. The rolls that are generally my favorite were a little pricier here than most places I’ve been. I was eying the $10-$12 range, and quickly realized that I’d be broke if I always ordered from the expensive side of the list. But that wasn’t really a big deal as there was plenty of Maki to be had for $5-$7.

First off was the roll from the “splurge” side of them menu. My terminology, not theirs. I had a craving for Unagi, and only a Dragon Roll ($9.50) would do it. A Dragon roll is basically a California Roll topped with Avocado, Unagi, Tobiko, and Sweet Sauce. I was actually hunting the menu for something with Unagi and Cream Cheese, but found nothing. The Dragon Roll was really quite good, and I didn’t put it anywhere near the Soy Sauce. Remember the old School House Rock saturday morning cartoon about “Don’t drown your food!” well, it would have been a crime to take something so tasty and hide it’s flavour behind salt.

From the “Bargain Menu” (again, my words, not theirs) I grabbed an old standby, the Dynamite Roll at $6.95. First off I noticed that they cheated a little bit, and instead of straight Shrimp Tempura they had padded it out with Crab stick. But was this really padding? Nope. It was added value! Some places would have left it out, but at Toko they decided to pack this roll with everything they could. The only downside to this was that it didn’t stay together very well. I think I must be getting jaded as the months go on, because I found myself thinking “Crab Stick? Oh, how pedestrian.” then laughing at myself. I’m not really cut out to be a food snob. Not while there is Cheez Whiz in this world.

As for the restaurant itself, this place has 2 things going for them. First the Sushi is served on wooden platters of varying heights which for some reason appealed to me. Secondly, they are one of the “sushi conveyor belt” restaurants with an infinite loop of Sushi slowly circling the bar. I know there are a couple of others like this in the city. Next time I visit one I’ll get a picture for the site. Good place though. Good food and ever so slightly more upscale than the usual Yonge St. joint.