Ema-Tei

Ema-Tei
30 St. Patrick St.

One of the advantages of having gotten the exposure from Blogto is that a great number of people came out of the woodwork sending me emails asking “Have you been to this or that place?” Well, for the most part I haven’t. One reader by the name of Keven suggested that I try Ema-Tei on St. Patrick. You know, I never would have thought to walk up St. Patrick from Queen.

It’s a very authentic Japanese restaurant, and not specifically a sushi joint, which makes it “barely” into the criteria for this site. I mean, how can I compare Honest Wongs house of crazy rolls to a place that caters to the Japenese ex-pat community? Well, when it comes right down to it, I can’t. So if you read this and thing “This is no review!” Well, you’re right. But I brought it to your attention!

The service was haphazard, but highly entertaining. There was a wait to get a table at 1pm, which was a good sign, and the gentleman reassured us that “You’ll be seated within 10 minutes, or you can kill me.” OK. I’ll wait for a while with that level of amusement. See the final photo at the bottom for another example of the owners excellent sense of humour.

I grabbed “Lunch Special A” for $9.50, which contained 7 pieces of Nigiri and 3 Tekka maki. The fish was quite good, but in my humble opinion the chef used too much wasabi. But then I prefer infinitesimal quantities of it myself. Vegeterian options on the menu were very very slim.

I’d go back here, but probably not for the sushi. I’m a huge fan of Chirashi and Teryaki, and I’d go with that over the sushi. Even with my lukewarm text, I’d encourage you to try it. It’s not often you find authentic Japanese that doesn’t even try to water down the menu for the Gaijin.