I actually thought I had blogged about this place a long,
long time ago however after checking out all the restaurants I had been to in
the past 18 months I realized that I had not, which was somewhat of a shocker
because this was a place I frequented quite a bit as they provided in my mind
some of the best Japanese dishes in Toronto.
Le Café Michi is located on the southwest corner of Pharmacy Avenue and
Sheppard Avenue East. You would never
have guessed that a very good Japanese restaurant existed there but as I have
mentioned many times before, sometimes the best restaurants in the world are
located in some of the most tiniest or obscure locations and this one was no
different.
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| Chyo Chin Bento - Deep Fried Chicken |
Although I have had dinner at this place many times before,
this was actually the first time I had lunch at this restaurant. I got there around 11:15am however the place
didn’t opened their doors until 11:30.
When we got in, and we were the first ones to step through their doors,
we can see that 75% of the tables had already been reserved. Due to the size of this restaurant and its
growing popularity, it might be best to make reservations ahead of time.
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| Chyo Chin Bento - Assorted Sashimi |
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| Chyo Chin Bento - Eel Rice |
When the food arrived and I saw his Chyo Chin Bento, I have
to admit there was a slight regret before me.
The meal itself is a three-dish meal.
The first tier contained the deep fried chicken, followed by a bowl of
nicely cut, fresh thick slices of sashimi and the last tier was a bowl of eel
rice. One also had the opportunity to
choose a dessert free of charge from their huge display case after their
meal. The great thing about their
chicken was that it was served with a spicy mayonnaise sauce which when served
hot, it really made the chicken jump on you.
Unlike most of the other deep fried chickens we eat from fast food
restaurants, this one wasn’t dripping in fat or oil which made this a wonderful
dish to have. My friend said the sashimi
was pretty fresh. There were only six
slices of fish as the slabs were quite thick.
The fish they served included tuna, hamachi and salmon. The eel rice in the past was amazing and this
time it was no different. My friend said
it was one of the best he had ever had.
With egg, vegetables and seaweed added into this bowl, the mixture of
all the ingredients sure kicked it up a notch for this dish. It certainly was
the highlight of the meal and no doubt filled up one’s empty stomach. For
dessert, he opted for this passion fruit “drink”. I say drink because it was served in a tall
glass. On the bottom was some sort of
passion juice and on top were various fruits including strawberries, black
current, kiwis, mangos and melon placed on top of what looked like was whipped
cream. He said it was quite delicious
and for a total of $24 dollars, he said it was well worth the price.
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| Salmon Teriyaki |
I went with the salmon teriyaki instead which was about $16
dollars. At first glance it looked kind
of dry and seeing my friend’s bento, I was really starting to regret my choice
but one bite into the salmon and my opinion changed immediately. The salmon teriyaki was actually very nicely
done and the sauce was very, very good.
The salmon was seared nicely on the outside and the inside of the salmon
was very soft and juicy. The soy sauce
that the chef used was quite sweet, sweeter than any other salmon teriyaki
sauce that I have ever had before and it really enlightened what looked like a
very boring dish at first. I was
actually quite impressed with my entire meal.
My only disappointment was that the meal did not come with a dessert but
the fish itself was quite satisfying.
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| Dessert |
Overall, this place is certainly well worth the money. There was also a miso soup and salad that
came with our meals. Price wise I do admit that the entire meal was probably
slightly more expensive compared to other Japanese places around Toronto but it
certainly was worth it. Just seeing the
number of reservations signs all around me showed me that this place was in
great demand. Of importance, this place
is closed on Mondays but is open from Tuesday to Sunday. If you are in the Scarborough area, do give
it a try. I strongly recommend it, as it
is certainly one of my favorites.
Overall I give it a 4.5 out of 5.
Le Café Michi
1802 Pharmacy Avenue
Toronto Ontario
416 490 9688
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