The problem with having a new restaurant in a new plaza that does not face a
major street is that one does not get the necessary exposure that is needed for any
startup restaurant. Unless it has an established restaurant name or is amazing
to the point where minimal marketing is needed, then it will be extremely
difficult for anyone to know about them no matter how good or bad their food
is.
This past evening we ventured into a fairly new plaza on the northwest corner of Midland Avenue and Finch Avenue in the heart of Scarborough. I had previously visited Nine-Up Sushi restaurant in which these two share the same plaza. Prior to entering the restaurant, we took a walk around the plaza. What we noticed was that there were many restaurants that had maybe 2 or 3 tables occupied, a lot of waiters and waitresses just staring out the window and not a whole lot of traffic in the parking lot. It was a Saturday evening and my wife, the kid and I were just looking for a new place to eat and was up for anything.
When we entered the restaurant, it had some nice decor in it. There were stools wrapped around the kitchen and four tables with some stylish chairs at the front. The only drawback was that it was not the most kid friendly type of seats as the seats had no backrest to them and a kid or even an adult could easily fall back on the chair. Their menu had about 20 items altogether and an extra one that was scrawled out on a piece of paper. After a few minutes, we decided to go with their Spicy Scallop and Seaweed Salad ($3.99), their Grilled Mackerel ($3.50), Ramen Deluxe and Curry Chicken Katsu ($6.95).
The spicy scallop salad arrived first. The dish appeared to be have strips of scallop mixed with salad and sprinkled with sesame seeds in it. The dish was mixed with sesame oil as a strong smell emanated from it. The dish came as advertised as it was pretty spicy however it was a bit "sloppy" in the sense that the chef probably used a little too much sesame oil in it. If they had reduced the amount of sesame flavoring on it by a half, it would have been much better. By "drowning" the dish with it, it made the dish a little oily and probably not the true starter appetizer effect that one was looking forward to. When one has a salad, it is meant to be a starter, to get the stomach juices flowing and especially when dealing with vegetables and scallops, you want to be able to get the pure taste out of them. By putting too much sesame oil in it, I felt that it kind of defeated its purpose.
Next to arrive was the grilled mackerel. Cutting the fish open, one could see that much of the oil had been soaked up. The fish was slightly burnt on the bottom
as it was pretty black on the top side of the skin. The interior of the fish
was nicely cooked. There was a slight flavor to it and the meat was nice and
soft. Since much of the oil had been soaked up, the fish was left a little dry
however it still tasted pretty decent.
We were soon looking forward to our entrees. The Curry Chicken arrived first
and there was a strong curry smell coming out from it. The chicken was fried
and there were small amounts of carrots and orange ginger sprinkled on top of
the dish. The waitress told us it was one of their signature dishes here at the
restaurant which was one of the reasons why I wanted to give it a shot. There
was also some sesame sprinkled on top of the dish as well. I have to admit that the curry
was nicely done as was the fried chicken and overall it went well with the
rice. The curry sauce was hardly spicy at all as I would have rated it a 1 out of 10
on the spicy scale. One of the things I will say is that the chef could have
left the orange ginger out as it really provided a funky taste to it. If one
pushed the ginger aside and just ate the curry chicken with the rice, then the overall dish would have been just fine.
The deluxe ramen had a mixture of barbeque pork, corn, vegetables, egg, bean
sprouts and fish cake in it. Appearance wise it looked okay although as one can
see in the photo, the egg itself was a little mangled. I took a sip of the soup base
and it was pretty good. My daughter absolutely loved the noodles and ate about
three small bowls of it. The rest of the meal was decent as the soup base really
enlightened the entire dish.
Overall it was a satisfactory night. The waitress only approached our table once throughout the evening and it would have been nice if we had our teas refilled. The appetizers were so-so but everything else was decent. By night's end, more people began filtering in so maybe it's a hangout spot for the evening. There is a huge television on the side and they do have beer on tap if one wished to have an alcoholic beverage to go with their meal. The prices were reasonable and affordable. If they had a booth for kids it would be better for people with young families. Overall I give it a 3.25 out of 5.
Man Ramen and Izakaya
D-106, 3278 Midland Avenue
Scarborough Ontario
647-748-3098
This past evening we ventured into a fairly new plaza on the northwest corner of Midland Avenue and Finch Avenue in the heart of Scarborough. I had previously visited Nine-Up Sushi restaurant in which these two share the same plaza. Prior to entering the restaurant, we took a walk around the plaza. What we noticed was that there were many restaurants that had maybe 2 or 3 tables occupied, a lot of waiters and waitresses just staring out the window and not a whole lot of traffic in the parking lot. It was a Saturday evening and my wife, the kid and I were just looking for a new place to eat and was up for anything.
 |
| Spicy Scallop and Seaweed |
When we entered the restaurant, it had some nice decor in it. There were stools wrapped around the kitchen and four tables with some stylish chairs at the front. The only drawback was that it was not the most kid friendly type of seats as the seats had no backrest to them and a kid or even an adult could easily fall back on the chair. Their menu had about 20 items altogether and an extra one that was scrawled out on a piece of paper. After a few minutes, we decided to go with their Spicy Scallop and Seaweed Salad ($3.99), their Grilled Mackerel ($3.50), Ramen Deluxe and Curry Chicken Katsu ($6.95).
The spicy scallop salad arrived first. The dish appeared to be have strips of scallop mixed with salad and sprinkled with sesame seeds in it. The dish was mixed with sesame oil as a strong smell emanated from it. The dish came as advertised as it was pretty spicy however it was a bit "sloppy" in the sense that the chef probably used a little too much sesame oil in it. If they had reduced the amount of sesame flavoring on it by a half, it would have been much better. By "drowning" the dish with it, it made the dish a little oily and probably not the true starter appetizer effect that one was looking forward to. When one has a salad, it is meant to be a starter, to get the stomach juices flowing and especially when dealing with vegetables and scallops, you want to be able to get the pure taste out of them. By putting too much sesame oil in it, I felt that it kind of defeated its purpose.
 |
| Grilled Mackerel |
 |
| Curry Chicken |
 |
| Ramen Deluxe |
Overall it was a satisfactory night. The waitress only approached our table once throughout the evening and it would have been nice if we had our teas refilled. The appetizers were so-so but everything else was decent. By night's end, more people began filtering in so maybe it's a hangout spot for the evening. There is a huge television on the side and they do have beer on tap if one wished to have an alcoholic beverage to go with their meal. The prices were reasonable and affordable. If they had a booth for kids it would be better for people with young families. Overall I give it a 3.25 out of 5.
Man Ramen and Izakaya
D-106, 3278 Midland Avenue
Scarborough Ontario
647-748-3098
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