The other night a few of us went out to celebrate my wife's birthday at Fin Izakaya. Although many of my friends had eaten there before, this was actually my first time there. Most of my friends said that it's not a bad place to eat and they were willing to try some of the higher end stuff to really test out their menu. We ended up ordering almost a dozen items as we were quite a hungry bunch that evening and really wanted to try everything in style.
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| Kubota Senju Honjozo |
That evening we ordered one regular Negima ($8.00), one Rare Steak Tuna ($12.00), a regular Ebimayo ($8.50), 3 pieces of Botan Ebi Sashimi ($8.00), one sea urchin sushi ($12.00), one Sugi ($37.00), one Tobiuo ($22.00), one Nana Ten Mori ($28.50), one Tuna Carpaccio ($9.00) , one Beef Tongue Miso Zuke ($8.00), 3 orders of Pork Belly Kushi ($3.50 each), 3 orders of Tsukune Kushi ($3.50), one Kinoko (($13.00), one chicken Tatuta ($6.00), one Duck Schichimi Yaki ($8.50), one Bottle of Kubota Senju Honjozo ($70.00) and one Ice de Macaroon (Black Sesa) ($7.50).
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| Negima |
The first thing to arrive was the Negima which was really three pieces of deep fried tuna placed in a skewer. The skewer was lightly sprinkled with green onions and all three pieces were beautifully fried on the outside while left nice and soft on the inside. The flavor was pretty good despite really a lack of ingredients inside the tuna. The tuna was not burnt and was actually quite juicy and tasty. For $8.00, this was certainly well worth the price and a great appetizer to have.
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| Tuna Steak |
Next to arrive was the rare Tuna Steak. The raw pieces of tuna were placed on top of 2 pieces of raw white onions with some type of sauce on the bottom of the onions. The tunas were nice and fat and had a layer of what looked like white fat on top. Although the sauce was probably more for the onion than the fish, dipping the tuna in the sauce actually made it more enlightening to have. This was actually one of my favorites of the evening and a dish I would highly recommend to anyone eating at Fin Izakaya.
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| Ebimayo |
They dropped off the Ebimayo soon afterwards. This was basically shrimp that was dipped into a special Japanese mayonnaise sauce and heated over a grill. The sourness of the mayonnaise really made this shrimp taste very good. It had provided a special juice and flavor to the shrimp. The shrimp itself was fresh and tender and soaked up all the juices of the special mayonnaise sauce.
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| Tuna Carpaccio |
The Tuna Carpaccio arrived and one had to give full marks to its presentation. I've seen this dish in other restaurants before and often at times, the thin slices of tuna or fish were stacked one on top of the other. This one was made like " a fan" and its creativity certainly earned the chef full marks on this one. The tuna was amazing and mixed with the vegetables and special yellow sauce, it made the tuna even more better tasting than ever. This too was one of my favorites for the evening.
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| Chicken Tatula |
The Chicken Tatula came and basically this was chicken fried in deep batter. It was the cheapest among all the dishes we had tonight. Honestly there was nothing really spectacular about this dish. The chefs did what they could to make a good dish out of the ingredients that they had.
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| Botan Ebi Sashimi |
The Botan Ebi Sashimi was basically eating six pieces of shrimp sashimi style from the head down. The shrimp was very fresh and tender and one could still taste that seafood saltiness of the shrimp. Of importance, if you do choose to order this dish that one has to remember when eating this dish not to suck the brain matter from the shrimp. The shrimp was still raw and sucking the raw brain matter substance could potentially make one sick. However once you had finished eating the body, you can send the heads back to the chef and he will deep fried the head so that you can eat it afterwards. In that manner, there was nothing put to waste and the entire shrimp could be consumed by you.
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| Nana Ten Mori |
The Nana Ten Mori was actually seven types of sashimi placed on one dish that included many types of fish including hamachi, red snappers and scallops. When one looked at the price for this dish one would probably say wow, this was quite an expensive dish but if one looked at all the different types of quality fish that was presented, one could say that the price was somewhat justifiable. All the fish presented were fresh and the presentation really made one searching for more. There was certainly no complaints from any of my peers as everyone thought this was a dish worth having.
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| Pork Belly and Tsukune Kushis |
The Pork Belly and Tsukune Kushis arrived together on the same plate. Of the two, the pork belly was by far the better of the two. The reason was that the pork belly was softer and fatter while the other one was a little bit more stiffer and chewier. The softer pork belly was able to absorbed more of the oil and as a result was much more juicer and tasted so much better than the meat that was on the other skewers. .
The Duck Schichimi Yaki arrived and there was about a half dozen pieces laid out on the plate. There were some vegetables on the bottom of the duck. There was really not a whole lot of taste to it as the chefs did not really season it all that much. As a result, this dish really did not have any particular wow factor to it. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either.
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| Duck Schichimi Yaki |
The Kinoko was good and bad. There was quite a bit of seasoning to all of the mushrooms in the pan however we were not too sure whether we had let the mushrooms sit too long in the pan prior to eating or whether the chefs had dumped extra soya sauce in the pan. Whatever the case, the dish was extra extra salty. There were plenty of other vegetables inside the pan but the amount of saltiness in the dish made it quite interesting to eat. I would say if you have blood pressure issues, this would be one dish you might want to avoid. Mind you it was still pretty tasty but if someone like me was saying that it was quite over-seasoned, then believe me, it was quite over-seasoned.
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| Kinoko |
The Sea Urchin Sushi was yummy!!! The sea urchin was nice and fresh and the sushi itself was made with fresh rice. The sea urchin smelled great and all the pieces were gold in color. The sea urchin literally melted in ones mouth. One could not have asked for more fresher sea urchin to be placed on top of one's sushi.
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| Sea Urchin Sushi |
By the time the Beef Tongue Miso Zuke arrived, we were actually getting quite full. The beef tongue was seasoned and sauteed very nicely and had this dish arrived somewhere at the beginning of the meal, I'm sure we would have finished this dish but because it came late, we were only able to finish about three-quarters of it. As well since this dish sat for a little while and cooled down, the meat ended up being a little chewier than we would have liked. This was not the chef's fault at all. It was just that we were all starting to get full by the time this dish arrived and we were having a hard time pushing more food down our throats.
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| Beef Tongue Miso Zuke |
Having said that, the two biggest and most expensive dishes arrived. These were the Sugi and the Tobiuo aka the Flying Fish and there was no way we were not going to finish these two dishes. When the sugi arrived we were a little alarmed when the head and skeleton of the fish was left for showcase. Some people might have found that to be disgusting but we thought it was quite cool. As for both fishes, truthfully they were probably the least tasting fish I had all night. Neither fish really had a distinct taste to them. They both tasted like regular fish sashimi. The sugi had a lot more pieces on its plate however one thing I do have to say was that the chefs really deserve top marks for its presentation of the fish.
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| Tobiuo |
I know I said we were quite full and that was quite true but no dinner is complete without dessert. Although a couple of us just ordered a simple ice cream for three dollars each, the birthday girl went with the Ice de Macaroon. This composed of black sesame and green tea ice cream with the green tea ice cream sandwiched in between the buns of a macaroon. The dessert was sweet and delightful and was the perfect dish to conclude the evening.
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| Sugi |
We all had a wonderful time that evening. Splitting a bottle of Kubota Senju Honjozo helped washed down the food much more easier. The staff was great the entire evening. The waiters and waitresses explained every dish that was brought to our table which to me was great customer service.
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| Ice de Macaroon |
I know some people complain of not being full because of the small portions one gets for the amount of money one paid for however this is izakaya after all. One is paying for quality not quantity. Yes we paid about a hundred dollars per person that evening but believe me it was pretty darn good food that we had that evening. One of my friends said this place was actually even better when it first launched. My response was that if it did, it certainly did not decrease in value by that much. I would certainly go back again as these guys deserve top marks. I would give them 4.5 out of 5.
Fin Izakaya
55 Eglinton Ave E
Toronto, ON
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