Kiku Japanese Cuisine

Finding a Japanese restaurant in Toronto isn't too difficult however we wanted a place where we could choose either from an a la carte or from a buffet style menu.  Scanning the many Japanese restaurants in North York, we were able to find a slightly newer Japanese restaurant in Kiku Japanese Cuisine.  Inside this restaurant one could choose either from their a la carte menu or from their buffet selection.  My friend and I got in around 7 pm on a weeknight.  We sat down and noticed that the restaurant was half filled.  Scanning the occupied tables, we were able to take notice that most of the people had ordered from the buffet menu rather than a la carte.  My friend and I did a quick calculation and felt that if we had totaled up all the foods that we were going to order, that it was going to exceed the total price for one adult who was going to order from the buffet menu.  The price for one adult on that evening was $22.99. As well, we would be severely limited in trying all the different kinds of foods that this restaurant has to offer.

Cold Tofu

We went with a large variety of sushis and sashimis as well as some spare ribs, miso soup and salads for the evening. What we tried to do as well was order some of their slighter variations of some of the more common Japanese foods such as their Asian Chicken Salad, Cold Tofu and Mackerel Sashimi.  What I found was the cold tofu literally tasted like cold tofu with soya sauce added to it and their Asian Chicken Salad was really just their regular appetizer salad with chicken chunks.  The dish that seemed to impress me the most was their simple salmon, albacore tuna and mackerel sashimi.  These fish were all very fresh and had a good taste to them.

Salmon, Tuna and Mackerel Sashimi

What I found a little peculiar was that some of their sushi and hand roll dishes were a little thick and dry or that some just felt a little too saucy.  It was hard to really describe what it was that just didn't click with us.  We both believe that it could have been the rice.  What we found was the rice was particularly dry and it made the whole sushi and hand roll a little bit more difficult to consume.  Either that or some of the rolls just had way too much tempura bits added on top of it. Whatever the case, it gave the overall sushi and hand roll a particular dryness to it and that was evident whether it was the Red Dragon Roll, Golden Dragon Roll or Spicy Salmon Hand Rolls.  As well, Golden Dragon Roll appeared to have too much mayonnaise or too much ingredients to it while the Spicy Salmon Hand Roll had too little mayonnaise to it. 

Spicy Salmon Hand Rolls

What was more disappointing was there signature Sushi Kiku Roll which was really eel sushi rolls.  There was an interesting aroma emanating from it so much so that my colleague could not even stomach it.  The "taste" was okay although the interesting aroma was actually coming from these flakes that they had sprinkled on top of the rolls.  I'm not too sure what the flakes were but if I had to describe the overall sushi, it almost tasted like coffee sushi.  It was definitely interesting but somewhat wasted as out of the 11 pieces that were present, both my colleague and I could only finish two of them. The dessert menu contained mostly ice creams which to me was somewhat insignificant.

Golden Dragon Roll (left), Assorted Sashimi (bottom)

The most disappointing part of the whole evening had to have been the water.  I know the water!!  A couple of times the waitress had the hot and coldness of the drinks mixed up.  On the final occasion, the glass of water that was served to us was loaded with the smell of chlorine.  Oddly enough they were mopping the floor near the end of the evening and the smell of the chlorine emulating from the floor was just as strong as the smell coming from our glasses.  No it was not from the floor as one could actually sip the hot water from our glasses and taste the chlorine as if was taken right from a swimming pool.  We actually had to get the manager to change our water but even after that, the smell of chlorine was still emulating from the glass.

Sushi Kiku Roll

Overall I really can't make heads or tails of this place.  The sashimi was pretty good but the sushi was a little suspect. Some of their variation dishes had no wow factor to it and some of their special rolls were not too special at all.  And the water, whoa.  In the end, both my colleague and I both knew that we have tasted better before and this place was probably just average at best.  Overall I would give this place a 2.75 out of 5.

Kiku Japanese Cuisine
808 York Mills Rd #18, Toronto, ON M3B 1X8

(416) 331-8666

Joe Boo's Cookoo's Kosher Restaurant

Toronto with its huge and diverse ethnic diversity probably boasts the greatest number of international restaurants in the world, so when one is looking for a specific cultural based restaurant here in the city, it shouldn’t be that difficult to find.  We were in search for a koshered restaurant as one of my colleagues was Jewish, however looking for one was not the hard part as there were numerous restaurants of such.  The hardest part was choosing a good take-out koshered restaurant as this city had so much to offer.  After doing a bit of research and reading some of the reviews online, we decided to take a shot at Joe Boo’s Cookoo’s Kosher Restaurant located in the city of Vaughan.  

Joe Boo’s Cookoo’s focuses on making good salads, sandwiches, burgers, chicken and noodles in accordance to their Jewish traditions.  When one walks into their restaurant, one can see the oven in the back where all the meats are being roasted and a rather large display of all the toppings and salads at the front.  Based on the reviews, although the restaurant serves many different types of chicken, the Rotisserie Chicken was one of the can’t misses at this place so naturally I decided to go with their Quarter Rotisserie Chicken ($13.99) mixed with Vegetables and Shanghai Noodles.  One gets to choose two sides to go with their chicken so I decided to go with these although one could also choose rice or potato wedges if they so wished.  

The food did take a while to prepare even though I was ordering it as a take-out although this was no fault of the restaurant.  Although the chicken was already prepared, the Shanghai noodles required a bit of time to make.  There were also a couple of other orders that I was waiting on so it didn’t really matter too much.  As we were standing there, we could see that even late in the afternoon, there was a steady flow of people coming into the restaurant to order their lunch.  

Quarter Rotisserie Chicken

When we got back, the aroma of the chicken and the noodles were making me salivate as the empty stomach was screaming for food at this point.  I dove right into the chicken first and it was moist, well marinated and absolutely tasty.  The meat was very soft unlike any meat that I have ever had before.  It was almost like sinking one’s teeth into a large fluffy, soft marshmallow.  My biggest fear was that the meat was going to be dry and would require some type of sauce, but the chicken alone was delicious in itself.  The noodles were very, very good, and this is coming from a Chinese Canadian who has eaten a lot of Shanghai noodles in his lifetime.  The noodles were not oily at all yet each noodle was deep in taste, perfectly immersed with soya sauce and had that soft marshmallow texture to them as well.  The combo also came with a large number of vegetables including peppers, onions and carrots.  

This might have been my first true shot at koshered food and it was absolutely satisfying.  Of importance this restaurant had also appeared on Canadian’s version of Restaurant Makeover about 5-6 years ago to enhance the quality of their food and they certainly did not disappoint.  Please note that the restaurant is somewhat tucked and hidden even though it is located on a major street in Vaughan.  Although it was a bit of a drive to get to the restaurant, it was all however worth the gas.  You should give it a try and see.  I don’t think you will be too disappointed.  Overall, I give it a 4.0 out of 5.0.

 


Joe Boo's Cookoo's Kosher Restaurant
7241 Bathurst Street
Vaughan, Ontario

905-866-8686

Etsu Japanese Restaurant

Hungry and in search of a nice dinner restaurant on Baldwin Street just east of University of Toronto, we stumbled upon a Japanese restaurant within that neighborhood called Etsu Japanese Restaurant.  Truthfully it wasn't our first choice, nor was it our second choice but after seeing long lineups at one restaurant and a very empty restaurant in another, we decided to give this place a try.  It was not overly busy when we got in as there were only half the tables filled.  We were able to get a table right near the back just in front of where the chefs were making the sushi.  Looking around, the place looked remarkably clean with large, beautiful pictures of their food hung up on their walls.  A quick scan of their menu showed that served numerous sushi and sashimi dishes, udon, appetizers and ramens. In the end , we all decided to share a couple of Pork Belly dishes ($10.00) and Enoki Beef Rolls ($9.00) as appetizers and for individuals, my wife went with the Sushi Regular ($20.00) while I went with the Sapporo Ramen ($8.00)

Enoki Beef Rolls

The Enoki Beef Rolls arrived first and appearance wise they smelled great and looked great.  Each of the 6 pieces had mushrooms carefully wrapped with a thin layer of beef and sprinkled with some garnish, onions and with an added cherry tomato on top. As I bit into one of them, one can easily taste the fresh mushroom wrapped inside the beef.  The beef had a strong aroma to it.  It was a thin piece of beef however my only concern was that it was slightly overcooked to the point where the meat was a little dry and rough.  The sauce really complimented the dish very well and the garnishes really enhanced the taste.  If the meat wasn't so dry and rough, I would have said that this dish was outstanding.  As it stands though, it was still a very good first appetizer to have. 

Pork Belly

If one is not afraid of the fat yet delicious meat, the Pork Belly is certainly something one should try.  This is a rather simple dish to make yet its high fat content often scares people away from ordering this magnificent dish.  We don't eat it often that's for sure but when we get a chance, it's definitely all-in for this fatty dish.  When it arrived the same garnishes used for the Pork Belly were noticeably present on the pork belly.  The meat in itself was not the most fattiest piece we have ever had.  Actually I would say it was probably one of the more leaner Pork Belly's I have ever had.  However, the sauce was perfect and the meat and the fate went down smoothly.

My wife had the regular sushi which was basically 8 large pieces of nigiri mixed with 6 pieces of California roll.  I do have to admit the pictures don't do it justice because one could not possibly see how big these pieces of sushi were.  These sushi pieces and the ones shown on the other plates were absolutely huge.  There are sushi rolls and then there are SUSHI ROLLS.  Sometimes, one wonders when the rolls are so big whether much of the sushi taste will be lost because of the amount of rice that was used to make up the rolls.  The answer in this case was no.  The amount of fish and ingredients in each roll were equally as big which made each roll a delicious mouthful. 

Deluxe Sushi

One of our friends ordered the Deluxe Sushi ($28.00) which actually contained more pieces of sushi and better qualitative pieces as well.  As the sushi chef was making the sushi, we could see that one of the fish even required a bit of blow torching to it which really gave a unique seared flavor to it.  Besides the customary Salmon and Tuna that were used in the nigiri, there were also pieces with Seabream, Mackerel and Fluke (Hirame)

Caterpillar Sushi

We also shared a Caterpillar Sushi together.  Not only was this roll pretty good but presentation wise even I was a little surprised and amazed at the quality of its work.  The rolls itself composed of crab meat, eel and avocado.  There were only about eight pieces altogether but as one could see, the pieces were enormous by most standards.

Sapporo Ramen

Last to arrive was the Sapporo Ramen which contained pork belly once again, egg, bean sprouts and corn.  Oddly enough, it was brought up at the table that this dish cost $8.00 while a pork belly cost $10.00.  Although you get one less piece of pork belly, one soon realizes that one really gets good bang for the buck.  As for the ramen itself, this was pretty darn good.  The soup base was little bit spicy but not too spicy.  The egg noodles were a tiny bit raw but once you let it soak in the hot soup just an extra minute longer, the noodles smooths out and becomes just perfect.  This ramen was actually one of the better ramens I had ever tasted.  Everything about it was just about right and just about perfect.  I certainly had no complaints over it.

I have to admit when we first walked into this place, we weren't too sure what to expect.  The ramen place on one end of the street had people lined up right outside the door while the sushi place on the other end of the street were full and not taking on any more customers for the evening.  I have to say we definitely stumbled upon a gem here on Baldwin Street.  I assume many of the kids at the nearby university had already discovered this place and I now have as well.  The service was great and the food was magnificent.  If I'm down in these neck of the woods, I would definitely give this place a try once again.  Overall I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

Etsu Restaurant
45 Baldwin St, Toronto, ON M5T 1L3

(416) 599-4200

Chauhan's Fine Indian Cuisine

Since we had been dining out a lot at Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants lately, we decided to try something different.  We scoured the Markham area for some really good Indian food and one place that we found was Chauhan’s Fine Indian Cuisine.  This place apparently has been up and running for many years now and even though some of my friends have been there before, I decided to make an executive decision and give it a go there.  Since it was my first time there, we wanted to give the buffet run a try since many of us weren’t really too sure what we would be ordering with the a la carte menu. 

 

We made reservations for a rather huge group this past weekend.  Some of the other Indian restaurants were a little packed and this one had a few tables remaining so we decided upon this place.  For this evening, adults were charged $17.99 while kids were charged $11.98.  Although not everything was served at the buffet table from their a la carte menu, some of the more notable items served that evening were the Butter Chicken, Goat Curry, and Vegetarian Samosa.  I would say there were about 20 dishes altogether including the dessert and salad bar. 

 

None of the curries were very spicy.  On a scale of 1 to 10 on the spiciness chart, I would have given a 3 at the most.  The sauce for the Butter Chicken was made to perfection with respect to taste.  However I found the overall curry to be a tad bit oily and the pieces of chicken to be rather small and frayed. 

 

The curry itself in the goat curry was pretty good.  One could not taste the goat as the curry seemed to have overwhelmed the taste.  The goat meat itself was much more abundant and thicker than the chicken in the butter chicken. 

 

The Vegetarian Samosa was reasonably good.  Personally I myself like the meat samosas more than the vegetarians. The outer layer was crunchy although for me it was a little thick while the vegetarian stuffing was decent.  It was mildly spicy like most of all the foods in the restaurant. 

 

The rice they served that evening I believe was the Rice Pulao which basically was Jeera and Saffron flavored Basmati Rice.  The two spices gave the rice just that extra bit of aroma to make different from just a simple white rice being served. 

 

Other things being served that evening included the Tandoorl Murg Chicken, which to me was good in the spices they used but just a little dry for me to stomach.  While the chicken was probably grilled to perfection, I personally enjoy moist juicy meat over dry meat.  I could have eaten more, but I would rather have the Butter Chicken over this chicken for its juicy sauces and moistness of the meat.  While the fruit and vegetable salad bars offered a variety of choices to choose from, there was only one type of soup available.  Although I’m not a 100% sure of the soup, I believe it was a hot tomato soup being served.  I did not see any fish being served.  They gave us plenty of Nan (traditional Indian bread) at the table to dip into our curry sauces and the servers would come by and offer more if the stock had gone down. 

 

For dessert there was some sweet rice pudding and Rasmalai.  Rasmalai by definition is sugary paneer soaked in cardamom clotted cream.  Although most of my friends had a tough time dealing with the taste and texture, I actually thought it was a pretty good dessert.  I could see why my fellow peers would have trouble with it.  The texture is like a soggy piece of bread that has been saturated in a bowl of sugar water for the past hour or so.  It is sweet and slightly minty and cinnamony in taste but I think it’s more of the texture that throws people off with this dessert. 

 

Overall the buffet was okay.  If we knew what we were ordering, a la carte might have been the better choice.  Near the end we could see some of the patrons actually ordering specialty or unique foods from their menu.  It was a little quiet even though it was the weekend although I was told that another Indian restaurant down the street was pretty busy and had a line up all the way out the door.  If you are interested in trying authentic Indian food and don’t wish to pay an arm and a leg for the food, this may be the place for you.  You will get to try a little bit of everything.  Personally I’ve been to a few Indian restaurants myself and I have to admit there probably wasn’t anything that really stood out at this place.  It was descent and did its job as I had about 4 to 5 plates of it but I certainly have had better Indian foods elsewhere as well.  Overall I give it a 3 out of 5. 

 

 Chauhan's Fine Indian Cuisine

323 Denison St, Markham, ON L3R 1B5
(905) 947-1234

Bong Lua Vietnamese Restaurant

Bong Lua Vietnamese Restaurant is a place I passed by quite frequently although I am never sure whether it is a good place to eat or not.  Since I had not been here before and was looking for a Vietnamese noodle place to eat, I decided to venture into the place on a Saturday night.  The place was full although when I got in there was an empty table right in front of us.  The table was clean however it took over 5 minutes for a lady to come get us.  The place is not overly big but it appears to be family run where the hostess was the cashier, the waitress and the cleaner all in one. 

When we finally sat down, it took another 5 minutes to come back and take our order.  The girl literally disappeared and some of the other patrons in the restaurant were also getting restless.  A gentleman, who was sitting at a table next to us, began complaining that his specialty drink still had not arrived despite the fact that he had already finished his meal.  It appeared that the girl had fallen way behind and despite being told that the gentleman wanted his drink during his meal, that unfortunately was not the case. 

Regular Meat Pho

After we had placed our order, it actually took another 15 minutes for our pho to arrive.  So in total from the time we got in to the time we got our pho, 25 minutes had already gone by.  We didn't even order anything special.  We just went with the signature pho which basically contained everything including tripe, brisket,  beef and meatballs.  

There was really nothing special about the meal.  The noodles were about as plain as one can see and taste.  There was no real razzle and dazzle in the soup base.  I ordered a large bowl and it cost about 7 dollars plus tax and tip. 

In all, there really wasn't anything special from this place.  This have special milkshakes and drinks but we were not even given a drink menu that evening so we had no clue what was available.  The menus were falling apart and looked like they were in some seriously need of repair.  The noodles were okay and the price was decent but the service was super slow.  If you are famish and need a quick meal, this may be one place you might want to avoid.  Some of the patrons who were standing at the door decided to go somewhere else.  Overall I give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Bong Lua Vietnamese Restaurant
2572 Birchmount Road
Scarborough, Ontario

647-351-0809

WonderPho

So just how wonderful is WonderPho.  I decided to go out to lunch with a friend on a weekday to check this place out.  We went to the one in North York, the one where it is just off of the Don Valley Parkway here in Toronto.  When we got there, the place was about a quarter full and we had a waitress greet us right at the door.  We were given seats and a food and drinks menu.

Although there was much to choose from, I decided to go with their classic Pho Bo ($8.00).  Inside this bowl contained beef brisket, tendon, tripe, beef balls and rib eye meat.  Truthfully I don’t recall if there were sizes of bowls to choose from like with some of the other Pho/Vietnamese restaurant places that I go to but I would say when it arrived that it was the equivalent of a large bowl of pho.

The pho itself arrived about 5 minutes after we had ordered it.  The beef brisket and sliced rib eye meat was all push towards on side and there were about 3 pieces of meatballs.  The meatballs themselves were a little salty but not bad at all.  The tripe and the tendons were all nice and tender.  The soup base was nice and dark which meant that it was deep in flavor.  It was not overly salty and was just perfect for the pho.  The only thing I though was lacking were the amount of noodles in the bowl.  For a bowl this size

and for the amount of money one is paying for a bowl of noodles of this size, I was a little disappointed in the amount of noodles that I got. 

Otherwise, WonderPho is indeed a wonderful place to be at.  The bonus is that between three and five during the weekdays, it is buy one get one bowl of Pho for free so if you decide to have a late, late lunch or an extremely early dinner, this is one place that will sure to serve good food to you.  The cleanliness of the place and the friendliness of the staff also helped.  I certainly will go back in the future and have lunch at this restaurant.  Overall I give it a 3.75 out of 5. 

WonderPho Vietnamese Restaurant

865 York Mills Road,

North York, Ontario

647-352-5777