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)
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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)
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| 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.
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| 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
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