Hibiki Japanese Cuisine

A brand new Japanese cuisine opened up in the downtown district of Markham recently and came highly recommended from some of our friends who had eaten there so this past weekend, a few of us decided to give it a try and see what it was all about.  Hibiki Japanese Cuisine is located on the north side of Highway 7 between Kennedy Road and Warden Avenue and is actually tucked inside a small plaza.  I've always stated never to judge its book by its cover and certainly there is nothing to brag about from the exterior, however once inside, one can see that the owners had put in a lot of money and effort to make it a very pleasant and grand affair. 

We actually got there on a Sunday afternoon just around lunch time and noticed that the restaurant was already starting to fill up.  A quick scan of their 6 page menu revealed a combination of many of Japanese's finest dishes including sushi, sashimi, ramens and donburis.  We decided to try a little bit of everything and went with a Chashu Ramen in Pork Bone Soup ($9.00) and Chirashi ($26.00)

All the meals came with a complimentary salad and miso soup.  The salad was a decent appetizer where the lettuce was light and fresh. There were some sprinkles of tomato jellies and cucumbers slices and the vinegrette sauce was perfect.  The miso soup was also pretty good with no complaints from any of my friends.

Salad

Interestingly enough, my Chashu Ramen actually came with a choice of rolls, hand rolls or sashimi.  I opted for the California Rolls as my daughter absolutely loves them as it is one of her favorites.  Naturally, it was the perfect fit and allowed me to share my rolls with her and not have to order anything else for her.  The California rolls itself were pretty uniformed and as close to perfect as they could be.  The avocado was nice and fresh and the fish eggs on top popped nicely as we were eating them.  Everything seemed nice and fresh and again, there were no complaints from my fellow peers.

California Rolls

My Chashu Ramen actually arrived next and it looked really tasty.  I took a sip of the pork bone soup and found it to be quite delicious and delightful.  One thing I truly liked about it and especially for those who are concerned about their health was that I didn't particularly find the soup to be overly salty.  As well, the two pieces of  chashu were not overly fatty and the noodles were just perfect.  There were some seaweed and a slice of fish as well that came with the dish.  Despite all of these ingredients, the ramen was actually blander thansome of the other Chashu ramens that I have had in the past but this blandness again could be a result of a reduction of MSG in the soup.  Personally, I would have liked the soup to be a tad bit more seasoned, but I can honestly say that there would have been others who would have found it to be quite acceptable.

Chashu Ramen

Last to arrive was the Chirashi which was made up of about 8 different types of sashimi on top of a bowl of rice.  The sashimi selection included the traditional salmon, tuna, red snappers and crab but more importantly the two bowls of chirashi that we had ordered were both quite fresh in that the fish was not mushy or chilled and that everything was served to near perfection.  There were plenty of fish and rice in the bowl and both individuals commented that they were quite full following their meals.  Each bowls were colorful and well presented when delivered to our table. 

Chirashi

Just when one thought that it was time to go, dessert and coffee was apparently on the house.  One could have chosen from a wide variety of ice creams which included red bean, green tea, black sesame, vanilla and mango.  We were surprised that there was complimentary dessert as I believe that this was the first time any of the Japanese cuisine restaurants that I have been to had offered it to their patrons.  If one wasn't full from their meals yet, they certainly were full now.

Everything seemed to be in order for our first visit.  The staff was great and everyone left the restaurant happy.  I certainly would visit again in the very near future to try out some of their other foods. The interior looked great and the prices appeared to be reasonable.  As Food For Thought heads to Asia for three weeks, I thought this was a great sendoff to have.  Overall I give it a 4 out of 5.


Hibiki Japanese Cuisine
4450 Highway 7 East
Markham, Ontario

905-604-8418

Reds Midtown Tavern

Last time I was at a Reds restaurant, it was at their sister's restaurant at the downtown location and the food tasted so good that I wanted to give their midtown one I try.  I don't really know why they call it the midtown location when the restaurant is located just a few blocks north of the downtown one but midtown it is.  We had just finished a business meeting and decided at the last minute to have dinner at the restaurant.

Before we sat down for dinner, we were wined and dined with many of their appetizers including prosciuttos, sausages and cheeseburger sliders.  Truthfully, one could have gotten full and be very satisfied with just their appetizers alone.  They were all very delicious, had a great variety to choose from and really one could not just hold back for just one piece of appetizer.  After scanning their rather enormous menu, I settled on a Crab and Corn Chowder Soup ($8.25), An Aegean Lamb Sirloin Salad ($19.80), a Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon ($20.85) and a side dish of Sauteed Mushroom ($2.75). 

Crab and Corn Chowder

The Crab and Corn Chowder was the first to arrive and it looked pretty good.  The colors were vibrant and every ingredient stood out from bottom to top.  The soup itself was about as good as any soup I have had before. The soup had plenty of kernels and the corn soup was evenly distributed from start to finish.  The thickness was perfect and the crab meats were small but juicy.  It wasn't overly salty and the ingredients in the dish were given a chance to showcase their tastes.  I actually enjoyed this soup and I would recommend it to anyone who wants an easy yet delicious soup to have as an appetizer.

Aegean Lamb Sirloin Salad

I actually didn't personally order the Aegean Lamb Sirloin Salad however I was very curious as to how well this dish was going to turn out.  I actually like lamb but there was no way I could finish this dish and eat everything else that I had ordered.  Looking at the plate, I was delighted to see how well it stood out with respect to presentation.  The lamb was nicely cut and each piece was medium rare on the inside.  The vegetables and the dressing in the middle provided the perfect compliment to the meat.  The lamb itself was nicely marinated and tasted delicious.  I really liked how soft and tender the lamb meat was.  For any lamb lovers out there, I am sure you won't be disappointed with this dish.

Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon

The Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon was actually my own dish.  Looking at it, I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed with the overall presentation.  Seeing the previous two dishes, my plate didn't look overly appealing.  There was no color and no contrast, just a couple of blobs.  A couple pieces of asparagus or some carrots would have made it look much more presentable.  As for the food, the filet mignon was a tad bit dry and with a lack of sauce, it made it even more dry.  The seasoned mash potatoes was satisfactory however I would have preferred to have some sort of gravy or sauce instead of the potato. 

Sauteed Mushrooms

Oddly, my side order of sauteed mushrooms might have actually been the perfect compliment for the filet mignon.  There was a delicious sauce that went amazingly well with the mushrooms.  I actually used the sauce for my meat and it turned out fantastic.  What they should have done was take some of these mushrooms, add a few vegetables and add them to the mignon.  That would have made it an excellent dish to have.  Having said that, this dish here was probably the best $2.75 I have spent on any side dish ever.

The only disappointment of the night was the filet mignon.  I looked around the table to the other 9 to 10 dishes around the table and every dish looked colorful and appealing.  As mentioned, the pre-meal appetizers were amazing.  Service was great as the servers kept coming back to make sure our glasses were full and that dishes were cleared almost immediately after our meal was done.  I would come back and give it a second try however I would probably avoid the bacon wrap filet mignon.  Overall, I would give it a 3.75 out of 5.

Reds Midtown Tavern
3 Yonge Street Unit 6
Toronto, Ontario

416-598-3535

Halibut House Fish and Chips

A brand new Halibut House Fish and Chips restaurant opened up in Markham very recently and after a late night at the office, I decided to head on over there to take advantage of their $6.00 halibut dinner special for Sundays and Mondays.  I got there just in the nick of time as the restaurant was closing at 9:00 pm. however judging by the number of people that were still there, I am sure that they would have taken me as the place was still about a quarter full.

I got a booth seat and right away the waitress asked my friends and I if we were there for the $6.00 evening dinner special.  We said for sure as the regular price was almost doubled so for certain we were going to take advantage of their great promotion deal.

The fish arrived within ten minutes and wow did we all get a huge piece of fish.  The fish stretched right across the plate which was large to begin with and they were plenty of coleslaw and fries that filled up the gaps on the plate.  I was actually quite surprised at the size of the fish as most places often cut corners on special days to lure customers in for cheaper prices for food but then reduce the size of the content as well.

The large fish was fried perfectly with just the right amount of batter.  The fries were equally as good and their coleslaw was good but not spectacular.  The fish was fresh and not mushy and they were plenty of tartar sauce and ketchup to go all around.  It was steaming hot on the inside and the fresh tasting fish meat was as perfect as any other piece of fish I have ever had.

For $6.00 a plate, one certainly could not go wrong with it.  We were all definitely amazed at the quality and the size of the fish.  There were certainly no complaints at all from my friends or from myself.  If we were to pass by it again, we will for sure drop in and have another wonderful piece of their delicious fish. Overall,  I would give it a 4.5 out of 5.

Halibut House Fish and Chips
3 Wootten Way
Markham, Ontario

905-201-0777

Uncle Tetsu's Cheesecake

There are about 5 Uncle Tetsu Cheesecake restaurants in Taiwan, however the first one opened up just two weeks ago right in the heart of downtown Toronto.  This place specializes in a heavily guarded secret recipe of Japanese Cheesecakes and madeleines. I had been told that there are huge lineups in Taiwan and one could expect the exact same thing while here in Toronto.

The reason why there are huge lineups is the fact that each cheesecake takes about 45 minutes to make and since most of them are made from shops that are very small, only a certain number of them can be made any one given time.  Here in Toronto, there are only 12 ovens available in the new Bay street location.  Even though they have other items on the menu, the only thing they have sold in the past two weeks are madeleines and their signature cheesecakes.

While in between meetings, I had the opportunity to dash out of the first meeting and join the lineup shortly after 4 pm on a weekday afternoon.  My wait wasn't too long, roughly 75 minutes from start to finish, however I've been told that people have actually waited for up to three hours for them.  When one finally gets to the door, one could get a strong whiff of what is to come.

Japanese Cheesecake

Once one is in line, one is given a playing card.  This playing card guarantees you one 6 inch cheesecake.  It's one cheescake per person for $8.88 and one can get 4 madeleines for $6.66.  After a short wait in line I finally had a chance to see what this cheesecake was all about.  I was able to sneak a small piece while waiting in line and it tasted quite yummy indeed.  The cheesecake was soft, fluffy, flaky and not very cheesy nor was it very sweet.  Other than the eggs, the flour and the cheese in the cheesecake, one could not really taste anything else from this cake.  Certainly when one eats it at the spot, it creates a euphoria of wanting for more.  When I brought the cheesecake home three hours later, the cheesecake just wasn't as good.  The steam coming off the cheesecake had gotten back into the cake itself and made it a little bit soggier to eat.  It certainly was not as good as it first came out of the oven.

However, after letting the same cheesecake sit overnight in the fridge for about 24 hours, the cake actually tasted so much better.  It seemed like everything became more concentrated and the richness of the cake was all brought back together.  One actually felt like one was eating a cheesecake as opposed to a spongecake.  It even tasted slightly more sweeter quite possibly because everything was more concentrated.

The madeleines I found were exactly the same.  The best ones tasted when it first came out of the oven and after it had been sitting on my desk for about two days.  I watched them prepare it and for those who are extremely health conscious, one may want to bypass this specialty as it was loaded in honey and butter.  I must have counted 5 to 6 large rectangular chunks of butter in one mixing bowl and almost one jar of honey that went into the batter.

Overall, I thought they were good but not great.  I got asked a lot as to whether it was worth the wait.  Personally I would say it might have been worth about a 30 minute way, maybe an hour at the most but anything more than that and I would be weary.  I like flavored cheesecakes, better yet more sweeter cheesecakes and this one is much more blander than the traditional kinds.  I would probably recommend one to wait until the fad dies down a little bit or until another one opens up in the very near future so that one is not waiting for hours for one piece of cheesecake.  Having said that, the cake was good but not great.  Overall I give it a 3.75 out of 5.

Uncle Tetsu's Cheesecake
598 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario

647-941-1806

R&D Restaurant

For those who are huge fans of Masterchef Canada, one would know that Alvin Leung and Eric Chong have opened up a brand new restaurant right in the heart of Chinatown.  R&D Restaurant was opened up to the media on April 1, 2015 to allow the media and close friends to attend the grand opening of their restaurant.  Boasted by 3-star Michelin star chef Alvin Leung and bringing his expertise from Bo Innovation in Hong Kong and London, this restaurant combines a blend of Chinese Asian foods and modern spices to bring together some of the best Asian fusion food this world has ever seen.  I had the privilege to attend the opening to witness first hand the great foods made from these two master chefs.

When we got there, we were greeted by a couple of hostesses who took our jackets and led us to the bar.  The place looked grand in the sense that there was a bar out front and about 15 tables in the back. We were given a menu as to what to expect for that day and for what was to come in the future.  One could not help but notice a huge mural of Mao Tse Tung hanging in the back wall.  The decor looked great with funky cylinder lights hanging from the roof.  

S10 Caesar

Pina Colada Bubble Tea

At the bar they were serving three specialty drinks for the evening.  Two of them we were told from the surrounding crowd that they were the real deal.  The first one was the Pina Colada Bubble Tea and the other was the S10 Caesar.  The Pina Colada Bubble Tea was pretty good.  There wasn't a whole lot of rum in it and one could definitely taste the coconut milk and lime inside the drink.  It was a pretty good pina colada from top to the bottom and went down smoothly.  The other one was the S10 Caesar ($15.00) and this was far out.  It was a regular Caesar drink however there was black garlic Chinese Shiitake mushrooms somehow blended in the drink along with some seaweed and some hoisin infused Worcestershire sauce.  This drink was super amazing and an absolute must have.  The drink tasted slightly thicker but all the extra flavors really made this drink a must have. I had never tasted a Caesar like this Caesar before.  The only thing was that at $15.00, it might be just outside the price ranges of many of the regular folks.

Ceviche

Many of the dishes for this particular evening were the help yourself variety.  Alvin was on hand to explain to us what each dish was and he even assisted in the making of his very own Chop Suey.  One of the first dishes that we grabbed from the counter was the Ceviche.  This was basically spot and tiger prawns and scallops mixed into what appeared to be a beautifully pureed guacamole sauce.  The beauty of this dish was that the seafood presented were all nice and fresh and one could taste the absolute sweetness of the seafood that was present.  The sauce was very smooth and pureed to perfection.  It would have been a super appetizer and definitely of master chef quality. 

BBQ Buns

Next to arrive were these wonderful fresh-from-the-oven BBQ buns.  It is a huge trend these days where the BBQ pork buns are now made with the crunchy pineapple bun exterior.  The buns were super hot on the inside when they arrived at the table.  The pork meat inside was nice and juicy and had just the right amount of sauce in them so that one wasn't immersed in sauce as one was consuming the buns.  One thing I was surprised too was that the pork meat wasn't overly salty or fatty which made this bun even more enjoyable to eat.

General Sanders' Chicken

The next dish I grabbed was the General Sanders' Chicken and this was a little bit funky in my mind. I love chicken but even this one was a little bit of the charts for yours truly.  Basically it was chicken that was deep fried and placed on a HK style egg waffle with some maple syrup on the side.  It was definitely very interesting.  There were a lot of tastes that were mashed together all at once which I wasn't really too sure whether they worked or not.  The only time I had eaten sweet fried chicken before were with Honey Garlic but this wasn't quite the same.  I will give it full marks for its innovation however, just not too sure where it stood in my heart.

Octopus

I found the Octopus tentacles to be a little bit on the dry and bland side.  They were not chewy as they were grilled to perfection and there was some small pieces of eggplant added to its side  There were not really any major sauces that one could dip the octopus arms into.  It did have a smoky taste to it but that was probably the fact that it had just came right off the grill. As Alvin once said, he loves his dishes nice and simple and this certainly had his fingerprints all over it.

Beef Tongue

The Beef Tongue was one of my favorites but it also had caught me by surprise.  The beef tongue was very thin and tasted great but what knocked my socks off almost literally was the spicy hot sauce that came with it.  I wasn't expecting it to be super spicy but the combination of a small piece of red pepper plus sichuan green sauce had quite the super kick to it.  I actually thought it was jalapeno sauce that I was scooping into my mouth.  The oyster itself certainly added a bit of a twist to the dish.  It was certainly the first time I had an oyster on the same plate as my beef tongue.  Overall, it was a great combination to have but yes, please be careful of the sauce.

Brussels Sprouts

The Brussels Sprouts and Ma Pao Sweet Potato Dish was another great combination dish that the gentlemen had served that evening.  The creamy black bean butter sauce mixed with a small bit of rice was embedded inside a beautifully cooked brussels sprouts.  The texture was smooth and the interior was super creamy.  It was very delightful, almost tasting as if the brussels sprouts was melting in your mouth.  The Ma Pao Sweet Potato was not on their regular menu or on their menu for that day. It was probably a late addition and it too blended well with the brussels sprouts in that it was nice and smooth and creamy.  I wasn't too sure whether this will be on any future dishes or whether this was just a one time thing but it certainly could make an interesting appetizer to have.  The brussels sprouts on the other hand was a definitely keeper for their menu.

Sweet and Sour Ribs

The Sweet and Sour Ribs certainly had a very interesting kick to it.  A mixture of hawthorn, lemongrass and pineapple ginger slaw was added on top and beside the ribs.  It was certainly the first time I have ever had this dish made in this way and it certainly was a great alternative to the original sweet and sour pork that is traditionally served in Chinese restaurants.  I found the flavors to be much more stronger where both the sweetness and sourness were elevated to much higher levels. The ribs, not to be forgotten, were cooked to perfection where the meat had fallen right off the bone.

Chop Suey

The Chop Suey comprised of about 9 different vegetables and what made this chop suey so special was that Alvin had used a special smoky plum sauce to mix all the vegetable together with. Afterwards, he placed the entire mixture into a piece of lettuce and voila, it was ready to be eaten. The wonderful and amazing part about this dish was that there were so many flavors and so many different vegetables in one's mouth that it felt as if there were fireworks going off inside your mouth. The smoky plum sauce was absolutely an amazing addition to the chop suey and brought out all the flavors out even more.  I actually loved this dish and would highly recommended it to anyone who visits his restaurant.

Crispy Smoked Milk

The Crispy Smoked Milk was by far one of the highlight of the night and of course they saved it for the end.  It didn't look too appealing at first and I guess they could have plated it better however the the Crispy Smoked Milk was amazing and a definite must have if one ever went.  The chef had created some sort of a homemade malted milk ice cream which was crazy delicious.  It was sweet but not overly sweet and the filling inside the crispy shell was so smooth, so amazingly delicious and just so perfect that this was definitely the best dish for the evening.  The chefs were absolute geniuses to use malted milk as it was unique and provided a whole new meaning to dessert.

Overall it was a fabulous evening. I had a chance to meet Eric, Alvin and Michael as they were all on hand to support the launch.  Their food was definitely something that was worth going for.  They also have a tasting menu that I believe that will be set for around $300.00 and will consist of ten courses that gave Alvin his three stars while in Hong Kong.  Many of the dishes I had described tonight will be on his regular menu so when it opens on April 7, 2015 to the public go in and give a try.  I don't think you will be disappointed.  Overall it was a great evening.  I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

R&D Restaurant
241 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, Ontario

416-586-1241