[Toronto] Ichiriki Japanese Restaurant

Location Review
120 Bloor St East
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 923-2997
Website

Situated between Yonge and Church on Bloor, Ichiriki is a inconspicuous little Japanese-run restaurant. Like most other eateries in this area, they draw a big lunch crowd from all the nearby offices. However, after-hours Ichiriki is just as lively. Aside from a seasonal omakase menu and a monthly live jazz band night, every Tuesday evening they welcome Soba Canada to take over the kitchen and serve fresh handmade authentic soba.

Ichiriki

[Toronto] Ja Bistro

Location Review
222 Richmond Street West
Toronto, Ontario
647-748-0222
Website



After hearing so much rave for this modern Japanese eatery, I finally took a visit to Ja Bistro (@JaBistro222) in the financial district of Toronto. Boasting a menu of ingredients shipped from all over the world and delicately crafted sushi by Chef Koji, the place has racked up a list of loyal customers as well as red carpet celebrities including Scarlett Johansson during TIFF!

Ja Bistro

[New York] Morimoto

Location Review

88 10th Avenue,
New York, NY, United States
+1 212-989-8883
Menu







Morimoto Restaurant, eponymously named after it's creator Masahru Morimoto (@chef_morimoto) of Food Network's Food Network's Iron Chef , was near the top of our dining establishment hitlist during a short trip to New York City. Most popular with their Omakase menu, Morimoto also offers an a la cart menu that would please anyone looking for an Asian-fusion dining experience.

Morimoto Restaurant

A quick glance at the menu, and regular followers of Food Network's Iron Chef would recognize many of the dishes as ones Masahru Morimoto has prepared for the show. And then there are others which are an untraditional collision of of Asian, Japanese, and fusion cuisines.

[Vancouver] Sushi Garden

Location Review
4635 Kingsway
Burnaby, British Columbia

Located across from the large shopping complex that is Metrotown, is a strip plaza where today's restaurant review is located. Sushi Garden has two locations in the Greater Vancouver area, and is the restaurant that I've come back to each time I visit B.C. In a nutshell, it's really just too good to pass up!

Optical illusion

Let me clear up any misconceptions this deceiving picture may bring about. You may be thinking "Mary, this restaurant looks pretty empty, must not be very good". Well my friends, it didn't take 2 seconds after I snapped this picture, that people started flooding in. Sushi Garden was open for business in the books at 11am that day, but to our surprise we were able to be seated at 10:50am when we arrived. Felt pretty good to be the first customers in the restaurant!

[Vancouver] Kiriri Japanese Cuisine

Location Review
8780 Blundell Rd
Richmond, British Columbia



One of the many days during my Vancouver trip, my cousin Fiona took us all out to lunch near by her house at Kiriri Japanese Cuisine. From what I gather it's not a very well-known spot, but she loves it for it's authentic Japanese fare and fresh fish. But on top of that, she praised about a cute Kaiseki Set that is served there. At the time I had never had a Kaiseki before, so it was definitely a treat for me! :)

Kiriri Japanese Cuisine

Tasting Dinner at Noka

Location Review
513 Bloor Street W
Toronto, ON
(647) 351-1188


Probably due to it's proximity to University of Toronto, the Annex is saturated with countless budget friendly food establishments. I regret to say that I don't usually eat in this area, but just walking through that strip of Bloor, I couldn't help but notice how many Japanese restaurants there were. And just when you thought there were already way too many, another pops up. Situated between Menchies and Sushi on Bloor, is the newly opened Noka Japanese Cuisine & Sushi (@NokaToronto). They have lunch specials for as low as $5.95, how can you NOT come here?

[Toronto] Fin Izakaya

Location Review:
55 Eglinton Ave E
 Toronto, ON M4P1G8

MENU

Whenever I think about going to an izakaya, there really is only one place that consistently pops up in my head: Guu Izakaya. And so when someone suggested  Fin Izakaya (@FinIzakaya) in the Mount Pleasant area of Eglington as an alternative, I was delighted when I finally went with Carmen (@carmenhungry), Justine (@foodigatorJ), and Vickie (@kiki_BFF).

[Richmond Hill] Tomo Sushi

Location Review:
9625 Yonge Street
Richmond Hill, Ontario
(905)770-2129




Being an "uptown girl" from Richmond Hill, I always find myself struggling to find good spots to eat. There is one exception though, and that's Japanese cuisine. I find places north of Toronto like Gal's Sushi, Inakaya, Inaho Sushi, are easily better than many of the spots downtown. And now I'm happy to announce one more addition to the uptown list: Tomo Sushi!

[Liberty Village] Raaw Sushi

Location Review

171 E Liberty Street
Toronto, Ontario




Located in a corridor of the Liberty Market Building, Raaw Sushi serves up some delicious food at a reasonable price point. Everything about Raaw Sushi is a simple: the decor, the menu, the overall experience. But that is not to undermine the food. Although it was a Wagjag voucher that brought me here the first time, I've been back many times. It's a great spot in the King West area looking if you're looking some good Japanese food.

#GuuTweetUp @ Guu Saka Bar

Review Location:
559 Bloor Street W
Toronto, Ontario


Last week I went to one of my very first Tweetups hosted by Ken (@inyourmouthTO). I believe it was also his first time hosting a Tweetup, so I must commend him on what a success it was. Thanks for organizing!

This is also my very first blogging post about an event, but luckily it's still not too far away from my modus operandi: lots and lots of food! While Guu (@GuuToronto) is one of my favourite Izakayas, I have never actually gone to their second Toronto location: Guu Saka Bar.

[Japan] Coco's Restaurant

Location Review
２８−１ Teradai, Narita, Chiba Prefecture 286-0022, Japan

Coco's Restaurant

Have you ever played the game Cooking Mama? It was actually the very first game that I got for my Nintendo DS, and it just amused me so much. It might've been the mindless nature of the game, but I think part of the attraction was seeing all the Japanese dishes and how they're made. If you've ever played it, then you might remember making the hamburg steak. That was probably my favourite dish to make! Anyways, while I was in Japan I finally got to try this dish, and put a taste to all those digital ones that I made!

[Japan] Ganso Zushi (元祖寿司)

Review Location 
Dogenzaka 2-29-14, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 〒 150-0043

Ganso Zushi

I think you can probably tell by the amount of Japanese food posts I have on this blog, that I really love it. That's why this trip to Japan was such heaven for me. Another day in Japan, another day of sushi!. This time around, Rob and I opted to go conveyor belt sushi. I had gone once while I was in Hong Kong, but you can never really have enough sushi. No, especially not when you're in Japan.

[Japan] Gindaco

Location Review
Tokyo Shinjuku Kabukicho 3-24-3
東京都新宿区新宿３丁目２４−３

Gindaco Homepage

I always find myself constantly searching for a good takoyaki place in Toronto. The best I've had is so far probably at Guu. If you've never had takoyaki before, then you're definitely missing out. It starts off with a bite size peice of grilled octopus dropped into a sphere-like mold along with a savory batter. As it cooks in the mold, the  batter cooks and the outside becomes crispy. The result is a takoyaki ball! (This Gindaco page has a pretty neat visual of the creation process) It's then topped with takoyaki sauce and usually mayo along with other toppings. For something that doesn't contain a lot of ingredients, its surprising how different it can taste.  Sometimes its too soggy, sometimes the consistency isn't right, and sometimes the squid inside just tastes downright awful. Lucky for me, on one of the last days in Japan, I was graced with the opportunity to eat some decent takoyaki right outside the Shinjuku nishiguchi train station.

[Japan] Dinner @ Asou (大衆割烹 あそう)

Location Review:
Tokyo Shinjuku Kabukicho 1-22-4
東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-22-4

Another day in Tokyo, means another dinner! After a long day at Tokyo Bay, we treked all the way back to Shinjuku where we stayed. In the same area as where we had ramen the first night, we found a nice little restaurant.


I was really attracted to this particular restaurant because of the display of live seafood outside, and there was also a guy outside the restaurant grilling shrimp on a barbeque looking grill. The combination of the two sealed the deal for me!

[Japan] Lunch @ Venus Fort Food Court

Location Review:
Venus Fort
1 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan


As part of our tourist itinerary, we visited the beautiful Tokyo Bay located on the southern region of Tokyo. The area is a collective of many islands, all of which are man-made with the except of one. These islands serve as a home for military bases, landfills, Haneda international airport, and tourism.  Because Rob wanted to see the Toyota MegaWeb showroom (part of Venus Fort mall) , we ended up going to Odaiba, which seems to be the most tourist friendly out of all the islands. It has a private light rail (Yurikamome rapid transit line) connecting various tourist attractions including the MegaWeb Toyota Showcase, Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Big Sight Exhibition Centre, Fuji Television Studios, Aqua City Mall, and  the Statue of Liberty replica, among many others.We spent the entire day here, and was probably my favourite day in Tokyo.

[Japan] Lunch @ Tsukiji Market

Location Review
Tsukiji Market

5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

The Tsukiji Market is one of Tokyo's popular tourist spot, as it is the largest wholesale food market in the world. It has a long history dating back to 1935 (if you are interested you can read it here), but essentially its a wholesale market where seafood and other supplies are auctioned off to authorized buyers (like restaurants), and immediate wholesalers (vendors at the market). Some of the restaurants that purchase the goods are situated right inside the market, serving fish purchased that very same day. Sashimi heaven! But more on that later.

[Japan] Ramen @ 回高屋

Review Location:
1-30-1 Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
(closest address)

The next leg of my Asia trip was one of the most highly anticipated countries on my own travel list : Japan! I don't know what it is about it, but the culture, food, and people just appeal to me so much! What would we do in a world without sushi, Hello Kitty, sexy cars, and super advanced technology?

Anyways, the area I stayed in Tokyo was the region/ward of Shinjuku. It's known for having the busiest train station in the world (Ican definitely vouch for that!) and one of the more popular red light districts. But I think regardless of what region you stay in, one thing in common, the food is great!

[Hong Kong] Suzuki Cafe Company (鈴木珈啡館)

Location Review:

Shop L407, 4/F, The ONE, 100 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

尖沙咀彌敦道100號The ONE 4樓L407號舖

This location of Suzuki Cafe Company is located in my favourite malls in Hong Kong. It's just under a year old, so everything is nice and new inside! While there are lots of nice luxurious malls to occupy yourself with in Hong Kong, for whatever reason I really like this one. Perhaps it's because it's a massive 30 story building (making it the tallest shopping complex in Hong Kong) with 25 floors, of which 15 of those have food and restaurants! But it's not only that, there's also some clothing brands I really like there, but that's a story for another type of blog. So lets get back to Suzuki Cafe.

[Hong Kong] Genki Sushi (元気寿司)

Location Review: 
Shop 115-116, 1/F, Fortune City One, Shatin, Hong Kong
沙田置富第一城,一樓115及116舖

MENU

Though its lost a bit of its hype and popularity, conveyor belt sushi is still one of my faves. While there are lots of places to have conveyor belt sushi in Hong Kong, I always end up coming back to Genki because it's close to where I live and can satisfy the sudden cravings. For those unfamiliar with the concept, conveyor belt sushi (also referred to as rotating sushi, 回転寿司), is where plates of sushi are placed on a conveyor belt and rotate around a circular belt structured to reach all or most of the dining guests of the restaurant. Sushi chefs continually replenish the belt, and the bill is settled based on the amount and type of sushi ordered (usually distinguished by the colour of the plate). Of course, if you are impatient to wait and watch for your item to come around the belt, there is an a la cart menu for sushi, as well as set meals.

[Hong Kong] Aji Ichiban (味一番)

22-28 Hillwood Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
山林道22-28號, 尖沙咀

Not to be confused with the popular Hong Kong snack chain Aji Ichiban, this post is actually about a Japanese restaurant! One of the more exciting aspects about being in Hong Kong for me, is having Japanese food. Literally being surrounded by water, there is an abundant amount of fish and other seafood, making it so affordable to have good raw fish! One of my friend's dad brought us here, and is a regular customer so he ended up making most of the ordering choices for the night.