Bar Chiaki - In Toronto

Chiaki’s Bar, located on Steels and Woodbine, is one of my favourite joints, not only because I know the owner but also because I like the atmosphere. Besides, I am deeply intrigued by the Japanese culture.

But first the bar.

As I have been there a number of times, I am going to describe more the ambience than the details of what is offered. And the interior decoration is simple but rich. As with most East Asian restaurants, black colour plays a major role, with a couple sofas and setties in that colour. The countertop is also black granite. I find it very chic.

They do have a variety of alcohol – from wine and beer to the harder stuff such as whiskey. I usually go for a beer. I also like sake but I find the tradition of drinking out of small (very small) cups quite challenging for someone who drinks tea or coffee from a big mug (sorry, my coffee-loving Italian friends and green tea-loving Chinese and Japanese friends).

And it was Chiaki’s Bar that introduced me to another drink that has become one of my favourites: Shozu or Shochu. It is made from barley, sweet potatoes or rice, but unlike sake, is distilled. It is also stronger – at around 25%. It was during a visit in deep winter that I had asked for something stronger, and they suggested it. It came with warm water. Usually, I balk at the idea because adding water to alcohol is a strict no for my digestive system; it makes me feel nauseated.

But this turned out to be a different experience. Smooth and warm – ideal for winter.

There is always some bite at Chiaki’s – usually roasted nuts of different types. Time to time they will give us what they cook for themselves.

And if you take a break to the washroom, they will wait with a warm napkin when you come back.

One interesting facet of the bar experience is the interaction of the waitresses with the customers. They never say no when a customer offers to buy them a drink. In fact, they seem to like it very much. But they remain on their side of the counter and if you are seated in the couch, sometimes will kneel down and pour the drink in your cup (though I am not sure whether this act of kneeling depends on the social status. The Japanese are, after all, very tradition bound).

Even more intriguing is the amount of alcohol Japanese women can handle; And they do not seem to hesitate to mix drinks – beer, wine and the harder ones; they take everything in a stride, and still walk with a straight head.

Bar Chiaki has a website, though currently only the Japanese version is available. English site is under construction.

Omi Japanese Restaurant

 Omi is located on Carlton, near Parliament. It looks a simple place and after some ordering warm sake (the menu said only cold sake, but warm sake is also available) and some hesitation, decided to skip the Omakase, and went for our own selection.

They present you a box full of sake cups to choose from. I like the roughness of ceramic cups, so I chose this one.
They also provide tea for free.

 

Appetizers

Ordered Soft Shell Crab Roll and Beef Enoki Roll for appetizers.
The Crab Roll was unique – in some Japanese restaurants the rolls are about 2-2.5 centimetres which I think is too big while the Omi ones were about 1.5 cm – with some new ingredients. The rice was also good without too much sourness that I have found in some restaurants. They tasted really well, even though this was one of the rare Soft Shell Crab Rolls that I have eaten cold.

On the other hand, the Enoki Rolls were warm. Short stems of the mushrooms were enveloped in thin and soft beef slices and grilled. They came with a sauce with a dash of sweetness. The mushrooms were fresh and the beef very juicy.

 


Main

For main, we had Chirashi Bi Bim and Omi Sashimi. The first one came in a bowl with slices of salmon, tuna, sweet shrimp, crab meat etc – all on a small ball of rice. In retrospect, it was not a good idea to have selected both because they were almost identical, except for the container – the Omi Sashimi came in a long plate.

At the end of it, I still felt hungry. And this was stimulated by my neighbours who were being treated to lavish courses of Omakase by the chef. All salivating dishes.
I called the waitress for the menu card and told her to give me a few minutes.
After about ten minutes I was considering the option of calling for the bill when the waitress came, so I ordered appetizer Tempuras. We had shrimps, carrots, green beans (this was my first ever) and Zucchini. It was fresh.

The small size of the tables reminded me of JapanGo but Omi is more spacious and they have an open kitchen concept. I never had the chance to talk to the chef. 

Yellow Dhal (Lentil) Curry

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Dhal Curry Ingredients

2 cups of dhal (this is half-split pink-red coloured pulse, called Masoor dhal or lentils).

Depending on your taste for it, this could be sufficient for 2-6 people.

Two pods of peeled garlic, diced.

Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder

Half a tablespoon of mustard seeds

Half a tablespoon of cumin

Half a tablespoon of fennel

Half an onion, sliced

Five red dried chillies, broken into smaller pieces

Difficult to get ingredients

Ten curry leaves (these about 2 cm-long green pinnate leaves have a strong aroma. You can use the thumb and index finger to hold one edge of the pinnate, and hold the closest leaves on either side of the axis with the thumb and index fingers of the other hand and pull all the leaves down to separate them from the axis)

Two tablespoons of coconut milk (you can use either canned unsweetened coconut milk or, in the absence of it, dried unsweetened coconut powder with water)

Cooking Method

Wash the dhal thoroughly and boil, with four cups of water. Remove the scum that forms on top as the dhal begins to boil. When the lentils start turning yellow (half cooked), add the diced garlic.

When the dhal is cooked, remove it from the cooker. Take a separate pot and add oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. When they start popping up, add the fennel and cumin. Add the onions, the curry leaves and the dried chillies (split).

Add the dhal curry to the hot mixture. Add turmeric powder, and coconut milk. Add salt.

Enjoy.

Dhal is a very versatile dish and in some South Asian cultures is almost a must for any special occasion meal, particularly if it is a vegetarian rice and curry meal. You can also enjoy a simple meal of dhal curry, pickles and yoghurt. Alternatively, dhal can also be a companion for a meal with bread, roti or stringhoppers.

Japango -- An Exciting Sushi Joint In Toronto

Japango is a Japanese sushi joint tucked away in a rather quiet small street off Dundas Street.
Once inside, one might feel like having stepped into the wrong place; or at least for me the notion of a Japanese restaurant conjures up the image of rather spacious restaurants with elegant (usually black coloured) tables and chairs and Kimono-clad waitresses floating around, bowing all the time.

But this is more like a hotdog-in-a bun with fries type of a place – small and congested. Moreover, and this could be very challenging – the tables are small and not very sturdy. I am small-made but even I once tipped the tea cup as I got up to go to the washroom.
But then the food is a different matter.

Kirin Beer
To wash-down my meal, I went for a 330 ml Kirin beer – Ichiban Special Premium. I like beer off the tap or from the bottle and avoid the cans, and this was one reason I opted for Kirin.
The beer had soft but its malt was strong.

Deep fried Oysters for Appetizers
I checked for the seasonal fish available for appetizer. They had mackerel and went for it, along with fried oysters.
The oysters were deep-fried and despite my initial scepticism (I have found that deep-fried food is usually very heavy and kills the taste for the other dishes), I found the pieces to be soft and smooth.

Spicy Maki Rolls
I have always liked the spicy version of Japanese maki rolls. They use some kind of a spicy sauce but they are different from the hot sauces we know in the west. In fact, the type of sauces used and the strength of their piquancy, also differ from one restaurant to the other. So, I ordered spicy tuna maki and shrimp tempura with spicy sauce.

I rarely leave a Japanese restaurant without ordering flying fish roe, so besides the Tobiko sushi, I also had amber jack, octopus and butterfish sashimi. I was so glad I went for the latter. The cute, small pieces of off-white coloured fish tasted excellent.

Tasting Madai For First Time
Then the chef asked me whether I would like madai – supposedly a Japanese favourite. Well, the chef himself was taking an interest in us and whom am I to desist that temptation?
Madai was a fish of multiple textures and tastes. I found as if it was slightly heated but it looked raw. And it had a dash of the sourness of mackerel and saltiness of dried fish. It was excellent.

Special Wasabi
Along with that, came two different types of wasabi – one the ‘normal’ one and one ‘special’. Needless to say, I went for the special one. Taste-wise it was almost the same – ma be little stronger – but it dissolved neatly into the soya sauce. I checked out with the waiter who told the special variety is basically kitchen, and not mass-made.
All in all, the food was excellent and fresh as always, and even the maneuvering the tight pace is an adventure.
I have heard comments that Japango resembles a typical sushi joint in Japan. Hopefully, one day I can check that out.

Fine Asian Bowl, Toronto Centre

I was spending sometime in downtown Toronto, around Yonge and Dundas, and felt like having a real good dinner – which means a beer or wine, appetizer, main dish and possibly dessert (if there was still room in the stomach) and coffee, so went on a recce one block on each of the four sides from the Yonge and Dundas Square.

There was a Mexican grill and Pumpernickel on Yonge, Spring Roll on Dundas, a micro brewery, an Asian restaurant and a steak-house on Yonge south.

I liked Asian Bowl, because I wanted to have rice. The board said it was a mixture of Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines, and I thought it might a fusion restaurant, or one of those restaurants that put a milder version of the original dishes from the source to attract a wider crowd, including the second generation.

For appetizers ordered soft shell crab and tom yum kai soup. The soft shell crab was different from what I have eaten usually at Japanese restaurants. Chunks of crab dipped in batter and deep fried but, unlike the Japanese variety, this was not crispy. It was served atop crispy thin sticks – it could have been some sort of deep fried rice sticks. There was no sauce.

I am not a big fan of tom yum kai, but I know it is considered hot and sour. I found an additional dash of sweetness and saw pieces of pineapple. It is good for those who cannot stand too much chillies.

For main, I ordered vegetable fried rice and Bun Bo Xao Xa Ot, which is supposed to be stir fried beef with lemon grass, hot chilli and garlic and onions. This is a variation of my usual preference for Vietnamese dishes – the bowl of broth with rice noodles and meat. I wanted to taste the rice vermicelli noodles without the broth.
The beef was tender and well marinated, while the noodles were just rightly cooked – not soggy and not too hard. It came with a garlic-chilli sauce but I asked for extra chilli sauce.

One of the differences between South Asian and Vietnamese dishes is that in South Asia the chilli is usually ground and added to the curry while in Vietnam the broth is kept neutral and one bites off of a chilli. Because here there were no chillies to be seen, and the sauce was too mild for my taste, I asked for chilli sauce.
The fried rice was very good, with green beans, carrots and broccoli chunks.
For desert, I ordered green tea ice cream. Nothing special about this.

It was a worthwhile experience and as I had imagined, this was a restaurant serving more of watered-down versions of the original, so to attract a wide variety of customers. Most of the diners were young people.

The restaurant does not serve alcohol, nor does it accept MasterCard or Amex.