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.

Dragon Dynasty Dim Sum

I love dim-sum. As simple as that.

And even though I am told that a lot of dim-sum restaurants are moving towards a system where you order the dishes from the menu, I like the traditional ones where they bring the food in carts, with circular bamboo containers stacked one over another with the various dumplings and other dishes.

And I had not had been to a dim-sum place since June, when I was in Vancouver. So, it was time to visit one, and this time I went to Dragon Dynasty in Scarborough, Ontario.

Dragon Dynasty is located within the Chartwell Mall, one of the Asian (non-North Americans read: Asian here means East Asia/China)malls with a number of, well, Asian stores and even a food court, all selling Asian food.

It is always a good strategy to reserve if one wants to take a trip to a dim-sum restaurant, for they are always full. But I did not reserve and fortunately, had to wait just about twenty minutes.

One reason I love dim sum is the ambience; with Chinese families sitting together eating and engaging in pep, or even passionate, talks while some reading newspapers.

But one of my weaknesses with dim-sum dishes is that I do not know the significance of most of the dishes. I mean, is there a difference between the dumplings with just shrimp or with shrimp and some other vegetable, other than the content? What is the significance of the envelopes – some with translucent wraps while some of sturdy flour wraps?

I usually barge into the bamboo trays and order whatever I know and I feel I like; so, usually I end up with having eaten different types of dumplings filled with either shrimps or shrimps with something else. Then I go for rice noodle roles, which are longer and wider white roles, often served in small plate in paris with sweet soya sauce.

Then of course is what I call the sticky rice. I don’t know where I got the name, but I think it is the lotus leaf rice – a mixture of glutinous rice together with egg and mushrooms wrapped in a lotus leaf.

If blind ordering is bad enough, I also engage in another, almost sinful, activity; using hot sauce on every dish. For example, at times Chinese greens liked bok choy will come with its own sauce, and some types of dumplings also come with their own sauces. However, I always used the hot sauce.

Fortunately, though, I have to proudly say that I have recognised my folly of destroying a good dish by making it universal through the use of the same sauce for everything. Now, I try to dip the dish in the sauce provided. Alternatively, I also use other sauces provided for the other types of dumplings.

And it has been a good experience so far. But I hope to be able to visit a dim sum restaurant with someone, may be a Chinese, who can explain to me the fine nuances behind each of the dish.

Of course, Chinese tea is so closely connected to dim sum (supposedly, they are also called tea houses, serving, of course, tea and the light dishes), and it is here that Dragon Dynasty fails. May be they use too much tea leaves because after a while the tea turns very bitter.

Otherwise, it is a good restaurant with helpful waiting staff.

A Little About Dumplings

Dumplings are a universal dish – and they are made and enjoyed in different forms in different countries – from Peru to China.

While in Korea and Kazakhstan, they are filled with lamb, pork or beef and can be fried or steamed, in north and South India, they are used as desserts – filled with coconut and sugar or jaggery.

From Russia to Ukraine and Poland, the name can vary from pierogi to perogees, and can be savoury or sweet. In Germany and Austria, they are called by different names, from spaetzle to knoedel and can have different toppings, from ground meat to plums. I always liked the bread dumpling, but then there are also liver dumplings.

And some say papas rellenas (stuffed with potatoes or meat) in Peru can also be called dumplings.