Japan – Michael Eats

Tasty Rice Bowls at Omai Rice Bar

Published on October 21, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 21 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://omairicebar.com/

Omai Rice Bar is a spin-off of Omai, a high-end Japanese restaurant. The rice bar is much more on the casual end of things — they serve a selection of six rice bowls that are all around 15 bucks, and it’s take-out only (they also have a few benches on a patio out front).

I went with the Oh-My Fried Chicken: “Korean fried chicken, garlic yuzu glaze, wasabi cucumber, kimchi slaw and pickled daikon. Every bowl comes with our signature Omai salad on a bed of steamed white rice.”

I liked everything about this. The fried chicken was fresh, crispy, and tender, and was tossed in a tasty sauce (that was maybe a touch too sweet — my only complaint). Everything else in the bowl complemented it perfectly, with a whole bunch of bold, zippy flavours.

Even the salad on the side was a noticeable upgrade from the standard vinaigrette-tossed greens, with a nice citrusy punch that was really satisfying.

It’s all served on a bed of fluffy white rice, and it’s great. I wish I lived closer to this place, because I feel like I need to try every bowl on the menu.

Tasty Conveyor Belt Sushi at Tora

Published on October 5, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3401 Dufferin Street, North York (inside Yorkdale Mall)
Website: https://www.aburitora.com/

Tora is a conveyor belt sushi place, which is mostly a gimmick, but a fun one. They have a million of these in Japan, but they have yet to take off in Toronto for some reason.

(There’s been a few over the years, but I believe this is the only one that’s currently open.)

I should note that there isn’t any pre-made sushi going around on the belt that you can pick up — there’s a tablet at every table, and you order on the touchscreen. A few minutes later (it’s very quick), the sushi zips along on the conveyor belt and stops at your table.

The sushi itself isn’t going to blow anyone’s mind, but it’s all solid. Everything I tried was pretty decent, with the exception of the tuna nigiri, which was a bit fishy.

One of the specialties here is aburi sushi, which is a style of sushi that’s torched on top; a card on the table noted that the aburi ebi oshi, which features shrimp and a mayonnaisey sauce, is one of their most popular dishes. And yeah, that was probably the highlight of the bunch, with a decent smoky flavour from the torch and a nice zippiness from the mayo.

Intense Jiro-Style Ramen at Ramen Tabetai

Published on July 19, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 154 Cumberland Street, Toronto
Website: https://ramen-tabetai.ca/

Ramen Tabetai is the brainchild of chef Masaki Saito, best known for Sushi Masaki Saito, which is noteworthy for having been awarded two Michelin stars (and it’s the only two star restaurant in Toronto, which makes it Michelin’s highest rated restaurant in the city).

I mean, you had me at ramen, but ramen from a Michelin-starred chef?? Yes please.

Tabetai serves a very specific type of ramen known as Jiro-style ramen, which they describe as “garlic heavy, pork fat loaded – no apologies.” It features a very flavourful pork broth topped with thick ramen noodles, a fat slice of chashu (which was oddly lean, given this place’s whole M.O., but still tasty), chunks of unctuous back fat, a whole bunch of raw garlic, and a crunchy veggie mix (cabbage and bean sprouts, I believe).

I’ll admit that while I enjoy this style of ramen, it isn’t my favourite. I think the best bowls of ramen have an amazing complexity, and Jiro-style ramen is kinda just a porky, fatty, garlicky, salty assault.

Don’t get me wrong — I love being assaulted by porkiness, fattiness, garlickiness, and saltiness. Those are all great things! But it’s a lot of in-your-face big flavours, not to mention the intense richness. I probably don’t need to have it more than once every several months, if that.

(I also think that this style of ramen is probably an odd fit for a Michelin-starred chef, as it’s more about blowing out your tastebuds than the type of gastronomical finesse you typically associate with Michelin-caliber chefs.)

To be fair, the restaurant does allow you to adjust your level of back fat, garlic, and salt — I went with the default 100%, though the waitress did suggest that 50% might be advisable for first-timers. So that might feel like less of an assault. But hey, go big or go home, right?

Tasty Japanese Food at Tanuki

Published on February 4, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3160 Steeles Avenue East, Markham
Website: http://www.tanukirestaurant.com/

Tanuki is actually in the same location as the great Shiso Tree Cafe, which, sadly, shut down near the beginning of the pandemic. I kinda want to hate this place on principal, like, how dare you try to replace the Shiso Tree Cafe?? But you know what? Just based on this one visit, I think Tanuki might be just as good.

I came during their brunch service and tried the seared duck breast (“served medium rare, chimichurri, garlic chips”), along with the omurice (“soft omelette, chicken fried rice, shiitake, edamame, gravy”).

Both were very, very tasty. The duck breast was perfectly cooked; it was tender while still having a nice meaty bite, and while the skin wasn’t crispy, once I started eating, I didn’t miss it. The garlic chips give it that crispiness while also adding pops of flavour. It’s a great dish.

The omurice was just as good. Slicing the omlette open to reveal its eggy interior is thoroughly satisfying, and the creamy eggs complement the tasty fried rice quite nicely. That fried rice would have actually been perfectly fine on its own, with the mushroom/chicken combo being thoroughly delicious, nice pops of freshness from the edamame, the occasional bite of crispy rice, and some nice smokiness from the wok.

But once you add the perfectly cooked omelette, things really take off. The omelette is silky and creamy, with its richness only amped up by the gravy that comes on the side. Add a few spoonfuls of the zippy habanero sauce they have on the table, and you’re really in business.

Great Ramen at Kaminari Ramen Bar

Published on January 19, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1330 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.bykaminari.com/

Kaminari Ramen Bar actually has a few types of ramen on the menu: clear Tokyo-style, creamy, “duck umami,” vegan, and a soupless yuzu ramen. The waiter said they don’t really have a specialty, so I went with the clear Tokyo-style.

The ramen, as per the menu: “Clear chicken broth, pork cha-shu, chicken cha-shu, wonton, Tokyo Negi, bamboo shoot, and nori seaweed.” You can get it either shio (salt) or shoyu (soy sauce); I went with the latter.

It’s a very good bowl of ramen. This style of ramen isn’t quite as common in the GTA as the more omnipresent creamy tonkotsu or tori paitan, but done well, it’s just as delicious.

The soup has a very rich and savoury soy-sauce-infused flavour. It’s the type of broth that never feels one-note or overly salty, no matter how much of it you have.

And everything else here was quite tasty, from the chewy, thin noodles to the tender chicken and pork. It’s a top-notch bowl of ramen.