Japanese food – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Mogouyan Hand Pulled Noodle, Loga’s Corner, Cafe KenKaKu

Published on June 1, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Mogouyan classic beef noodles from Mogouyan Hand Pulled Noodle

Mogouyan Hand Pulled Noodle is a rapidly expanding chain that specializes in, as you might expect, hand-pulled noodles. Shocker, I know! I kept it simple with their namesake dish, which features a generous amount of noodles and sliced beef in a very basic chicken broth, with a decent amount of chili oil for additional flavour and spice. The noodles, sadly, were overcooked and a bit mushy, which is a shame since the chewy noodles are really the whole reason to eat this dish. Otherwise, this was totally fine — nothing about it jumped out at me, but it’s all solidly executed (aside from the aforementioned overcooked noodles) and tasty enough.

Momos from Loga’s Corner

I wanted to visit Loga’s Corner mostly because I had heard good things about their hot sauce. I actually got two, so I’m not sure which one is the one that people love (or maybe it’s both?), but both were nicely flavourful and had a nice kick. As for the momos themselves, I tried three: steamed lamb, steamed veg, and fried potato. The potato was probably the best of the three, with a satisfyingly crispy exterior and nicely creamy potato interior. The lamb was mostly quite good, but had more gristly bits than I would have liked (they were in pretty much every momo). All three definitely needed both of those sauces, particularly the veg, and had a much more muted flavour than you’d expect.

Tori Katsu Omurice from Cafe KenKaKu

Cafe KenKaKu is a delightful little Japanese place that serves a variety of sandwiches, udon, and omurice. I went with the omurice that comes with a side of katsu. I quite enjoyed it — in particular, the omelette was creamy and perfectly cooked, and the katsu was nice and crisp on its exterior and tender within. The omelette and the rice were both a bit underseasoned and bland, which was a shame (even pouring the curry sauce on top didn’t quite add as much flavour was you’d like), but it was all so well prepared that this is a minor complaint.

Delicious Cream Puffs at Ian Cakery

Published on April 26, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1100 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.iancakery.ca/

I’ve mentioned before that, even now — years after they closed their only location in the city — I still regularly think about Beard Papa and their delicious Japanese cream puffs. Tragically, they used to at least have locations in Vancouver, but they’ve now apparently vacated Canada altogether.

(They are, however, still alive and well in Japan and elsewhere in the world — just not here, for some reason?? Come on, man.)

There are a few places serving a similar style of cream puff in the GTA, but I think the one at Ian Cakery might actually be the closest to what Beard Papa serves.

They have a few different flavours — I went with the classic vanilla, and man, it was good. The choux pastry has a nice crispy exterior, and the very generous amount of custardy cream within is seriously delicious.

I’m still longing for the day Beard Papa makes its triumphant return to the GTA (it’s gotta happen eventually, right???), but until then, I’m glad that Ian Cakery exists.

Tasty Noodle Soup at Ramen Takao

Published on April 19, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 111 Richmond Street West, Toronto (inside Chef’s Hall)
Website: https://www.instagram.com/ramen_takao/

Ramen Takao is a ramen joint in the Chef’s Hall; it’s a collaboration between Ramen Isshin and Ryu’s Ramen. I like both of those places quite a lot, so that seemed like a good sign.

They call their spicy miso ramen their signature dish (“bean sprouts / seasoned egg / spicy negi / pork belly”), so that’s what I went with.

It’s a very good bowl of ramen. Spicy ramen isn’t generally my first choice, but the spice level here is fairly well tuned — it’s got a nice kick, but it isn’t so aggressive that it overwhelms the other flavours in the bowl.

And the broth is quite flavourful, with a nice creamy richness and a satisfying meaty/seafoody flavour.

Everything else here is quite good; in particular, it’s topped with crispy tempura bits, which do a great job of adding some texture to the bowl.

As for the noodles, they’re right where you want them to be, with a perfect level of chewy heft.

Quick Bites: Slow Jams, Cotolet, Bakerbots Baking

Published on April 10, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Smoked pork sandwich from Slow Jams

Slow Jams is a Filipino pop-up shop that you can find at various street festivals. I previously tried their fried chicken sandwich, and between that one and the smoked pork sandwich (“tamarind & sweet soy sauce, spicy pickled cabbage”), they clearly need to get their own location ASAP. The sandwich features a very generous amount of pork that’s meaty, tender, and satisfyingly smoky. The slightly sweet, squishy bun suits it perfectly. Between the strong vinegary punch of the sauce and the cabbage, it’s kinda acid overload, but the pork is tasty enough that this is only a minor complaint.

Pork loin katsu with brown demi-glace sauce from Cotolet

You can’t go wrong with a good pork katsu. I mean, you can’t go wrong with basically anything that’s breaded and fried, but there’s something about katsu that’s particularly magical. And the version at Cotolet? Quite good! The pork was maybe a bit on the dry side, but the panko-breaded exterior was perfectly crispy, and the brown demi-glace sauce (“made with various fruits and vegetables”) has a very nicely balanced fruity sweetness that’s a bit different from any katsu sauce I’ve had before.

Pecan sticky bun from Bakerbots Baking

Yep, Bakerbots is still chugging along, serving some of the tastiest baked goods in the city. I’ve written about them a few times before, so I don’t need to dwell here, but I do feel like it’s my duty to tell you that their sticky bun is very good. Sweet but not too sweet, nice texture on the bun itself, gooey but not complete mush like certain national chains that sell sickly sweet cinnamon buns… it’s very tasty. But then I’ve never had anything that was less than delicious here, so I guess that goes without saying.

Tasty Katsu Curry at Hinoya Curry

Published on March 22, 2026March 22, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 20 Carlton Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.hinoyacurry.net/

Hinoya Curry is a chain that specializes in tonkatsu curry; they’ve got a bunch of locations in Japan and a few worldwide — including, most recently, right here in Toronto.

I actually tried the tonkatsu curry at Hinoya a few years ago in Tokyo and found it to be satisfying, but by Japanese standards, just okay.

By Toronto standards, on the other hand? Quite good!

I ordered the same dish here, tonkatsu curry, which features a fried pork cutlet on top of rice that’s absolutely doused in a rich, beefy curry sauce.

It’s very tasty. The menu describes the curry as “sweet first, spicy later,” and yeah, that’s about right. It’s got a nice balance of sweet and savoury, a pleasant curry flavour, and a lingering heat that’s mild, but definitely present.

It goes very well with the freshly fried tonkatsu, which is nice and tender and retains its crunch, despite being smothered in sauce.

It comes with some pickled radish on the side, which has a vinegary brightness that does a great job of cutting through the dish’s richness. I wish there were more of it, however; they put a teeny-tiny amount on the plate, and I could have used about double or triple (it’s in a container on the side in Japan — or at least it was when I visited — which makes much more sense).

Another nice touch: the container with a mix of puffed rice and toasted garlic on the table, which adds more crunch and flavour to the dish. I’ve never seen this anywhere but here, and I don’t know why — it seems like it would improve pretty much anything.