Japanese food – Page 3

Tasty Katsu Curry at Cafe Green Tea

Published on October 14, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3160 Steeles Avenue East, Markham
Website: None

Though the name might make you think it’s a coffee shop of some sort, Cafe Green Tea is actually a delightful little restaurant in the J-Town area of Markham specializing in Japanese comfort food like soba, udon, and katsu curry.

I ordered the katsu curry, which you can either get with pork or chicken (I got pork). It’s a counter service place, and they work quite fast; once I ordered, it only took a few minutes for my number to be called.

It’s a tasty plate of no-frills katsu curry. The pork is slightly on the dry side, but otherwise everything here is right where it should be: the curry is rich and flavourful, and the katsu has a perfect level of exterior crispiness.

Bonus: at 14 bucks for a relatively hefty serving, it’s a solid deal.

Quick Bites: Tarboosh Restaurant, Maji Curry, The Night Baker

Published on September 9, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Shawarma and falafel plate at Tarboosh Restaurant

I ordered the Tarboosh combination plate here (because you should always order a dish with the name of the restaurant in it), which comes with chicken shawarma (beef is also an option), falafel, and two sides (I went with hummus and tabouleh). It didn’t rock my world, but it was all tasty enough. The chicken tasted more like baked chicken breast than like shawarma; it was nicely seasoned, but I wish it had been a bit juicier. The falafel was actually quite unique — it was easily the lightest, fluffiest falafel I’ve ever had, and the flavour reminded me more of a hush puppy than typical falafel. And the two sides were pretty solid, particularly the hummus, which was a bit heavier on the tahini than I generally prefer, but super creamy and luxurious.

Pork Cutlet Curry with Cheese from Maji Curry

Maji Curry is a Japanese curry chain that recently opened in Toronto. I’m a big fan of Japanese curry (what’s not to love?), so yeah, I checked it out. I ordered the pork cutlet curry with cheese, which is one of their signature dishes. It’s odd; I figured the pork cutlet would be panko-breaded tonkatsu, but it looked and tasted more battered than breaded (and the pork itself was a bit on the dry side). The “cheese” seemed to be more decorative than anything else, as it had a milky texture and not much flavour. As for the star of the show — the curry — it was perfectly tasty (I certainly didn’t dislike eating it), but it wasn’t substantially better than the Japanese curry bricks you can get at Asian supermarkets.

Classic chocolate chunk cookie from The Night Baker

I actually assumed I had already blogged about this place, which is why I only took one quick photo and then scarfed the cookie down. Apparently I haven’t! Oh well, next time I guess. And there will definitely be a next time: the classic chocolate chunk cookie here (which also has walnuts and sea salt) is top notch. It’s nicely chewy with a crisp exterior, the flavours are all where they should be, and the walnuts do a great job of adding a mild crunch and tempering the sweetness of the cookie a bit.

Solid Ramen at Midori Ramen

Published on August 26, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 412 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://midoriramen.com/

Ramen: it’s the best. I’ve said it on this blog before, and I have no doubt I’ll say it again. Even a mid-tier bowl of ramen is better than a great version of most other things.

Case in point: Midori Ramen. Is it the best bowl of ramen in the city? No, absolutely not. Is it tasty? It absolutely is.

Their specialty is tori paitan ramen, which is like the tonkotsu that’s so prevalent in the GTA, but made with chicken instead of pork. The best versions of this have an addictive roasted chicken flavour, and while this one was creamy and nice, it didn’t have much of a flavour outside of a pleasant, rich saltiness.

You can choose between thin, thick, and kale (??) noodles; they recommend thin. Like the broth, the noodles are pleasant, but they lack the toothsome chew that makes the best ramen noodles so special.

The toppings are all great, however. It comes with tasty pork chashu, a ridiculously tender slice of chicken, and a great ramen egg with a perfectly jammy yolk.

Great Taiyaki at Red Bean Waffle House

Published on August 9, 2024August 9, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 Steeles Avenue West, Thornhill
Website: https://www.instagram.com/redbeanwaffle/

Note: It looks like this place has closed down between me writing and posting this. Highly unfortunate!

The Red Bean Waffle House in Thornhill sells various cakes and savoury snacks, but they specialize in taiyaki — fish-shaped waffles that come stuffed with either red bean or custard.

I’m sure the custard is good, but come on — it’s right there in the name. You’ve gotta get the red bean.

The red bean filling here is actually slightly different than the usual. Its texture is creamier, and it tastes like maybe they’ve mixed in some custard with the red bean. I’m not sure if that’s actually the case, but whatever they’re doing, it’s quite tasty. It also has a satisfyingly restrained level of sweetness.

The waffle part, too, is a bit different from the usual: it’s slightly thinner and crispier, which works quite well with the creamy filling. It’s a very satisfying dessert.

Hot and Fresh Mochi Doughnuts at LaMochi

Published on July 7, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3272 Midland Avenue, Scarborough
Website: https://lamochisweets.com/

Though I’ve had a decent amount of mochi doughnuts in my life, I don’t think I’ve ever had one that was hot and fresh out of the fryer like they serve at LaMochi, and let me tell you: it was delightful.

I ordered the black sesame doughnut, which comes with a decent amount of a sweet, mildly nutty sesame glaze. It complemented the slightly chewy doughnut quite well. But the freshness of the doughnut was the star of the show.

I don’t know if they always serve them this way or if I just got lucky, but it was so good. You can’t go wrong with basically anything that’s freshly fried, and that’s definitely true here. The exterior was lightly crispy from the fryer, and the inside was fluffy and warm. The distinctive chewiness was there, but a bit less pronounced than your standard mochi doughnut (I’m guessing the mochi’s chew-factor becomes more pronounced as it cools).