rice – Michael Eats

Fantastic Sushi at Oroshi Fish Co.

Published on November 11, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 962 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.oroshifishco.com/

Oroshi Fish Co. is a tiny little hole-in-the-wall take-out joint specializing in higher quality sushi at lower prices than you’d expect. It’s tucked away in a little back alley just off College; if you’re not looking for it, it’s very easy to miss.

It’s pretty much the definition of a hidden gem, though clearly, the word has gotten out; when I visited, there was a pretty steady stream of customers and delivery drivers picking up take-out orders.

They serve what they describe as “dry-aged premium sushi,” and yeah, I get why it’s popular. It’s very, very good.

I tried the regular sushi set: “4pc nigiri set (salmon, tuna, scallop) + California maki.” It costs 22 bucks, which certainly isn’t cheap, but which is an absolute steal for the quality of sushi they’re serving.

Everything here is just right, from the tasty seasoned rice to the obviously high quality fish. Perfect rice-to-fish ratio. Even the pickled ginger is very clearly better than the usual stuff.

The prices they’re charging are not much higher than the many hundreds (thousands?) of anonymous neighbourhood sushi joints sprinkled around the GTA, and this was so, so much better than the sushi I’ve had at any of those spots.

Unique Eats at Japan Taco

Published on October 25, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 486 Front Street West, Toronto (inside Wellington Market)
Website: https://www.japantaco.ca/

Japan Taco started as one of those booths you see at various street festivals around the city, and eventually they were successful enough to open a couple of permanent locations. They’ve got one on Queen Street, and now, this one in The Well.

So what is a “Japan Taco”? It’s kind of like a cross between a poke bowl, onigiri, and a taco. It’s interesting.

I ordered the Miso Salmon, which features a sizable piece of miso-glazed salmon, mashed avocado, pickled radish (I think?), sushi rice, and a bunch of other stuff (I can’t find a description of this anywhere online, so I’m not 100% sure what was in there — it was a lot).

The nori shell is what makes this really distinctive. I sort of figured this would be similar to the lightly crispy nori in onigiri, but it has a hearty crisp-factor that I found to be surprising and delightful. And the intense crispiness remained right until the last bite, never sogging up. It has what appears to be panko on its exterior, so I guess it’s breaded and fried?

Otherwise, this was pretty satisfying, with a well-prepared piece of salmon and a bunch of other tasty stuff. The flavour could have been amped up a bit (maybe you’re meant to add soy sauce or dip it in something?), but otherwise I quite enjoyed it.

Tasty Pizza at Raffaella

Published on October 19, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 296 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://raffaellapizza.com/

Raffaella started as a pop-up serving New York-style pizza, and eventually did well enough to graduate to their own spot inside the Annex Hotel.

They’re mostly known for their pizza, but they do have a few other things on the menu. The arancini, in particular, caught my eye: “Cacio E Pepe Risotto, Tomato Sauce, Parmigiano Reggiano.”

This was clearly some of the better arancini I’ve had in a while, with a great contrast between the perfectly crispy exterior and the rich, creamy risotto within. It might have been too rich, but the zippy tomato sauce gives it a nice balance. It’s great.

They let you try a couple of things by splitting a pizza in half, which is nice; I went with the Margherita (“Raff’s Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella, Grana Padano, Fresh Basil”) and the Annex (“Raff’s Tomato Sauce, Spicy Sausage, Whipped Ricotta, Roasted Red Pepper, Hot Honey”).

It’s a solid pizza. Raffaella describes it as “48 hours sourdough, thin and crispy” — this one wasn’t particularly crispy, with its soft floppiness giving it a bit of a Neapolitan-meets-NYC vibe, but whatever it is, it’s tasty. The crust has a nice chewiness and a decent amount of flavour thanks to the sourdough. It didn’t blow my mind, but it’s really solid.

As for the toppings, I tend to prefer the simplicity of a plain cheese pizza, and that continues to be the case here, with a nice balance between the tasty sauce and gooey cheese. I liked the Annex as well, though the flavour of the roasted red peppers did kind of dominate everything else.

Quick Bites: Poke by Sushi Shop, Eataly Ristorante, Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Published on July 5, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Salmon & Tuna poke bowl from Poke by Sushi Shop

The salmon & sushi poke bowl (“Salmon, tuna, lettuce, red cabbage, wakame, radish, orange masago, ponzu, teriyaki and poke sauces, spicy light mayo, nori”) at Poke by Sushi Shop is solid. Did anything about it blow me away? Not particularly (I also found the presence of a whole bunch of iceberg lettuce to be a bit off-putting). But it featured some tasty toppings and sauces and a generous amount of fresh salmon and tuna. For something from a food court (particularly the Sherway Gardens food court, which kinda sucks), it’s a nice option.

Ragu pasta from Eataly Ristorante in Sherway Gardens

I haven’t been particularly crazy about anything I’ve had from the Eataly location in Sherway Gardens thus far, and yeah, that’s still the case. I got a ragu pasta (which isn’t on the menu on their website, so I’m not sure what it was called or what was in it — very helpful, I know), and it was fine. It had some surprisingly big chunks of pork, which were fork-tender and easily the highlight. Otherwise it was just kinda one-note salty. Certainly not unpleasant to eat, but I think anyone with even a moderate level of skill in the kitchen could whip up a tastier pasta dish with stuff in their pantry.

Black Sesame gelato from Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Mizzica is generally regarded as serving the best gelato in the city. They’ve also started to expand, with a second location around Yonge and Eglinton. So this is about the time you might expect the quality to start going downhill. Happily, that doesn’t seem to be the case — at least not yet. The black sesame gelato is just as rich and creamy as everything else I’ve had here, and has a very satsifying roasty sesame flavour. It kinda reminded me of a gelato version of Sesame Snaps, but with no crunchiness. I find most black sesame ice cream doesn’t quite have as much sesame flavour as I’d like, but this was pretty fantastic.

A Delicious (and Gigantic) Meal at Brown Donkatsu

Published on July 3, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 487 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://browndonkatsu.ca/

Brown Donkatsu serves the Korean version of tonkatsu, which is quite similar, but with a sweeter sauce.

Before checking this place out, I had read a few references to how big the portions are, so I was expecting a hefty meal. I was unprepared.

Wow, it’s a lot of food. I got the combo katsu, which comes with half brown katsu sauce, and half cream sauce. You can choose from chicken or pork; I went with pork.

Every order comes with two fried cutlets, and I’m not sure if you can get a sense of the scale from the photo, but they’re surprisingly massive. One of these would be enough for any reasonable person. Two is… a lot.

I think the reasonable thing to do is to eat one and take the other to go. The problem here is that they’re very, very good. So once I started eating, I couldn’t stop. The crispy exterior is substantial enough to give you a very hearty crunch, but light enough that it doesn’t overwhelm the pork. And the pork is nice and tender. It’s seriously tasty.

I finished it, but I didn’t feel good about it, that’s for sure. It’s the type of meal where you feel like you have to go lie down to recover.

I will say that I’ll probably just stick with the brown sauce if I ever find myself back here. It complements the meaty pork quite well, with a nice sweetness that helps round things out (it’s also quite different from the curry or tonkatsu sauce that you might expect). The ultra-rich cream sauce, on the other hand, is a bit one-note heavy. I certainly didn’t dislike eating it, but a little of it goes a long way. I would have liked about 90% brown sauce, and 10% cream sauce for a little bit of extra richness.

As for the other stuff on the plate, the sweet, creamy dressing on the cabbage is nice, and the corn and rice are corn and rice.