Dining Out: Mango Yuzu Gelato Daifuku at Savorology

Mango yuzu gelato daifuku

Mango yuzu gelato daifuku

Went to Savorology to try their new viral gelato daifuku, which is made to order. Matcha is their signature flavour, but I decided to go with mango yuzu because it is so goddamn hot out and I wanted something more refreshing (which, in my mind, equates to fruity and/or citrusy). It certainly hit the spot and the mango yuzu flavour is incredible, but I do wish the mochi wrapper was thinner and softer to make it easier to dig into (as you know, mochi gets significantly harder and tougher once it gets cold). That having been said, it does provide an excellent barrier for those who want to bite into their ice cream but have sensitive teeth, so I digress...

Savorology

3621 Highway 7, Unit 120

Markham, ON L3R 0G6

(905) 470-8898

Dining Out: A Yakiniku Feast at Shinta Japanese BBQ

Minji, Daniel, and I took our friend Samuel out for his birthday at Shinta since he had never had Japanese BBQ and wanted to try it. Since it was his first time having Japanese BBQ and it was his birthday, we decided to spring for the Silver Wagyu AYCE menu and quite literally ordered every single item off of it:

Chef selected wagyu cuts
Chef selected wagyu cuts
Chef selected wagyu cuts
Chef selected wagyu cuts
Rack of lamb, miso toro beef, and pineapple
Australia Mg+ top sirloin steak and foie gras
Prime kalbi short rib
Toro beef with tare sweet soy sauce
Thick cut ox tongue
Berkshire pork belly and sous vide pork belly
Sukiyaki beef
Thin cut beef tongue, scallops, and shrimp
Hazelnut chocolate mochi jelly cake from Savorology

I didn't even include the non-meat items we ate: clams in sake, baked sweet potatoes with cheese, cheesy butter corn, vegetables, takoyaki, cold noodles, or bibimbap… Honestly, there was so much meat that we couldn't keep track of every single cut we ate. I can only tell you that there wasn't a single one we didn't like. That having been said, I think after you eat like, 12 different types of beef, you can't even really tell which one is the wagyu, so I can't say that the $53 price jump from their regular menu to the Silver Wagyu menu is worth it. Still, Samuel loved everything and had a great time, which is what really matters at the end of the day. And we even got him an adorable hazelnut chocolate mochi jelly cake from Savorology which is just as delicious as it is cute.

The only thing I have to complain about here is how much they rush you to leave when your seating time is almost up. They have a 2-hour seating limit, which is reasonable, but they come by the table to ask for "last call" orders about 30 minutes before your time is up. Of course, by the time your last call orders arrive and everything is grilled, you only have about 10 minutes to eat. So not only were they hesitant to bring out the birthday cake with only 5 minutes remaining in our seating time, they were also reluctant to bring out a knife or plates for it. And when we finally got a knife to cut the cake, our server lay down the bill on the table and got a bus boy to start cleaning up everything off our table and even asked if we wanted to get the cake we were IN THE MIDDLE OF EATING to go. I get that you want to get the next table seated, but you can give us an extra 5 minutes to eat a cake that was clearly for a birthday. Especially if we're spending over $100 per person. Again, I understand that it's apart of your policy, but it is somewhat unprofessional and ruins the vibe of what is clearly someone's birthday celebration. Seriously, your next party can wait 5 minutes. They can accommodate it at every other restaurant.

Shinta Japanese BBQ

280 West Beaver Creek Rd.

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3B1

(905) 597-0305

Dining Out: Maple Wood Duck Breast Shoyu Ramen at Koi Sakana Ramen

Maple Wood Duck Breast Shoyu Ramen

It's cold and snowy, so you know what that means: it's noodle soup season! But I wanted something unique, a combination I haven't had before. Enter the Maple Wood Duck Breast Shoyu Ramen at Koi Sakana Ramen. A very generous portion of juicy, smoky, slightly sweet duck breast in a light shoyu broth with thin springy noodles, a perfectly soft-boiled egg, wakame, corn, and scallions. It was exactly what I wanted and I didn't even know it. 

Koi Sakana, you are officially 2 for 2.

Koi Sakana Ramen

735 Markland St., Unit 7

Markham, ON L6C 0G6

(905) 882-8802

Dining Out: A Belated Birthday All-You-Can-Eat Japanese Feast at Ichiban

When my friend Iris asked where I'd want to go for a belated birthday dinner, I was craving Japanese food but also just wanted to eat a lot, so what better place than Ichiban, my go-to AYCE Japanese restaurant?

Assorted sashimi: Salmon, surf clams, sweet shrimp, scallops, and white tuna

Beef tataki

Smoked duck and wagyu aburi sushi

Truffle wasabi tuna roll with jalapeño

Assorted aburi sushi: White tuna, snapper, shrimp, salmon, eel, and wagyu

Japanese-style cubed beef with garlic

Deep-fried scallops

Grilled jumbo shrimp skewer

Cream puffs

Deep-fried coconut custard

There was also steamed shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, Japanese steamed egg, enoki beef rolls, baked mussels with uni sauce, deep-fried calamari, deep-fried tofu, and a plethora of tempura. Unfortunately, we were too full to even touch the Asian stir-fried and noodle and rice sections, but you know, I think we did pretty well overall. GLUTTONOUS BIRTHDAY DINNER, SUCCESS!

Ichiban Asian All You Can Eat

4261 Highway 7, Unit C-8

Markham, ON L3R 9W6

(905) 305-8825

Dining Out: Early Birthday Dinner Sushi Gozen at Zen Japanese Restaurant

My friend Ronsee took me out for an early birthday dinner at Zen, where we indulged in their seasonal multi-course menu, the Dinner Sushi Gozen:

Taro rice puff with chicken, snap pea, carrot, and maitake mushroom

Chawanmushi with shrimp, chicken, mushroom, and ikura

Maguro (bluefin tuna), madai (sea bream), ocean trout, and hotate (scallop) nigiri

Shrimp and vegetable tempura

Anago (conger eel) tempura

Otoro (fatty tuna), uni and ikura (sea urchin and salmon roe), kampachi (amberjack), and anago nigiri

Toro temaki (tuna hand roll)

Soy milk ice cream with mochi, anko, amd kuromitsu

Birthday dessert: Japanese citrus and strawberry sorbets

Maybe it's because it's been a while since I've had sushi, but my god, this dinner was phenomenal. Gorgeous, fresh, succulent pieces of fish, beautifully assembled and presented. Crispy, golden, perfectly battered tempura. A light, sweet, and balanced dessert to finish. They even presented me with an extra dessert for my birthday, two deliciously fruity, refreshing sorbets that I wish I could buy in pints to eat at home. What a spectacular experience. And, dare I say, the sushi here was better than any I had in Japan...

Zen Japanese Restaurant

7634 Woodbine Ave.

Markham, ON L3R 2N2

(905) 604-7211

Dining Out: Deluxe Tonkotsu Ramen at Koi Sakana Ramen

Went for lunch with Minji and Daniel at Koi Sakana Ramen:

Deluxe Ramen in tonkotsu broth

They are known for such specialties as the "Ice Cream Volcano Ramen" and the "Chocolate Curry Udon," but since it was my first time checking them out, I decided to go for the somewhat less adventurous Deluxe Ramen: chashu, pork cartilage, egg, dry mushrooms, corn, naruto and scallions in tonkotsu broth. Maybe it's because I haven't had ramen since coming back from Japan in April, but this was particularly delicious and satisfying. I do prefer my ramen noodles to be a bit thicker, but the broth was rich and flavourful, the chashu was thick and fatty, and the egg was perfectly soft boiled. This place is also a two-minute drive from work, so yeah, I'll be coming back soon. Noodle soup season is upon us, after all.

Koi Sakana Ramen

735 Markland St., Unit 7

Markham, ON L6C 0G6

(905) 882-8802

Dining Out: Spicy Cream Seafood Udon, Chicken Curry Udon, and Chicken Karaage at Mikaku Udon Bar

After watching JUNGKOOK: I AM STILL (10/10, obviously), Iris and I decided to go for dinner at Mikaku Udon Bar:

Spicy Cream Seafood Udon

Chicken Curry Udon

Chicken Karaage

We ordered the Spicy Cream Seafood Udon, the Chicken Curry Udon, and the Chicken Karaage. There are dozens of ramen restaurants in every city, but there are few, if any, restaurants that specialize in udon. Mikaku does some pretty revolutionary things with udon — so much so, that it may actually be my favourite noodle now. Will absolutely come back, and hopefully soon; I need to make my way through the entire menu.

Mikaku Udon Bar

360 Highway 7, Unit 10

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3Y7

(905) 707-8787

Dining Out: Japanese Hot Pot at Daimaru Shabu Shabu

Started this weekend off with some Japanese-style hot pot at the newly opened Daimaru Shabu Shabu. We decided on the regular "All-Day Premium AYCE Menu" and basically ordered everything. Started with the snack options — Hokkaido potato chips, takoyaki (which was surprisingly good — as close to authentic as it can get from frozen), deep-fried rice cakes, steak katsu, Nagoya-style chicken wings, and watermelon slices (random, but quite an excellent palate cleanser) — and then ordered all the meat, beef balls, beef tendon, dumplings, scallops, quail eggs, deep-fried bean curd skin, crispy bean curd rolls, nappa cabbage, winter melon, radish, corn, enoki mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, bamboo shoots...

Hokkaido potato chips
Takoyaki
Two-flavour soup base: Tom yum and sukiyaki
Ribeye
Premium beef chuck, selected sirloin, and pork belly
Ribeye and beef brisket
Quail eggs, deep-fried bean curd skin, crispy bean curd rolls, crab meat, mushrooms, and assorted vegetables
Fresh beef balls, dumplings, beef tendon, scallops, and watermelon

Compared to a typical Chinese hot pot place, Daimaru actually doesn't have as many food options, but their broth and dipping sauce flavours are quite different, which is where the Japanese style comes in. We decided to do a two-flavour soup base — one classic sukiyaki and the other with the new tom yum soup. The tom yum was decent, but the sukiyaki was excellent. It is a classic and distinctly Japanese flavour (soy sauce, sugar, and mirin), and it's so flavourful that I didn't find the need for any kind of dipping sauce. Sukiyaki is the one to get if you actually want Japanese-style hot pot. Desserts are also excellent here; they only offer three options, but the ice cream (available in vanilla and chocolate) comes in sealed (!) individual cups so there's no freezer burn on pre-scooped bowls like at most AYCE places, the Hokkaido milk pudding is actually milky with delicious bits of mango and mandarin oranges on top, and the crème brûlée is incredibly rich and luxurious with torched sugar on top that is actually crispy (sorry, but crème brûlée at Asian AYCE restaurants is usually really shitty, usually too gelatinous or liquidy, so this was shockingly good).

Not sure if it's because they just opened (quite literally two weeks ago), but Daimaru's new location is exceptionally clean with incredible service — unfailingly polite, efficient, and helpful. Including drinks (Coke Zero for me, peach soda for Minji, and lychee mint soda for Daniel) and after tax and tip, it was about $58 per person, which is on the steeper side but about average for a more upscale hot pot restaurant. Perhaps a bit too pricey to eat here regularly, but it's a great option for a treat meal or special occasion. In fact, I might just come back for Mid-Autumn Festival...

Daimaru Shabu Shabu

8333 Kennedy Rd., Unit 1073

Markham, ON L3R 4P8

(365) 536-0506

New York City 2024 Travel Log: Day 1 — A Feast of Japanese-Inspired Tapas at Class on 38th

My sister-in-law took us to a hidden gem called Class on 38th for a dinner of delightfully delectable Japanese-inspired tapas:

Crudo: Hokkaido scallops, Japanese uni, fresh and pickled chili, and shiso aguachile
Tataki: Bluefin tuna akami zuke, white truffle soy, shiso avocado, and truffle
Tomato Ohitashi: Japanese dashi pickled vine tomato, sweet savoury sesame, shallot, and shiso
Daily Special: Spicy bluefin tuna on Hokkaido milk toast with spiced mayo and jalapeño
Karaage: Crispy battered monkfish, mentaiko spiced mayo, shichimi, and matcha salt
Miso Grilled Cabbage: Twice-cooked Savoy cabbage wedge, red miso leek soubise, chili crisps, and chives
Salmon Ikura Kamameshi: Japanese Koshihikari rice with roasted Scottish salmon, ikura, mushroom, myoga, and shiso

Okay, yes, the portions are definitely on the smaller size for the prices, but everything we had was amazingly delicious, incredibly executed, and impeccably presented. Not really sure why they don't have more of a presence from street view — they have a plain black awning with only their logo displayed on the window so you don't even know it's a restaurant — but it is totally worth seeking out.

Class on 38th

55 W 38th St.

New York, NY 10018

(929) 292-0691