Date: Saturday April 17, 2005 7:00pm
Group: 4
Reservations: None taken – just walked in from the streets
My order: Izakaya Ramen ($11), Duck Gyoza ($5.95), “Crisp and Tart” juice ($3.75)
Location: 69 Front Street East, Toronto ON. 416-703-8658 – Located right next to the C’est What lounge.
Background
Back in early March, I was told about this new Japanese restaurant opening up on Front Street in Toronto. A Japanese acquaintance of mine was to be interviewed for a waitress position there and had given me a phone number to contact them.
I phoned that number in mid March wanting to know more about the restaurant. It turns out the number I phoned was the number for the cell of the owner of the restaurant – Eric – and not the actual number for the restaurant. Being the curious person that I am, I talked to him for a while on the type of restaurant he was trying to open up and what distinguishes his place from the other Japanese restaurants in the Toronto area. He duely noted that his restaurant will be Japanese based restaurant with a heavy Canadian twist to it.
He told me the decor would be unique and that I would be in for a treat. The dishes would be Japanese based but will each have their own Canadian twist to it. The Izakaya signature dish that he was hoping to draw attention to the Japanese customers was the pork-broth ramen noodles. He gets his noodles imported from Sapporo, Japan (through a distributor who runs his import business through his home in Mississauga).
After talking to him, I had to try it out to see this for myself. Opening April 5 (or sometime near that), I had my first try at this place today, April 17, 2005, and here is my impression.
The Izakaya Way
Food is ordered electronically at Izakaya. Each waiter is equipped with a wireless device which sends your order straight to the kitchen the minute the waiter finishes taking each of your orders. The waiter writes down a number on your placemat so that the “food deliverers” wearing red shirts can easily identify who ordered what. The waiter kindly notified us in advance saying that because of this, our food will come when it gets prepared. In other words, some people may get their food before others. Not a very good way of doing business if larger groups come in and order lots.
The Service
Service was good at Izakaya. As soon as you enter the restaurant, two young, caucasian girls greet you and sees you to your table. Within seconds of sitting down, our waiter came to our table and introduced us. Seeming a little hesitant, he told us to feel free and ask him any questions if we had any.
Throughout our meal, he came back to check up on us to see if everything was to our satisfaction. I did get the impression that he was nervous talking to us. I’m not sure why though. It could have been because we were one of the very few Oriental groups sitting in the restaurant, or the fact that I had mentioned to him that I talked to the owner beforehand. Or maybe he simply thought we were some kind of Oriental food critic group that would make or break this newly established restaurant.
He did answer all of our questions, albeit not very intelligently. Someone from the table asked him what the difference between the Izakaywa Ramen was to the Tokyo Ramen. He answered regurgitating the menu saying that the former is pork broth based while the latter is soy based.
Rating: 4/5
The Menu and Placemat
The Izakaya menu is simple and a little less sophisticated than what you would normally see at an authentic Japanese restuarant. The base of the menu is made from semi-hard cover stock while the actual menu is printed on a regular 8.5″ x 11″ bond paper using a standard colour laser printer. The menu is simply connected to the cover by two slits that have been cut into the cover at the top and bottom. The menu does a good job describing each item. It carries very good explanations for what each dish is made with so non-Japanese customers would have a better understanding as to what they would be ordering. To further this experience, descriptions of common Japanese ingredients are well described on the placemats. Things such as edamame, sho-chu, bonito flakes, shichi-min, panko, difference between various noodles such as ramen, udon, soba, somen, and others are clearly written for your educational quota of the day.
The Décor
Upon entering the restuarant, you will immediately notice that the place is not very Japanese. The high ceilings are great, and the restaurant is actually fairly long as it extends deep inside. The side walls are brick and are lined on top with a network of black tubing for lighting purposes. Not your typical Japanese décor; the place reminded me of restaurants in the Distillery District. The walls are covered with a rather different form of “art.” The large circular forms are created with chopsticks, probably manually made by painting them red and gluing them on the board in a spiral type way. Not very Japanese: chopsticks are for eating, not to hang on wall.
The restaurant is divided into two sections. The front most section (as seen in the photo) has two tables on either side of the main doors. Immediately behind these tables are long, narrow, low, rectangular sized wooden tables accompanied by several rather cheap looking chairs with no back support. The chairs at our table were flexible, plastic, chairs with arm rests. Both of these chairs are typical of what you would normally see at your local Ikea store.
Going deeper in the restaurant, dividing the two sections is the bar, where they make the freshly extracted juices. With a few bar stools lined there, people are able to sit and drink their sake, sho-chu (flavoured or non, hot or cold), and beers.
Behind the bar is the second section with a much darker ambience to it and several more rectangular block tables and cheap looking seats. Behind this section is the kitchen where I saw some caucasian and one African-Canadian cooking away at the dishes.
The washrooms are… unisex. Three doors located directly behind the kitchen can be used by anyone. Looking through the large fogged glass on the door is your only indication of whether there is someone inside. While you can’t see clearly the inside of the bathroom, it can get a little awkward for the person inside looking out.
Rating: 3/5 – if you’re not expecting authentic Japanese ambiance
The Food
Izakaya Ramen: $11.00. The aroma of the ramen was fairly appetizing. Not too strong but a hint of the pork broth. The ramen noodles imported from Sapporo, Japan were actually very good. One of the better tasting noodles – if not the best tasting noodles – I have had in the Toronto area. The soup broth, however, could use some improvement. Too salty and not enough pork-flavour in the broth made the ramen overall not too flavourful. As seen in the photo, the ramen is topped with pickled ginger (the sliced red strips in the photo), byte sized chopped cha-shu (pork), and slices of boiled eggs, which is not very Japanese either. I told the waiter about the lack of “umph” in the soup broth and he mentioned that other had said similar things.
Duck gyoza: $5.95 for 5 pieces. It was tasty and the skin was cooked to my liking. Somewhat crispy and not too soft a shell. Moderately sized, the duck stuffing was not too overfilled but was proportional to the size of the dumpling.
Crisp and Tart juice: $3.75. One of the more popular of the drinks was also good. A mix of Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples, lemon, and mint, it provided for a slightly tart “umph”with a crisp aftertaste. It is easily something one can make on their own with their own juicer. The Melon Brawler, which my friend had was a bit too watery to my liking with too much watermelon taste and not enough of the canteloup or melon flavours. The other juice comprised of ginger, carrots and something else (I forget) was also a nice blend with a not too overbearing amount of ginger.
I tried a bit of the yaki-udon which my friend had. The udon noodles were very good. The firmness was just right being not too chewy. I didn’t eat too much but from what I did, the taste seemed a bit mild.
Rating: 3/5
Overall Impression and Final Thoughts
The menu actually had some things that I would have loved to try, like the chicken katsu curry on rice. With a healthy choice of items (albeit not too extensive) it does deserve some credit for providing “different” things than other Japanese restaurants run by non-Japanese people. You won’t find any sushi, tea or desserts at this place though. The portions were quite small and the Izakaya Ramen experience is not worth the $11.00. The Tokyo Ramen was priced at $11.50.
As another Japanese person told me, don’t go to this place expecting authentic Japanese food. The Canadian twist is evident in everything from its décor to its menu items. The owner apparantly changed his mind since I talked to him on the phone as he once boasted that he will hire only Japanese staff. All the waiters and food deliverers were non-Japanese men (my guess late 20s – early 30s).
It does have a selection of Japanese vodka (sho-chu) and does carry some items that I wouldn’t mind trying again so I wouldn’t mind going back for a second round. However the price is a little too expensive for the portion and at that rate, I’m not sure if Izakaya will last very long.
Overall rating: 3/5
