omakase with friends

This post is overdue by many many months, but a lot of things happened that made me delay writing about... mainly in that I wanted to blog about the convention that my friends and I went to, but then none of us really enjoyed the con so it kind of deflated any enthusiasm I had.

But one good thing we did was go out for an omakase dinner at one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in Toronto – Ginko Japanese Restaurant! It was all of our first omakase experience and it was really wonderful.

We booked the tatami room and I had asked if we were allowed to come in cosplay – since we were at a con – and they said it'd be fine! But they're used to Anime North so I imagine they get a lot of cosplayers.

Our omakase menu was already printed and waiting for us after we removed our shoes and entered the tatami room. It was a really nice touch! Our server asked if we wanted any drinks and we picked this sparkling sake. She was like, “this is a great sake for a group of young girls,” which was a nice compliment lol. Sorry, but we're just old(ish) nerds. The main image above is a glass of our sake, and the one below is the bottle, though!

Anyway, we started with hassun 八寸 – a collection of food served in small dishes. It's like an individual appetizer platter.

Front L-R:

Back L-R:

One of my friends is picky so she pre-ordered her meal from the regular menu and her appetizer, gyoza, also came at the same time.

The buta kakuni is a braised pork belly.

The nasu dengaku! This time with the cover off, haha. This is a classic Japanese eggplant dish. It's grilled with miso, with a little sliver of foie gras on top. I loved the execution of this – nasu dengaku is something I make at home a lot when eggplants are in season with my own miso, but it's definitely not this elegant.

I don't have close-up shots of the other dishes (or if I do, I didn't like them enough, lol), so here are some brief notes on the other items:

The mini chawanmushi is a steamed egg dish. This version had some uni on top, and inside were a few mushrooms (if I'm remembering correctly). I always love small steamed egg dishes, but I know not everyone does. It's very Asian, and I don't seem to see it in western cuisine, so I think that's probably why?

Hamachi shiokoji yaki was a grilled yellowtail marinated in shiokoji. Actually, shiokoji is pretty trendy in the food scene right now, but this was the first time I'd actually had something marinated in shiokoji. My recollection of this was that it was pretty good but definitely not the standout item for hassun.

That actually goes to the corn tempura! I loved the sweet (and in-season) corn kernels embedded in the light batter. And it was wonderfully non-oily. I actually want to make this myself this year, when my corn is ready to harvest.

The hotate nuta ae was a scallop with miso, and I always like scallops. This was super dainty and elegant, and one scallop was just the right amount.

Finally we have rapini with kimisu, which is an egg yolk and vinegar dressing. Kimisu is actually pretty similar to mayo or hollandaise, but I loved the rich yellow colour. I was actually thinking of making this at home as well, but I'm not sure what I'd serve it with...

Anyway, moving on, the next course was wanmono 椀物, or the soup course. We had an asari miso soup, which was really nice! It was surprisingly rich. I rarely cook clams because the boyfriend doesn't like them, but I do love them in a soup like this.

My friend on the alternate menu had a salad here. She said it was tasty!

For yakimono 焼物, we had lamb yuzumiso yaki. The grilled lamb chops topped with yuzumiso was so good!! I loved this so much that I immediately looked up recipes for yuzumiso haha. My friends also thought it was amazing. I would love to recreate this dish at home but rarely cook lamb. But I have it on the list haha.

We also had a sushi course – shokuji 食事 (which actually is just “meal” and not sushi-specific haha). I'll be honest, I don't remember exactly what everything is, but I'll give it my best guess.

L-R:

Our server afterwards asked us what our favourite was, and universally we liked the hirame(?) best. I wish I remembered the exact fish because it was so good! Our server was surprised because apparently most people say they like the ootoro best because it's so fatty haha. But I think we all liked the hirame because it was so refreshing and the texture was really different.

While we were eating our lamb and sushi, my friend had the pork katsu and she said it was amazing – crispy and not oily!

Finally we wound down the meal with dessert – amami 甘味. My non-omakase friend got the sakuramochi. Our server said you can eat the oak leaf if you want or not, and it's just up to your preference. I think my friend ate it haha.

For the omakase dessert, we had a glass of fruit kanten with a scoop of ice cream. I got matcha ice cream! The kanten in the light syrup and fresh berries was a really refreshing dessert for summer.

There was also the option of black sesame ice cream.

So while the con was a bit of a bust, we managed to have an amazing time at a fancy restaurant. We made the best of it!

#food #photos