tokyo kitchen

hidden away next to the gigantic parking garage on yonge and charles, tokyo kitchen is a real gem. very tiny restaurant specializes in japanese cuisine, far more selection than your regular sushi joint. there are about 10-12 tables, most seats are arranged for party of two.



we started with takoyaki ($5.95), a small piece of cooked octopus wrapped in sweet and savoury batter. i just love seeing sprinkled katsuobushi (shavings of dried bonito) curl as it is served. the octopus is chewy but small and the batter is not too floury, goes well with their sweet sauce.



croquette curry ($10.95) is served with miso soup, salad, rice, two old nokia phone sized potato croquettes with brown curry with beef chunks. the curry is very mild. i am a fan of japanese curry for its mild and rich flavour. indian and thai curries are spicy and often has hint of coconut in them, but japanese curry is rather soft, more like a thick stew with hint of curry. i wished they had bit more chunks of beef in the curry though. the croquette was crispy but not too greasy, which is always a plus when it comes to deep fried food.



katsudon ($9.95) also came with a salad and miso soup. by the way, miso soup had very nice, clean taste. one of the better tasting miso soup in the city. the katsudon was delicious. it is served in a bowl with flavoured rice on the bottom. both rice and the pork cutlet are moist and well soaked in the sweet soya sauce. i found the cutlets a little salty but it is well balanced when consumed with rice. i've had few katsudons from other places (here and here) and this came close second (i still really like the katsudon at konnichiwa).



we also had a bottle of sapporo ($4.95) each. sapporo is one of my favourite beeers. crisp and smooth. for a girl, i'm bit of a beer-nut. better watch out for the beer belly though.. :-S

 i could not figure out where the washroom was in this tiny place though. after reading some reviews online, i found out that the restaurant is actually located outside of the restaurant which requires you to bring a key.  tokyo kitchen served genuine japanese dishes, owned by japanese folks. i can see this place becoming one of my favourite restaurants in the city. just have to remember to go to the washroom before i come here.

Tokyo Kitchen
20 Charles Street East
Toronto
416.515.0387

posted by rin