Ye's Sushi Japanese Restaurant

Ye's Sushi
103 King St. West
Kitchener, Ontario N2G 1A9

A friend told us that there was a new all-you-can-eat sushi place in downtown Kitchener, so we decided to check it out. We didn't go with high expectations, after all, what quality should you expect from an all-you-can-eat place? It turned out to be a decent restaurant; a great place to go with a bunch of friends (especially if they are thrilled by the "all you can eat" idea).

Dinner is $19.99 per person. Other than the limitation on expensive sashimi (2 pieces of tuna and scallops per person), you can order literally anything commonly seen in a Japanese restaurant. Selection ranges from appetizers, sushi to desserts. Pops are also included in the $19.99 flat fee, additional cost will apply if you order other drinks such as orange juice. They also offer lunch for $12.99 with a slightly smaller selection. By the way, make sure you only order what you can finish. You'll get charged (punished?) if anything is left, e.g. $1 for each piece of sushi left on the plate. The ordering process is quite straight-forward - you write down the item number and quantity (e.g. "65 x 1" for 1 serving of item #65), the waitress will gather the lists and deliver items once they are made.

We started with edamame (Japanese beans), sea scallop tempura, age-dashi-dofu (deep-fried tofu), house salad, smoked salmon rice pizza (deep-fried rice cake topped with smoked salmon and spicy mayonnaise). As for sashimi, we ordered tuna and scallops. Some items are ok, some are pretty good even compared with regular Japanese restaurants. The quality of sashimi is ok but it is NOT reasonable to demand top-notch grade of sashimi from an all-you-can-eat place. Regardless, the sashimi was fresh. If the sashimi we had represents the Ye's restaurant's "norm" then they have already surpassed many Japanese restaurants in town.

Then the crazy sushi sampling began. I couldn't recall all the items we had but I'll try my best:

• Spicy salmon crispy maki, spicy salmon sushi: we first ordered spicy salmon sushi. the salmon was fresh and the spicy mayonnaise did have a kick in it. With the good impression, we ordered spicy salmon crispy maki afterwards. The crispy bits are interesting, I can't quite figure out what they are, maybe from chopped deep-fried chinese dough fritters?
  
• Mango and cucumber hand roll/maki: It is uncommon to have mango in sushi. I think it tasted alright, thought one friend complained that the mango wasn't ripe enough.
  
• Red snapper sushi: probably the most disappointing item throughout the whole meal
  
• White tuna sushi: second most disappointing item
  
• BBQ eel sushi: It was on the dry, plain side; probably prepared from a frozen BBQ eel package.
  
• Salmon roe sushi (Ikura): Whenever I have sushi, I like to order salmon roe (if available). It tasted about right. And I am glad that they didn't put a limit on this item.
  
• Flying fish roe sushi: a friend ordered it. No complaint afterward so probably ok.
  
• Black dragon roll: it consists of avocado, BBQ eel, shrimp tempura, etc. The shrimp tempura was a bit soggy but it was still quite tasty.
  
• Maple roll: flying fish eggs, squid in a roll. Not as impressive as the Black dragon roll.
  
• Spider roll: avocado, soft-shell crab, the usual ingredients for a spider roll. About as tasty as the Black dragon roll.
  

To wrap up the dinner, we had mango, green tea and red bean ice cream. The green tea ice cream was no match with what we had in Uji (the city in Japan, famous of its green tea) but just as good as the ones we'll get charged $2-3 per serving in a North American Japanese restaurant. Not a bad way to end a meal especially since it's already included in the flat fee.

Overall, I'll say the food is better than some Japanese restaurants in town, maybe equivalent, say, the California Roll & Crazy Sushi on Bloor St. in Toronto. If you attempt to "maximize" your money worth of value by ordering lots of sushi (the type w/ a piece of fish on top of rice), you might have to swallow lots of "not-so-good" sushi. However, if you know what you might be getting (the limitation of their budget on materials) and order "appropriate" items, it can be quite enjoyable. After all, we did enjoy the spider roll and dragon roll a lot. We will definitely revisit this restaurant, with friends.

Uptown Waterloo Cheap Lunch Roundup (II)

A few new spots have opened since my last posting in February, mostly due to the Waterloo Town Square reconstruction. Hopefully a few more places will come along when the KPMG building opens, including a new LCBO (although not exactly a lunch spot per se).

Gourmet Pizza (Waterloo Town Square)

A decent pizza place, similar to Fratello. Eat in, take out. Just putting the word gourmet in the name and installing a faux brick oven (actually gas fired) doesn't make it gourmet though. Some toppings that may not be on the average pizza joint's item list but nothing terribly exotic. Slices are a decent deal for lunch, but full pizzas are much more expensive than Fratello - even after the buy one get one for $5 deal)

All About Crepes (Waterloo Town Square)

Wow. At least the waitress was friendly. Terrible value - $7-$10 for a tiny crepe. Lunch and dinner offerings were the same - crepes filled with spaghetti sauce, canned tuna, mushrooms, or plain spinach and cheese (note those aren't exactly the menu descriptions, but what I felt was served). That plus a half-hearted attempt at plating (a huge glop of sour cream topped with a single blueberry and dill) does not make for a very filling meal. Dessert crepes were a more reasonable $4-$5 but we weren't going to throw good money after bad. The place was completely full but I suspect it will thin out considerably unless the menu or the prices change.

Thai Sun (Waterloo Town Square)

Now open! See the full review.

Uptown Cafe (Marsland Centre)

A cafe that replaced the uninspired coffee shop in the basement of the Marsland Centre. A surprisingly good option for lunch - fantastic value especially for those working in the building. Daily specials include hot sandwiches and wraps with a side of pasta, chips or veggies for less than $5. The sandwiches often contain real meat - not just your normal deli slices. Burgers and hotdogs for $3 and $2 respectively. Service is very slow during the lunch rush so be warned.

Kristoria

Kristoria (Closed)
104 Surrey St. East
Guelph, Ontario

We visited Kristoria (French Fine Dining) quite a few months ago but were never inspired enough about it to write up the review. Not that it wasn't any good - it was - but just that it lacked anything that stood out, good or bad. So after procrastinating over this like that Masters thesis that never gets finished because there's no real deadline except for that nagging feeling hanging over your head for months, here it is.

Located in the heart of downtown Guelph, this restaurant occupies a tiny renovated old house. The walls are painted a deep, trendy red that matches the iterminably slow website, offset by dark woods and crispy white linens. The place was quite small and held 10 tables, tops. The place wasn't full but we did manage to overhear most conversations without too much difficulty.
I vaguely remembered reading that a tasting menu was available, so after perusing the a la carte menu and not finding anything that jumped out at us, we ventured to ask for a tasting. After the dishes started coming out, we started to realize that this wasn't of those tasting menus that the chef makes up on the spot daily, but it was just items off the menu that the chef chose for us. Oh. Well, not a terrible thing since we ended up getting more courses then we would have normally for a cheaper price, but someowhat disappointing since it lacked the creativity I always hope for from a tasting menu.

Overall the food was very good in a very traditional french preparation and the presentation. There was no pretense of 'fusion' or trying to venture into the new frontiers of fine dining. The style was classic french cuisine, as suggested by the restaurant's subtitle. Service was friendly and the wait staff seemed very genuine, if a little bit unpolished. Understandable seeing as the place had only been open for a few months.

Note this was awhile ago so I present to you our tasting menu without much comment. Also, much of the menu has been changed (as with any decent place).

First course - Thrice braised pressed pork belly with honey, star anise, and a korean pear salad.
Can't be disappointed with braised pork belly, unless they try somehow to make it healthy or something, which they didn't.

Second course - Lobster bisque with truffle foam (tiny little serving but still delicious) and lobster profiteroles and vanilla aioli (not the best combination, plus the lobster was overpowered by the rest of the dish).

Main course - Organic roasted guniea fowl with star anise and fig sauce. Side of carrots and asparagus wrapped in proscuitto. Great winter dish - rich, warm and hearty.

Cheese course - Chevre goat cheese with capers, berries and truffle oil. G doesn't like goat cheese so they happily brought out an alternative which was a nice touch.

Dessert - Tahatian vanilla bean creme brulee - classic, very rich vanilla flavour but overly sweet.

Finally, the bill came with two small scoops of chocolate sorbet. After the huge meal we were too stuffed to appreciate it, plus it was a little too sweet for a sorbet. Including a glass of wine, the total with tax and tip came to $140. A bargain for the amount of great food we ate. We'd probably return more often if it wasn't so far away from Waterloo.

Sole Restaurant and Wine Bar

Sole
83 Erb St. West
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6C2

If you want to go to a restaurant which provides relatively good food yet with casual atmosphere, try Sole. In the tri-city area there are several restaurants which fit in those criteria, but try Sole if you haven't.

Sole has been around for a while; the first time I visited this restaurant was back in year 2000. Some menu items come and go (e.g. Espresso-crusted rack of lamb) but nothing drastic. In "the early days", when I tried to convince friends to go to Sole instead of East Side Mario's, my reasoning was that we could get much better food by spending just a little bit more. I am not sure if I can still say it today; it is about $10-15 for an appetizer, $6 for soup, around $10 for single serving of pizza, $15-20 for pasta and $20-45 for main dishes.

The best deal you can get, other than free bread and olive oil dip, is probably their pizza. It’s around $10 for an 8” pizza. You can also get a custom-made one by selecting your own toppings. Occasionally we’ll see pizza dough flying and spinning in the air, which leads me to believe that their pizza is freshly made. My favorite is Sole Pizza – wild mushrooms, prosciutto, parmesan, mozzarella, garlic and oregano.

Some of the appetizers are quite divine. The calamari is nicely fried and seasoned, surrounded by abundant greens. Any greasiness from the deep-fry cooking is washed away by the fruity aioli. With a glass of white or a blonde beer, great for a lazy summer afternoon. I always remember the first time I had the tomato and cheese salad at Sole. Sliced tomatoes and mozzarella were placed alternately on the plate with few basil leaves, drizzled w/ extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was so simple, yet so delicious. Funny I never ordered it again; maybe just not sure if I will still feel the same way.

During our recent visit to Sole, I had "Cam-tini" to start, Lobster bisque blue crab dumplings brandy cream and the feature pasta – linguini pasta oregano cream sauce with sautéed tuna, baby clams, olives, arugula and tomatoes. J had spinach salad with walnuts, cantaloupe and goat cheese as appetizer and osso bucco (in truffle infused mushroom consomme, gnocchi).
The “Cam-tini” contains Campari, Skyy vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice and splash of lemon juice. In my dictionary, Campari martini should be ONLY fully-chilled Campari and vodka served with ice in a frosted glass (martini or collins), maybe just a wee bit of club soda (or sparking water) for the fizz. But I must say Sole’s version is nice too.

I wasn’t loving the bisque I ordered; it was on the watery side. Also, the crab dumpling was cold. The pasta was on the salty side but nice. We are so used to tuna raw to medium-rare; we found it quite interesting that the stir-fried tuna can taste very meaty (its texture is almost like beef). By the way, if you can’t make up your mind on what to order at Sole, it’s always a safe bet to order pasta or pizza. I only sampled the candied walnuts from J’s salad; I still can’t take goat cheese. The meat in osso bucco was tender and the consommé had very distinct truffle flavor (even there was no sight of shaved truffle). We would probably enjoy it more in the winter time.

As a dessert fanatic, I have tried many desserts at Sole – tartufo, cheesecake in various flavors, tira misu and crème brulee. It is always nice to have a cappuccino and dessert to wrap up the meal. I stop ordering crème brulee after they burned my crème brulee…twice; the sugar in the center was black-brown (the color is quite far from “caramel”). It still tastes good but some people might not enjoy it.

Overall, food at Sole is good. It’s been around for several years and we rarely run into mediocre dishes. The service might be slow at times but they are at least friendly. It is probably the consistent quality (in food and service) which keeps us going back.

Hannah's Bella Bistro

Hannah's Bella Bistro (Closed)
4 King St. North
Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1W7

We went to the old Hannah's long time ago. All I remember is that the scallops were done properly – a thin caramelized crust outside and juicy tender inside. But for some reason the experience wasn't good enough to keep us going back. With their new location and new menu, we decide to give it a try.

For appetizers, J had Brazilian beer shrimp and I ordered Calamari caliente. The tiger shrimp was swimming in clear beer broth. The flavor of the shrimp and the broth was subtle yet tasty. Alas! The watercress was overpowering. It would have been nice if there was only one small sprig of watercress. (But it wouldn't look good on the plate, would it?) The calamari was coated w/ cornmeal, dusted w/ chipotle grounds and served with caper aioli (garlic mayo). The cornmeal provided nice crunchy texture and the chipotle is distinct but not the "punch-in-the-face" type of spiciness. My only complaint is that the calamari "stripped off" too much; the cornmeal coating and the meat tended to separate especially when dipped in caper aioli. Also, it would have been nicer if they could absorb more oil when the calamari came out of the fryer. Excess oil makes deep-fried food tastes stale and deep-fried items need not to be greasy. Overall, the flavoring was well-balanced.

The portions of the main dishes we ordered were generous. I had Madagascar lamb curry, pulled lamb with vegetables and banana basmati. J had Ahi tuna with black sesame crust, raspberry ginger sauce and banana basmati. We were both impressed by the aroma of the banana basmati. Man! We thought we were having desserts; the fruity and almost floral scent was so intense it was like eating candies (but without the sugary sweetness). The lamb curry was so rich and hearty, it was my favorite of the night. I can almost see myself revisiting Hannah's and having the lamb curry w/ banana basmati w/ a big, satisfied smile on my face. The piece of tuna J had was HUGE, w/ its price tag, it was such a bargain! (Eventually J hit a tough spot so the actual "edible" area wasn't as big as we thought. Still, it was well worth the price) J asked to have his tuna rare to medium rare and the chef got it right! The cross-section of the tuna showed a thin, black circle (the sesame crust), a 5mm-thick beige circle and pink to dark-red center. The salt brought out the sweetness of the meat, it was delicious. Again, there was one thing we didn't like: the sesame crust was really overpowering. After our trip to Japan, I thought there was no such a thing as "too much sesame". But now I know there is. After we used the fork to remove part of the sesame crust, the dish was outstanding. Btw, we were served w/ delicious black sesame bread roasted pepper aioli. Somehow I suspect the "secret ingredient" of the day was sesame.

Overall, the service is relatively friendly, the food is much better than we expected (hopefully it is not just because we "got lucky", able to sample the best items on the menu). If we continue to have good experience in Hannah's, this will become our usual hangout.

Long vacation

It has been a LONG~ time since the blog was last updated.
So…where have I been? Starting back in March, I was planning our trip to Asia. The research on places to visit (and you bet, restaurants to dine for) occupied most of my after work hours. The results? We got to see the stunning cherry blossom, with the beautiful historical buildings in Kyoto as its backdrop. (Not to mention all the good food we sampled along the way)
I have to admit that it took me much longer than I expected to resume the restaurant review. But here I am with a good appetite and a curious heart. I am ready to go on the culinary journey again.