JaBistro

Cheering up on a rainy day. We were greeted by a happy server who took us to our seats. The place was a long narrow stretch. Weekday and the tables were pretty full during dinner time. We all ended up starting off with a vigin green tea mojito. It was interesting with matcha syrup, lime, mint and soda. It was a pretty simple drink, there was a twist of having green tea matcha in it but definitely not worth $7, way over price for it.

This was a tapa place so we decided to start off with a few dishes first. The first one was the yukke – angus tartare with japonaise sauce. It was served with 5 pieces of bread crackers The proportion was off, they should have served it with a few more crackers to eat with. The tartare was good, the beef was fresh. I think it was worth the $11.

The next one we got was the sashimi sampler. It was a small platter, between the 3 of us, we each got about 3 pieces each. For $30, that was an expensive dish. The sashimi we got was fresh and good. They also served homemade soy sauce.

Next was the popular blow-torched aburi. This one we nearly waited an hour before we got it. They said the sushi chef was swamped so there is a long delay. The sushi was blow-torched so there is a sweet burnt flavour on top of it. This dish was awesome. The fish is melted onto the ball of rice. It was so tender and the rice was soft and sweet. It was my favourite for the night. The dish was for $27, so it is nearly $4 a piece and was it worth an hour wait??

After the 3 dishes, we were still hungry so we ordered 2 more fillers. One was the ika – calamari with tosazu vinegar. The calamari was big pieces and it was hot from the fryer. Not bad.

Finally, we got the tori nanban – battered chicken with tartar. It was just fried battered chicken, nothing really special.

We were full by then so no room dessert. But we did each get a piece of truffle from them when our bill came. Overall, the atmosphere was good, even though the place is small, but you don’t fill cramped. The food was fresh but it was alright, the price as I have mentioned is pretty expensive so not good for the wallet.

JaBistro
222 Richmond Street W
Toronto, ON M5V 1W4