Sakura Garden (Japanese)

Sakura Garden is located at 1921 Avenue Road, between Lawrence and Wilson. We went for weekend lunch. Sakura Garden has an austere bright modern interior. Reusable chopsticks are used, thankfully. Soy was slightly salty but very flavorful. Soft drinks are $1.50, non-AYCD.






Mishy loved the seaweed salad saying it was among the best she had ever had with perfect spicing. Green salad was very good with house orange wasabi dressing, very fresh and the dressing was very tasty. Unfortunately the miso soup we both noted was quite dilute, otherwise it would have been good as had enough savour.

We were pleasantly surprised that Sakura Garden has small amounts of sashimi (three pieces per person per order) allowed on lunch! Salmon sashimi was quite good and fresh. Salmon nigiri sushi was very fresh and good. Philadelphia roll was excellent with smoked salmon and plenty of cream cheese.

Spring rolls were excellent, the sauce is very good and they were cut up into smaller pieces, crisp and fresh not at all soggy. Chicken yakitori skewers were fantastically good, and Mishy could not stop going on about them. Chicken teriyaki with similarly excellent, the chicken was very fresh and we both noted that. It was also very well cooked. Chicken satay skewer was also excellent, the spicing was very good and both of us loved it. Agedashi tofu was also excellent, the sauce is very good and complemented it well, and it was perfectly cooked, not overdone or underdone. Shrimp tempura was excellent, light and flaky with the same tempura sauce as the agedashi tofu. Chicken nuggets were good although the sauce was pretty much undisguised ketchup.

For dessert, Mishy loved the chocolate ice cream saying it was excellent. Unfortunately found the green tea ice cream was stale and freezer-burned. Vanilla ice cream was fresher and good. Red bean ice cream was good, and had a touch of that really nice floral flavour that I love. Weekend lunch was $18. Other than the minor issues with the green tea ice cream and miso soup, we had an excellent lunch, which Mishy indicated months later was memorable in almost every details. Sakura was a very good value and and we would happily return.

Rating: 9/10