Golden Maki Japanese Restaurant

Golden Maki Japanese Restaurant is located at 1100 Davis Drive in Newmarket, about 50km n. of Toronto. It's a 20 min. or so walk from the Newmarket GO station, so is transit-accessible. We went for weekend lunch. Disposable chopsticks are used unfortunately, but we bring our own as always. Pop is $2 canned, not AYCD but at least there is Coke Zero. Ginger is dyed pink. Soy at table is all green-lid low sodium and was not salty, fresh, slightly sweet and excellent. Golden Maki has a nice modern interior but there was an annoying radio station which was played too too loud, and had too many commercials (really, any commercials should not be present as they ruin the ambiance.)

Miso soup was very good, savoury, not dilute and well-balanced. Hot and sour soup was very good and not burned, which it is prone to when kept warm. Mishy loved the seaweed salad. Cold tofu was quite good with shredded wakame.

Onion beef roll excellent and perfect flavour combo. Beef teriyaki was superb with very good fit of smoky beef and a delicious sauce. Chicken teriyaki very good with that sauce, though Mishy did dig out that “rubbery” adjective I still don't understand. Gyoza were very good with a nice tangy sauce. Spring rolls were quite good and fresh, and not oily. Cheese wontons were very good with plenty of cheese. Chicken nuggets were fantastic, with seasoning reminiscent of Pfeffernusse. Spicy salmon rolls we both loved, with a very good spicy sauce. Deep fried scallops were good with a dollop of very mayo sauce.

White tuna nigiri was very good and fresh. Salmon nigiri was excellent and the rice flavourful. Surf clam nigiri was also excellent and very fresh. Red snapper tilapia was similarly good. Spicy Salmon nigiri in wakame was very good.

Mishy did not like the pumpkin tempura saying that it was flavorless, but I disagree, as it was light and flaky so the flavor was more subtle. Chicken katsu was delicious, nicely breaded and had a very nice sauce. Vegetable teriyaki was very good with the teriyaki complementing the vegetables well. Chicken curry & rice was good with the curry being more subtle than overpowering.

For dessert, there are only mango, green tea vanilla and red bean ice creams. They were good though not exemplary all and seemed a little bit freezer burned.. There is also a sundae option to have them with syrup. Weekend lunch is $23.99. Given the slight shortcomings and the area this is a few dollars in excess but no more than half a point. We certainly had an enjoyable lunch.

Rating: 8/10