Riki Sushi (Japanese)

Riki Sushi is located at 833 Bloor St. W., midway between Christie St. and Ossington Ave., and I’m surprised given its central location that we took so longer to discover it. It’s a “hole in the wall” sized place with a brighter white and light wood interior, with some traditional Japanese artwork on the walls, and actual Japanese music which is always welcome. Ordering is old-school onto paper template menus.  Unfortunately disposable chopsticks are used, but we brought our own as always. Soy at table was very flavourful and fresh, without being salty. Ginger is dyed pink. Pop is canned $2 not AYCD, but at least they have Coke Zero.

The salad had a bright sweet orange zest dressing that was very reminiscent of Kyoto house in Whitby. Seaweed salad Mishy described as sweet, even though it usually isn't, but she still liked it. Miso soup was quite good and savoury, but unfortunately a little dilute.

Salmon nigiri was very good and fresh, as was tomago/egg which was also delicious, and tofu skin was quite good as well. Butterfish aka escolar and red snapper aka tilapia were both good and fresh, as was crab nigiri which was probably surimi as well. Vegetarian Philadelphia roll minus the salmon was actually pretty good and I really didn't miss the salmon. Spicy salmon sushi was good and although had a little heat was not overly hot.

Spring rolls were good and not too oily but the sauce left something to be desired. Gyoza were quite good and not oily (and were the only beef dish on the lunch menu) and may have also had the same sauce, but it worked better with them. Mishy loved the chicken teriyaki, saying that its sauce was amazing, with a bit of wine flavour, and also that it was not rubbery which is uncommon for her. Broccoli shrimp and tempura or quite good with the included sauce and not too oily and flavourful. Deep fried scallops, probably surimi, were quite good with the included sauce and not oily. Chicken karage was delicious, not oily, and the sauce worked well with it. It didn’t work with the cold tofu which had little in it but some unwanted heat.

For dessert, Mishy loved the coconut ice cream (also my favourite!) saying it was just about perfect, creamy and without a trace of freezer burn. Mango ice cream was very good also without freezer burn, and had a nice flavour. Green tea also had a nice flavour and was fresh. Vanilla was sort of French style, and also fresh. Weekend lunch was $25.99. This is quite reasonable and $4-5 less than the average these days, which of course is factored into the rating; there were only a couple of shortcomings and lunch was otherwise quite good and enjoyable.

Rating: 8.5 / 10