Ichiban Asian All You Can Eat is located at 4261 Hwy. 7 in Markham/Unionville near Main St. (extension of Kennedy Road), which borders Toronto's east end to the north. It's transit accessible on the blue York line as well as close to Warden, on which the TTC bus runs all the way up to Highway 7. It's probably the Ichiban Asian All You Can Eat from Steeles which closed several years ago; did not realize it had moved here but Mishy just found it recently. We went for weekend lunch. The dinner menu is available on lunch if desired. It was a noisy place with a dark interior, very full with plenty of customers although we got a table immediately without a reservation. Soy at table was excellent; wine-like, very fresh with slight sweetness and delicious. Reusable chopsticks are used thankfully. Pop is AYCD canned (wow... another one) and there is apparently Coke Zero, so I can sort of forgive that it's $3.95, but unfortunately then they go and bring Diet Coke and say they're out of Coke Zero, and worse I find an open Coke Zero case with quite a few cans in a staff-only area. Ginger is not dyed pink. There is a soup, salad and dessert (including ice cream) station as well so this does not have to be ordered off the menu.
Hot and sour soup wasn't bad but had an off colour, and Mishy thought it was pumpkin-based. Mishy didn’t like the poppyseed dressing because she said it was more vinegary than sweet, but I didn’t try it so no opinion here. Ham, mushroom and imitation shark fin soup was very good and full of flavour, and I'm glad it was imitation. Miso soup had an interesting flavour that seemed a little more “pasty” than miso usually is, if that can be a proper descriptor, but it wasn't bad as long as it is consumed while warm. It also has gnocchi mushrooms which may or may not be welcome. Mishy said that the cheese wontons were not as full of cheese as some places, but they were very well-cooked. I like them and had no complaints. Chicken skewers aka yakitori were quite good, as the chicken was moist and flavourful and not dried out like most places. Chicken teriyaki was delicious, also moist and flavourful with a very good sauce.
Yam and shrimp tempura were excellent with a very good sauce and were light and flaky. We both loved the beef short ribs as although slightly salty they were delicious, savoury and well-cooked and among the better I have had. Chicken curry was fantastic in Thai style and I really enjoyed it. Korean spicy beef with pancake was sort of a soft taco where you put the filling in and it was quite tasty; even Mishy liked it. Pork dim sum something that looks puckered was quite good, whatever it is.
Salmon avocado cheese roll, which I guess passes for Philadelphia roll, was quite good especially with the wasabi we bring and the excellent soy sauce here. Salmon nigiri was good and fresh and the rice did not fall apart, as were butterfish aka escolar. Red snapper aka tilapia nigiri was slightly off and had a bit of an aroma but it was not severe. Tofu sushi pockets were delicious. Surf clam nigiri was fresh and good.
For dessert, Ichiban has a shaved ice machine with several toppings such as mango and strawberry syrup. Unfortunately, the amount is set and may be somewhat large for some people. Mango ice cream was delicious, fresh and not freezer-burned. Green tea ice cream is excellent and better than most places with a very nice flavour that was strong and delicious, and also not freezer burn. Mango pudding was delicious, as was mango yogurt and mango smoothie with jelly... the latter was fantastic. Soybean cheese mousse another original was delicious and very enjoyable. Italian coffee pudding was fantastic and unexpectedly not overly sweet but had a very rich coffee flavour. Little cake squares were coffee and cream cake we think, as they were unlabelled, but they were fantastic and we both loved them. Grapefruit yogurt pudding was another fantastic flavour combination that I loved. Mishy love the chocolate ice cream so much she had four scoops of it. Weekend lunch is $29.99. This is about standard these days, and forgiving the Diet/Zero Coke kerfuffle we had an excellent lunch of mostly above average offerings and very few shortcomings.
Rating: 9 / 10
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