Maki Zushi

We were last here a dozen years ago (wow!) so high time for an updated review... Maki Zushi is still located at 15 Ringwood Drive in Stouffville, which is about 15 km north of Toronto's east borough of Scarborough. It’s $30 for weekend lunch, but we were too late for that so opted for the $43 dinner. Reusable chopsticks are used thankfully, as well as iPad menus. Ginger is not dyed pink. AYCD pop is $2.95. Soy at table was fresh, savoury and not salty. The interior remains modern, brighter and more open decor. There were plenty of patrons even for the expensive dinner.

We both adored the excellent miso soup, with a strong flavour not diluted at all, very savoury and full of umami, and slightly darker. Green salad had Thousand Islands dressing although at least it was fresh. Hot and sour soup was much different than most places has; was thinner and had deep fried tofu cubes, white and enoki mushrooms, but it was a nice variation and it was delicious. Chicken teriyaki was delicious, and not rubbery, according to me at least. Beef teriyaki was very good although not the best cut, but the sauce was delicious, and Mishy said the cut was amazing so I defer to her... the teriyaki sauce made it. Chicken curry was green Thai style and was excellent.

Bacon-wrapped asparagus was very good of course... Bacon! Beef rolls with enoki mushrooms were better than I expected; I’m usually not much of a fan. Beef short ribs were excellent and well-cooked and seasoned. But the beef/steak sashimi was the best of them and I could have eaten it the whole meal it was so tasty... Beef tataki was absolutely wonderful and I thought it was among the best. Pork shiu mai was served without sauce but this was okay as it didn't really need it... was quite good.

Philly roll and spicy salmon roll were both excellent and Mishy noted that they did not fall apart as other places’ do. Salmon sashimi was fantastic, very fresh, thickly cut and delicious. Surf clam sashimi was probably the best surf clam I've had, as it was the freshest and had the best colouration, bright and not faded. Ika sashimi which is either squid or cuttlefish was surprisingly good and I loved it. Tomago egg and red snapper (probably tilapia) were also very good. Salmon pressed sushi aka oishizushi had a hint of torching and we both loved it as the flavours blended together very well. The torched sushi set was fantastic and torching really brought out the flavour. Mishy wasn’t big on the salmon tartare which includes tempura-fried blue corn nachos, but I didn’t mind it.

For dessert, strawberry yogurt and mango pudding was excellent. Mango ice cream was good and not freezer burnt, though the flavor was not intense. Green tea ice cream was good, but strawberry ice cream was excellent with a very good flavour. Crème brûlée was quite good. We both loved the tiramisu. We all loved the dinner, memorably so. It was a bit more than the average for the area but still worth it.

Rating: 9.5 - 10 / 10 - 0.5 value adjustment = 9 - 9.5 / 10

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Original review follows:

Maki "Zushi" is located at 15 Ringwood Drive, at the eastern end of Stouffville on Main St. at the location of a former Burger King. It's easy to find, in contrast to its previous incarnation: Fujiyama, which was hidden by the GO tracks and thus closed. I'd eaten there and found it to be amazingly good, so when I returned with friends I was very sad that it was gone, and understandably ecstatic when I found that Maki had been opened by the same owners as Fujiyama.

I wasn't disappointed. I've seen a lot of negative reviews of Maki around the web, and, honestly, I think the reviewers were there when it had just opened and the bugs were being worked out. The tempura wasn't greasy, the service wasn't slow, and they weren't out of anything on the menu.

Instead, I was treated to one of the best Japanese AYCE meals I've ever had. Everything was just about perfect, from the savoury miso soup, to the fresh sashimi with a hint of lemon, to the light and flaky tempura. The atmosphere was a bit noisy, yet, because the place was packed! Word obviously got around that Maki is a great place to eat, and, unexpectedly so for a small town like Stouffville, better than almost all of its equivalents in nearby Toronto.

Some other highlights include:

- Delicious bacon-wrapped asparagus. Never had this before, and I love both of them, even more so together I found. I ended up eating three portions.

- Cheese dumplings. Watch out... very hot inside! Poke them with a chopstick and let them cool off for a minute or two. But the sever burning the roof of my mouth received didn't stop me from ordering seconds, so they must be good.

- Avocado rolls. Absolutely the  best I've had of these and we couldn't get enough of them.

- Beef teriyaki. Deliciously savoury and perfectly cooked.

The service was excellent, fast and (important for AYCE) accurate. Everything we ordered ended up arriving as requested. Given that the place was packed, this was beyond expectations.

Price is $20.99 for dinner, which for the quality is excellent. I have no reservations giving Maki 10/10, and I'll definitely be returning.

Sapporo Sushi (Japanese)

Sapporo is still located at 96 Main St. E. in downtown Hamilton, the city about 100km SW of Toronto. We walked from the not-too-far West Harbour GO train station so it’s transit-accessible. Has it really been 12 years since we've last been here? Appears that way, so it's time for a revisit and new review! AYCD pop $2 though only Pepsi, but I still enjoyed as it was not diluted. iPad menus are used. Ginger is not dyed pink. Soy at table was very fresh, flavourful and savoury, and not salty. Disposable chopsticks are used unfortunately, so we brought our own as always. We went for weekend lunch.

Mishy loved the seaweed salad saying it was nicely chilled and tasted really fresh, and was not overly acidic as it often is. Green salad was very fresh, but plain with Thousand islands dressing. We both loved the miso soup even though it had enoki mushrooms in there, very savoury while not overpowering. My initial hot and sour soup was missed so I asked about it an a hour later and finally got it; it was very good, though not sour but had a rich beefy flavour and not too much heat. Worth the wait!

Mishy described the sirloin steak teriyaki as cooked to perfection, and I agree it was excellent. The chicken teriyaki was fantastic with a very good sauce, and smoky. Beef short rib was excellent, cooked very well and in a very good sauce. Chicken skewers were excellent, moist, flavourful, tender and also with an excellent sauce, not dried at all. Sadly, we were not overly impressed with the teppan sirloin steak with garlic, as it did not have a lot of flavour and Mishy said it tasted like liver. Not sure about that, but the flavour definitely wasn't what I expected and was very bland.

Chicken fried rice was absolutely delicious especially with a touch of soy sauce, as it had green onions and corn and very nice seasoning. Deep fried breaded shrimp were delicious especially with the included sauce. Vegetable and shrimp tempura were both excellent; the shrimp was very light and flaky and the sauce was delicious and added to both nicely. We both enjoyed the teppanyaki dumplings.

Surf clam nigiri was very good, very fresh and went very well with the soy and my brought-in wasabi. Happily they have Mishy's favourite, which is salmon rose, on the lunch menu, and it was fantastic and we both loved it. Tomago nigiri was certainly good and very fresh, as was salmon and crab (probably surimi) nigiri.

For dessert, Mishy said the sweet buns were okay although they did not have any filling and she is used to it. We both loved the banana tempura. Sesame balls were quite good. Mishy raved about the ice creams saying they were all excellent with strong and very good flavours. Strawberry was certainly like that. Mango had a wonderful and unique flavour like orange. Chocolate was intense and full of lovely bitter chocolate notes and richness. Vanilla is French vanilla which I prefer, and was very good, as was the rich and flavourful green tea. I wish they were all like this everywhere, and no trace of freezer burn on any. Whoever the ice cream supplier is is just about the best. It’s $28.99 for weekend lunch. This along with the AYCD pop price is pretty much standard for the time and place. With a couple of minor exceptions we certainly enjoyed our lunch.

Rating: 8.5 / 10 + 0 value adjustment (standard pricing) = 8.5 / 10

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Our original review is below:

Sapporo is located in Hamilton at 96 Main Street (e of John Street S). The interior isn't bad though a bit dark, and the writeups I've seen on it, seem to peg  it as the best Japanese AYCE in Hamilton, or close to it, but my experience wasn't exactly that.

We almost didn't go there at all.  

We had initially stopped off at Spring Sushi, in a suburban area of Hamilton, but the $16.99 price for lunch sent us looking for alternatives. 

Sapporo was the one I found, but that $3 difference says something to me I don't hear often, having had good luck with AYCE: You get what you pay for.My first impression while waiting for the meal was not a good one, as the green tea was weak. This is the least  expensive component of the meal so there's little reason to skimp on it. I'm used to the usually weaker Japanese style of tea but in this case it was little more than hot water.Salad was crisp, but the dressing was (like the last place I reviewed) too close to Thousand Islands... this is another mystery to me as I can knock off a passable Japanese-style dressing at home with little more than wasabi paste, vegetable oil, rice vinegar and soy sauce. Miso soup was missing savour and had a vegetable floating around in it that standard miso soup doesn't... I only had one bowl which is totally unlike me. My next bowl of soup was wonton, but I though I'd misordered at first as it was too much like udon, practically indistinguishably.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, the good stuff: chicken teriyaki was tasty and the sauce was good. Although ordering the beef roll with green onions was accidental, I didn't mind it and it was flavourful; not completely to my taste but some quite enjoy it. Sapporo has numerous special rolls for different occasions/themes, and I tried the Red Dragon Roll, which is a large rice roll topped with salmon and well-placed shrimp... I liked it a lot, so I would recommend to try the other special rolls as they seemed equally appetizing. The salmon sushi was acceptably good.

However, my favorite part of the meal was when it was over... not to say I didn't like it, but the ice cream was fantastic. I had the mango, and it must have been just-received and was the tastiest I've ever had.

So, although there were a few letdowns, there were still other things at Sapporo that made up for them, so all in all it wasn't a bad experience. However I'm focusing on my own cooking now (as can be seen where I am able to see the flaws in commercial cuisine my having made the same) so I'll probably be taking a break from AYCE reviews for a little while.

Rating: 7 – 7.5 / 10

Mandarin - Markham (Chinese/Canadian)

Mandarin, this location at least of the chain, is found at 7660 Woodbine Ave. in Markham, south of 14th Ave. There is a YRT bus stop nearby so it is transit-accessible, and isn't too far of a walk from Steeles Ave. We went for weekend lunch. AYCD pop is available for $2.50.

Mishy you love the teppanyaki chicken said it was very flavourful and not rubbery, I agree it was excellent and very enjoyable. Sausage was excellent fresh and juicy. New Year's special har gow shrimp dim sum dumplings were delicious and I did not need any sauce. Grilled pineapple was also delicious. Mishy couldn't get enough of the grilled steak it said it was like her childhood memories of barbecue; it's a bit tough and sometimes gristly, but well-cooked enough that it is very enjoyable nonetheless and have w wonderful smoky flavour. Pork soup dumplings were delicious, another New Year special. Shrimp and spinach dumplings were excellent, and were another very good New Year special, as were Szechuan dumplings which were very good. Bacon was oily but fresh and delicious. Treasure bags, another interesting New year special, we're delicious and full of savour.

Lobster shrimp bisque was excellent (and yet another New year's special); it was preferable to the bisque from Imperial buffet, which was the last time I had this, with more savour. General Tao chicken was delicious and fresh, with very good seasoning. Roast beef is another thing that most other places don't put on the lunch menu, but here it was, and was excellent, moist and flavourful. Teriyaki meatballs are delicious and I love the seasoning. Deep fried chicken wings were excellent as were very fresh and not oily. Black pepper beef was also very good as was very fresh, this Mandarin is very busy so the turnover of the food is high which keeps it that way.

Mishy loved the broccoli salad with red currants, saying it was “amazing”; she gave me some and I also liked it. I loved the century egg salad, although I think I only had the tofu included with it, but the sauce was delicious. It's another New Year special. Mishy even complimented the beets, saying they had the perfect amount of vinegar and seasoning. Mixed bean salad was very good fresh and well seasoned. Potato salad was good and had another flavour in it which was possibly relish (Southern-style.) Chick pea salad was excellent and very well-seasoned. Shrimp salad had a nice buttery flavour and mint.

Spicy salmon sashimi was too persistently piquant and I made the unfortunate mistake of having it first, and it killed my taste buds for a while. Thankfully after they recovered the salmon and red tuna sashimi were excellent, both very fresh and good, and went very well with my wasabi. The soy sauce included was not salty and quite flavourful, comparable to a reasonable Japanese AYCE.

For dessert, Mishy loved the bread pudding so much but she had seconds, and noted that no one else except her was eating it. Yuzu ice cream, another New Year's special, was delicious as it is a citrus fruit that combines the flavours of other citrus fruits. Raspberry cake square was wonderful with real raspberry fruit on the top. Strawberry shortcake was excellent, not overly sweet with plenty of flavour. Cherry cheesecake was excellent, very fresh, and delicious. Fried banana dumpling, another New Year special was very good especially the spicing.  Weekend lunch was $32.99 which is a bit over average, but more than made up for by the quality of the food. This was one of the better Mandarins we’ve been to and had an excellent lunch.

Rating: 9.5 – 10 / 10 - 0.5 value adjustment = 9 – 9.5 / 10