Matsutei Sukiyaki is located at 438 Dundas St. W. in downtown Toronto, between Spadina and University, so a short walk west of St. Patrick subway station. We opted for the $26.95 basic menu, $7 for small sukiyaki broth. Note that the difference in price between small and large broth is tremendous as the large one is $18.95. The small was fine for two people. As is usual for hot pots, reusable chopsticks are provided with the other utensils. We noted that the hot pot items were delivered first, rather than the cooked items, which meant that we were sitting idle waiting for the hot pot to warm up, but thankfully this was only a couple of minutes. I recommend to use the sukiyaki broth because then it can be refilled at your convenience with sukiyaki from the sauce station. $3.95 AYCD pop is available. Note that the sauce table is located midway and may not be visible from the front of the establishment.
Both variations of fried chicken were excellent... very well-seasoned and had a drizzle of white sauce on them which was excellent. We both adored the cheese dumplings/wontons, which were bursting with sweet cheese. Gyudon is like bibimbap with shaved beef on it, and was excellent although Mishy insisted on adding some sukiyaki sauce. Mishy loved the seaweed salad and said it was really good...for her this is a high compliment as usually she will only say it is average or “like every other place.”
All the varieties of beef were very good when going through the sukiyaki hot pot, especially with oyster or ponzu sauce. Mishy said unfortunately the sweet buns were a little bit stale. Japanese glass noodles, corn, napa cabbage and onion were excellent when run through the sukiyaki hot pot; they did not need at anything else added. Mishy did not like the beef balls at all and said it was probably liver, but I tasted it and it was the seasoning that she objected to. Fish fillet and crab/surimi if it was were both not bad although not as good as the beef offerings. Dried tofu was delicious. Mishy loved the sesame ball saying that they were very fresh.
For dessert, there was hanami dango and matcha soft serve ice cream which is as far as I know completely unique as far as Toronto AYCEs go. Hanami dango are tricolour skewered balls of glutinous rice, which was very good. Mishy didn't like the matcha soft serve because it didn't have very much if any sugar in it, but I loved it as you could actually taste the green tea clearly. $26.95 was less than usual for these days and the broth was reasonable. We had a very good lunch and I appreciate the authenticity of the desserts.
Rating: 9 / 10
