Update 2019-Nov-29 - Unfortunately I called Tenon as we were planning on returning, and they don't have an AYCE menu any more.
Mishy has gone back to being a vegetarian, and I don't mind joining her as long as tasty fare is available. One bonus to this is that she tends to do more of the cooking when she's "vegging out" and she's actually quite good at it. But still we get our AYCE cravings...
Thus, this find couldn't have been more perfect: Tenon Vegetarian Cuisine is that rarest of offerings, vegetarian AYCE Japanese sushi. It has one unfortunate drawback for us in that it is located just south of Highway 7 on Kennedy Road in Markham, thus a little out of range.
I loved the atmosphere of Tenon; it's darker
with well-lit private enclosures which we were lucky enough to obtain. A
large traditional teapot was left at the table which Mishy loves.
As befits an establishment that is good to the Earth, chopsticks are
the "real" non-disposables.
For starters, the miso
soup was quite good even without the dashi tuna... they've somehow
compensated for the lack of savour and I liked it. Mishy wasn't too big
on the wonton soup but I loved it... it's flavoured with cilantro which
appears in a few dishes we enjoyed at Tenon. We both loved the green
salad as of course a vegetarian outfit is going to excel in it, and
did... the dressing was very good and the salad very cool and fresh. The
"chicken" salad was mostly bean sprouts with shredded vegetables and
small pieces of tofu "chicken"; the tangy sauce completely made it so we
both enjoyed it very much as well.
"Yummy crispy" is
indeed yummy, and dish seemingly unique to Tenon consisting of crispy
deep-fried wonton topped with diced avocado and cucumber; we both
enjoyed it; reminded me of bruschetta. Veggie "fish" consisted of a
basket of deep-fried sangkan or equivalent. Mishy didn't care for it. It
didn't resemble fish much, but I didn't let that bother me and finished
it handily although it was a little odd. Deep fried wontons were
delicious and served with an excellent dipping sauce... did they have
real cheese at the bottom? Taro tempura is much like yam without the
sweet and was good with its dipping sauce as well.
Finally,
the actual sushi. Futo maki was delicious with large rolls. Sweet yam
roll was excellent, and the only actual "fish" sushi we had was the
spicy "salmon" roll. This was awesome considering there was no actual
salmon in it, as good as the real thing. I saw pictures of Tenon nigri
elsewhere but couldn't see any on the lunch menu; no matter.
Dessert
consisted of ice cream; there are the usual flavours of green tea,
mango, red bean and vanilla, plus fried banana. I didn't get a chance to
try the fried banana as well as a few other menu items I wanted to as
we were in a hurry, which was unfortunate as Tenon is difficult to get
to for us so I don't know when I will be back... but I would very much
like to return, possibly more so than any other AYCE. Not only is veg.
fare good for the health of the Earth as well as us, but even though we
had eaten a lot of it we felt refreshed and energetic afterwards, rather
than sleepy; I didn't miss meat at all. I commend Tenon for doing
something different, and doing it well. The lunch AYCE is a good price
considering the specialization of the offering at $13.99.