DineOut - Day Two (Happy Bday, B)

Another DineOut dinner tonight. This time at Zakkushi. In my opinion, prix fixe meals work better as a 3+ course meal, and Japanese food has always seemed like a big one-course deal, so I was a little hesitant. Here is their menu.
I was concerned if there would be enough food, or enough variety. Well, I needn’t have worried. The food was amazing, plentiful and beautifully presented. I should have brought my camera along instead of relying on my blackberry for all the foodie shots.
There were two choices for appies and three choices for entrees (one was vegetarian and summarily excluded from contention). With 4 people eating, we decided to do two of each and call it a day.

The Fisherman’s Favourite (Sashimi) was amazing, fresh and sweet, bite-sized pieces of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, toro, uni and even amaebi! I thought the serving portion of 10 pieces was very generous, and any fear I had about lack of food was gone. The Antipasto Trio was really different On one end was the Gomaae, which was flavoured with a mild peanut sauce and served with a generous sprinkling of sesame seeds. The beef tataki slices were thinly sliced and served with green onions and grated daikon alongside. The Kimpira was something new to me, but the crunchy lotus root gave the dish the texture it was lacking.

The entrées were so beautifully presented. The Charcoal Grill Intensity was a meat lovers delight. Part One consisted of four skewers of meat. There was the chicken meatball, a skewer each of chicken thigh and pork, and a skewer of garlic stubs wrapped with pork. Truly delicious and welcomed after the 10 slices of sashimi I had. Part Two of the entrée was the Beef Steak Don. Served in a little wooden bowl, the presentation was very pretty. At first glance, there didn’t seem like a lot of food inside, but once you start digging, there was plenty of rice and even more beef to go around.

The second choice was The Japanese Tradition with a distinctly seafood bent. We started with a Bouillabaisse, with loads of shellfish, salmon and cod, along with corn and potato. Not to be outdone by the Grill selection, this choice was accompanied by 6 generously sized nigiri sushi. And they didn’t try to trick you with Tamago or Haddock-based imitation crab. All 6 pieces were quality sushi, each with a little dollop of wasabi placed inside, not your run of the mill AYCE sloppiness.
Needless to say, we were stuffed by this point (and I had completely forgotten about taking photos, again), yet we still had dessert coming. We again had two to choose from, the matcha tiramisu, and the black sesame and yuzu ice cream. I was the lone brave one to test out the tiramisu, and was pleasantly surprised. There was just a very slight taste of green tea, almost like an aftertaste. The black sesame ice cream was similarly light in taste, in fact, it was light in appearance too and looked to be green tea ice cream. The yuzu scoop was very refreshing after the sweetness of both the tiramisu and the black sesame. There were actual citrus peel in it too, a very nice touch.
Overall the meal was amazing, lots of food, lots of variety, and presentation that really displayed the artistry of Japanese cuisine. For all of you who stick to the AYCEs, it’s time to give it a try. To those of you who love your Hapa and Guu, this is definitely worth checking out…you won’t be disappointed.
And one very odd thing…there bathrooms are very cool. I only have photos of the women’s washroom, and even then, I felt very weird heading into the bathroom with a camera. The size of it is tiny, reminiscent of a airplane bathroom, but the ceiling is richly textured, and the faucet is really unique.

The tap is on the wall, attached to a stone-like display. The water trickles out from a bamboo pipe (reminded me of the bamboo sake from Hapa). Heard the men’s bathroom was just as off the wall, but I will have to take my friend’s word for it…for now.
Note: only the location on Main is part of DineOut, their other locations on Denman and Fourth are not.