koyoi || authentic japanese food, finally!!

2 Irwin Avenue, Toronto, ON
Koyoi


If you live in Toronto and you enjoy eating Japanese food, you would've probably been to many well-known places like Fin Izakaya, Guu or Don Don, which offers a tapas-style menu with no main courses. Well, I bet you are missing out on this one: it's time to add Koyoi on your list!

Even though it's not as well-known as the other restaurants, Koyoi isn't short of the authentic Japanese food. Perhaps, it offers even more varieties of chilled appetizers and seafood that are extremely hard to find in Toronto. Monk fish liver, the baby squids and yuzu-takowasa (Japanese octopus marinated with wasabi sauce and garnished with yuzu - a type of citrus fruit) are just one of the few items that became my new discovery of authentic Japanese food. If I walked in to an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet right now, I would not be satisfied with the food because nothing beats the freshness of the seafood served at Koyoi. Based on my previous experiences with all-you-can-eat buffets, the sashimis were never FRESH, and you know when the sashimi is 1) warm (disgusting!) and 2) when it makes you gag.  

if you ever go to Koyoi, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. =)


-Anna

interior of koyoi

ninja turtle - gin/blue curacao/orange juice

chilled appetizers

it looks slimy....but it was GOOD!

smoked salmon with cream cheese

monk fish liver

smoked salmon salad

must try: beef tataki

salmon onigiri

green tea cheesecake

spicy french fries with beef and curry

grilled pork jowl aka pork "cheek"

service || excellent. japanese people are always so attentive and courteous. the staff was very friendly indeed.

food || ninja turtle: my drink was nothing special, it's suppose to be a cocktail but i tasted no alcohol, instead, it tasted like grapefruit juice. quite disappointed because i wanted to drink the night away with that one drink (*sad). but apart from that, all the food i devoured was absolutely amazing, the ones worth mentioning was the monk fish liver - DELICIOUS, it was my first time eating monk fish liver and it tasted very creamy. i thought i was eating cream cheese for a moment because it didn't taste raw at all and it melted in my mouth. the yuzu-takowasa (octopus bits marinated with wasabi sauce) was chewy and the wasabi sauce gave it an extra kick that covered the rawness of the octopus, i love spicy food so i might be a bit bias here! grilled pork jowl: at first, i thought i was eating pork neck because the texture tasted just like it - a little bit rough but very chewy. the grounded ginger/sea salt sauce they provided gave the jowl more of a lemony flavoured. FYI: the jowl is the cheek part of a pig. baby squids (i forgot the real name of this dish, sorry!): i cringe when i eat something that is squirmy, i was so hesitant to even lick the squid but when i ate it, i was surprised how tasty it was! i don't know what kind of sauce they used, but it felt like i was eating some salty jellyfish. it's hard to describe!! smoke salmon salad: greens topped with smoke salmon, olives and avocado! it's like heaven placed on a plate, what can i say. beef tataki: raw beef that is slightly seared that is marinated in vineger and topped with white ginger paste and green onions. i generally don't eat beef because i get skin allergies but i had to try a piece because it smelled so good! i love putting tons of green onions in my mouth when i eat this because it kills the bacteria of the beef and also spices the overall flavor of the tataki. this dish is a must-try, the top on my list. thinking of it is making me drool right now. urghhhhhhhhhh

price || not-so-cheap. if you are the type that eats a lot at an all-you-can-eat buffet, well, then get ready to pay $40-50 per person. tapas-style restaurants offers varieties of food, prepared in different styles of cooking (i.e. grilled, fried, etc) but prepared in small portions. tapas-style dishes are meant to be shared! be prepared to open up your wallets if you want to have a good food experience! regardless, i highly recommend koyoi because you get what you pay for - fresh food that is totally worth it.

decor || modern japanese cuisine, the place was small (yet cozy). the restaurant could probably occupy around 7-8 tables. i loved how the shelves were decorated with japanese wine bottles and japanese paintings, it makes you feel like you are eating in an urban restaurant located in japan. there were no loud music playing in the restaurant so it gave an overall quiet, comfortable and peaceful environment.

what I ordered || drink: ninja turtle (LOL!), edamame, miso soup, yuzu-takawasa, smoked salmon salad, beef tataki, spicy french fries (with beef and curry), gyutan (beef tongue), grilled pork jowl, salmon onigiri, monk fish liver, baby squids, cream cheese covered with smoke salmon, dessert: green tea (rare) cheesecake and some type of shellfish (it was a chilled appetizer).

weird restaurant in taiwan || it's not ugly!

When I went to Taiwan half a year ago, my friend and I we dropped by this restaurant during our tour, it was named one of the top 10 ugliest structures in Taiwan. But how is it ugly!? I totally loved it! On the main floor of the restaurant, there is a huge pool of kois and when you're at the top level looking down, it looks like you're visiting a secret forest. The food wasn't bad, we ate yam rice, some vegetables and stir fried ground beef. The food wasn't outstanding, it was simple, everyday food my mom could cook but I'm assuming we were there to look at the beauty (at least to me) of the restaurant. Sort of reminds of the "Rainforest" cafes we have here in Toronto.

p.s. I lost my Taiwan itinerary, so I don't remember the restaurant's name!

marinated pork topped with parsley

pools of kois!

the dishes and bowls matches with the forest theme of the restaurant

yam rice

ain't it beautiful?!

fried mushrooms

taiwan || food heaven

Planning to go to Asia anytime soon? You should have Taiwan on your list!!! Taiwan is well-known for their street food, especially when it comes to: fried chicken, stinky tofu, oyster pancake, marinated eggs and a whole ton of spicy food. I literally ate everything I took a picture of. If you are looking to gain 5 pounds on your vacation, you won't be disappointed if you went to Taiwan.

It's 11:32pm right now and I'm drooling like crazy looking back at these pictures. Just wanted to share with you all the food that went into my stomach during my stay in beautiful Taiwan. Enjoy and hope you have a great day :)!

marinated tofu and on the very right, chicken butt, which i ate. YUMM!

marinated "steel" egg

while hot-potting: cheese in fishballs!? ORIGINAL!

boneless chicken, the chicken skin had no fat at all, best chicken ever.

Squid at "九份"

蚵仔煎 - oyster omelette, slimy and i didn't really like it

chestnut cake i ate at one of taiwan's National Palace Museum

out of 10 for spicyness, this dish was 12 out 10, HOT LIKE HELL

the almighty stinky tofu

this fruit is the brother of Durian, looks ugly but surprisingly tastes good!

sugar-coated strawberries 冰糖胡蘆

freshness to the max! On the very right: purple dragonfruit

my big ass fried chicken, oh heavens.

"ah yu" - Lemon juice with jelly

beautys luncheonette || montreal's famous deli

93, avenue du Mont-Royal Ouest (rue St-Urbain), Montreal, QC
Beautys


Around mid-December, I told my colleague that I will be spending my winter holiday in Montreal and he recommended this place called "Beautys" to me. He was raised there and he would go to Montreal once in awhile, I asked him, what is Beautys? Never heard of it. He told me: "It's the best breakfast place I have ever been to".

So I gave it a try. Here it is!

look at all its' recognition!

beauty's is always jam-packed!

the short order counter

beauty's mish mash

cheese & bacon melt

beauty's menu

service || very friendly, the waitress who served me interacted with all the customers and would always ask if we liked coffee in our cups (free of charge if you ordered a drink beforehand). I read somewhere on the Beautys' menu that it is a tradition the owner of the diner would personally greet every customer that comes into their store. It is true, the owner (who is now in his 80s) seated everyone who came in, he had a great sense of humour, I noticed that for every customer who was waiting in line, he told them (including me) that it would be a 5 minute wait. I waited for around 20 minutes and I gave him a dirty stare when he told his incoming customers that it was "a 5 minute wait" because obviously for me, it was way longer. Then he looked at me and said "never discourage a customer, right? And by 5 minutes, I meant 5 Jewish minutes". LOL. This man made my day and I could no longer be mad at him.

food || if you are use to eating high class food, this place is not the place for you. this is the kind-of food you can cook at home but since i'm not the best cooker, I can't make this kind of food. I decided to order the most basic dish on their menu because I had the mentality that if they can't perfect a thing like "cheese and bacon melt", then the rest of the stuff on the menu wouldn't be that great either. But boy, was I wrong, their cheese and bacon melt was DELICIOUS. They used a generous amount of butter spread to grill the bread and the cheese was melted perfectly, not too hard and not too soft. And not to mention, my sandwich was golden brown, how can you make a grilled sandwich without have any burnt sides? I guess I just suck at making grilled sandwiches! But anyways, I do admit, my mentality was wrong. My boyfriend said "that's like walking into a bar and calling a beer, and if you don't like the beer, you assume that all their cocktails don't taste great either, it doesn't make sense". Fine, you win this time (like all the other times lol!).

price || drinks start at $4+ (i think it's a bit expensive for the price of drinks) and my dish was around $5. i would say it's affordable.

decor || once you walk in, you will feel like you went back to the 1960s with the old, yet classic diner decors - the metal stools with cushions, the open diner counter and not to mention the classic two-people seatings. I personally thought that the diner was too small. I know they must make alot of money because this diner is well-known to tourists around North America (I noticed a few couples from New York and even one who travelled all the way from Japan to come here), so why don't they ever expand the place? Keeping the tradition is why. It has always been small and I assume the owner wants to keep it small. Not to mention, they always have customers coming in so the tiny diner's capacity could only take so much people and it would make the diner have line-ups most of the time. That's a good marketing strategy, people who pass by the diner would wonder "why does this place always have line-ups??" and BOOM! you get curious customers coming in and that means more sale. ok, sorry, I'm a little bit off topic. :) Long story short, if you like the 1960s diner decor and want to travel back in time, give this diner a look. 

what I ordered || cappuccino & cheese and bacon melt. Apparently, Beautys' is famous for their "mish-mash" (which by the way, they have a patent on this dish, lol) and also famous for their smoothies. I will go there again if I crave for diner food! :)

note || Beauty's has been operating since 1942! And if you want to buy your relatives a little souvenir, Beauty's also offers a range of souvenirs - the classic tomato canned soup, Beauty's maple syrup, postcards and much more, explore them for yourself!

Just recently, in 2011, Beauty's has been rated by Zagat (a well-known international restaurant guide with reviews and ratings) as one of the best breakfast place to go to in Montreal.