Shoushin (Toronto) Revisited in 2022

Shoushin has really matured since my last visit - granted this last visit was in 2017, a time frame approaching five years. We had plans to go back in 2019, but we all know why that didn’t happen. It’s a restaurant that is more sure of itself: there’s only two menus to choose from with the omakase at $300 or a more personalized experience, the obsession perfection, priced at $450+ depending on the selection. Their staff are more knowledgeable - about the restaurant, alcohol selection, and the ingredients used – and operates with a synchronized precision that would make Henry Ford happy.

Right after the menus are whisked away, a hot hand towel arrives, followed by cold drinks, and an amuse bouche - a bite of spinach boiled in kelp broth and topped with dried rich tuna flakes. For the winter, the kelp broth seemed to be a cornerstone of their appetizers, a comforting staple like chicken soup.

This is followed by another warming dish, a piece of smoked king fish sitting in a puréed daikon broth. The accompanying cutlery was difficult to use. Although pretty to look at, the wooden spoon combined with a shallow dish made reaching the broth difficult (unless you pick up the vessel and drink from it). From what I manage to get into the spoon, the savoury silky soup went well with the lightly scented meaty fish. The fish was described as quickly deep fried, but there wasn’t a crunchy element, which if they could have managed a bit of crispiness would have made the dish even more interesting.

Sashimi arrives next, served over three dishes to ensure we enjoyed each one as intended:

  • To begin, pieces of aged lean tuna and big reef squid. The tuna was extremely tender… not an ounce of sinew and such a mellow light “sweet” bite. The fish’s texture contrasted by the gummy squid that has a slightly chewy sticky consistency that reminded me of having tendon.  
  • I couldn’t really taste the “marination in kelp” that was used to describe the following tile fish. Frankly, maybe I could have done without the marination if that’s what made it fibrous, not really a blow-your-mind type of bite that needed to be showcased solo.
  • Unlike the firefly squid, which is so special and rarely found on Toronto menus. We’re told that these little creatures are currently in season as they migrate to shallow waters in Toyama Bay and are caught at night when they glow (hence their name). At Shoushin, they are cleaned and blanched with ginger to preserve their natural flavours, a slightly sweet essence and a different experience from the traditional calamari or cuttlefish. Sometimes served alongside drinking in an izakaya in Japan, they certainly have an elevated place on Shoushin’s menu.

My favourite dish of the night was the fatty tuna simmered in plum broth. The rich savouriness of the fish balanced nicely with the slightly sweet tartness of the fruit, sort of like having pork chops with apple sauce. It’s fragrant, flavourful, and warming, something I could have had an entire steak of surely.

And before the sushi, a cup of miso soup made with red and aged miso, which was so light on the salt that I wouldn’t be surprised was not seasoned at all. Nonetheless, it’s surprisingly flavourful with an umami acidic property to it. The finely chopped shallots were an interesting choice, maybe for the slightly crunchy texture, but a bit overpowering given the under seasoned soup.

Not surprisingly, the ingredients showcased in their nigri sushi is seasonal. During this visit, I learnt that in the winter we can expect more fish, while in warmer months is when shellfish are also featured into the menu. With that in mind, we’re started off with the stripe jack, the light fish really helping to highlight the lovely, vinegared rice used at Shoushin. I like that the grains are cooked less so you can feel their smooth texture against the tongue.   

Needlefish and yellowtail marinated in soy followed, both lighter yet different as the ‘meatiness’ of the fish all varied with the needlefish being the heaviest of the bunch.

The obligatory bluefin tuna trio ranging from the lean akami to the fatty otoro was featured next. I’m still marveled by how tender I find the lean tuna, only to then taste the fattiness of the otoro and have your mind warp for a second. Oh, if only bluefin tuna wasn’t endangered.  

Mackerel arrives next – not the aji variety – this one stronger (something I could definitely taste with the slight fishiness) and pickled to help combat the more pungent fish.

While this may sound off putting to some, the trigger fish served with its own liver is genius. It’s such an interesting bite that’s unlike the rest, a creamy juiciness that’s so surprising for what looks like a piece of mild white fish. Of course, trigger fish is not a candy, but if it were it’d be like a Fruit Gusher.  

Only to be followed by the even juicer ikura – so maybe scratch my last comment, this would be the Fruit Gusher of the fish world – that was so lovely and refreshing.

And to wrap up the nigiri, a piece of uni that is one of the best I’ve ever tasted. It’s SO sweet and silky that it could even pass as custard, we’re told that Shoushin uses sea urchin that doesn’t contain preservatives – really all restaurants should go organic if that’s how it will taste.

Their chopped fatty tuna handroll incorporates white leek versus the traditional green onion. It’s a nice change as the leek is mellower and when it’s mixed into the pulverized tuna the hand roll has such a delicate creamy centre.

Lastly, Shoushin’s tamago that’s made with egg and shrimp paste. Truth be told, the taste doesn’t change that much, but the intoxicating aroma is so wonderful. Just hold it to your nose and take a whiff before you enjoy.

For dessert, we opted for both offerings, the crème brûlée incorporated a bit of squash that gave it a lovely earthy finish. It’s way more interesting than the icy matcha with red bean. Although, the ice cream is ideal for those who don’t like sweet desserts or diabetics as syrup arrives on the side so you can customize its sweetness.

This attention to detail is what I notice most about Shoushin’s growth: like how the chef angles the nigiri differently depending on if you’re left or right-handed; or the servers whisking away our tea at regular intervals and replacing it with a steaming hot cup.

What hasn’t changed is their comfortable hospitality - the sushi chefs welcoming conversation, despite busily preparing dinner. They are the first to speak to us, putting me at ease to start asking more about what we’re eating… something they probably regretted later. I love seeing this growth and progression and can’t wait to see what Chef Lin has in store for us next. Hopefully, I don’t have to wait another five years.

Overall mark - 9 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 3328 Yonge Street


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Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


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Good Taste Casserole House (Toronto)


In the deep of winter, cravings for clay pot / casserole rice bubbles up from the depths of my stomach and beckons. The 20-minute anticipation while waiting for the made-to-order dish to arrive, the waft of sweet greasy steam that hits the nose, and the faint crackling sizzle that gives a greeting, it's like a winter sport for me.  

The expansion of Good Taste Casserole House out of Markham and into Scarborough has made it easier for me to tuck into the comforting dish. And their expanding menu keeps the hunger growls at bay while the 20-minutes elapse. Their BBQ pork rice noodle roll ($4.70) was a great 'appetizer' to share, soft and silky with large slices of pork- even though it wasn't the most evenly spread out across the roll.


I'm perplexed how some restaurants continue to keep prices low with soaring input costs. Good Taste offers their preserved meat and chicken with rice for $11.99, which is only a dollar more than 5 years prior. They haven't skimped on ingredients - if anything there's more protein topping the rice - and it still comes with a side of boiled yu-choy and a pot of soup where the hunk of pork, fruit, and white fungus remains.  


The execution continues to satisfy: the rice a balanced moisture so that it's fluffy but still dry enough so a golden crunchy crust develops on the bottom. While I'm normally not a huge fan of the greasiness of preserved meat, it's the perfect topping in this dish and keeps the rice from getting soggy. In fact, it actually tasted better than the chicken, which was over marinated causing the texture to be too 'springy' (or song in Cantonese) for my taste.

During our lunch time visit, I was surprised by how many Uber drivers were picking up packages to go. Takeout can't do the dishes justice - the rice noodle rolls become sticky and the crunchy crust of the clay pot rice hardens. If you're trying it for the first time, you need to have it in-person. After all, it's the anticipation and the things that hit the senses that makes casserole rice so special.

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 325 Bamburgh Circle


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Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


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Lee’s Dumpling House (Toronto) for delivery

Note: Prices in post are based on regular menu prices and may be higher when using delivery services

I had to do a double take as my husband and I walked by Lee's Dumpling House on Old Orchard Grove, "OMG! There's a dumpling place in the neighbourhood, how did we miss it?" Was I going out of my mind and somehow in all the times we have been doing our walks, had ignored this little establishment? Turns out, Lee's is a new addition, taking over Kibo Sushi's old location, so we haven't been missing out. Phew!

The doughy wrapper on the pan-fried mini pork soup filled dumplings ($9.95 for 7 pieces) are a little thick, but it makes for a hearty bite and there is actually broth captured within each one. Perhaps what I most appreciated, was the time these spent in the pan as we could actually see and taste the golden crust stamped on the bottom of each xiaolongbao. 


An equally beautiful yellow hue could be founded on the chicken potstickers ($9.95 for 6 pieces), the wrapper on these thinner so the gingery filling could shine through. We added an extra $1 to have them finished in a chili sesame sauce, which gives it a different nutty quality. 


Lee's steamed pork and cabbage dumpling ($8.95 for 8 pieces) are pricy compared to the traditional Scarborough dumpling houses I frequent like New Northern Dumplings. Still, the flavours were on point, the filling well seasoned so each bite was salty enough even without the soy or chili dipping sauce that comes with the order. 


We'd skip the pork wonton soup ($8.95 for 12 pieces), which was a lot of soggy wrapper and not much else. Considering all the other dishes were so flavourful, the seaweed broth that arrives with the soup  seemed so tepid and forgettable. Who needs soup when you already have soup filled dumplings?


While Lee's green onion pancake ($5.95) did get soggy by the time it was delivered, this reheated quite nicely in the toaster oven the following day and makes for great leftovers. The pancake was expertly made with its many layers and incorporated a tasty ratio of salt, onion, and dough. 


Welcome to the neighbhourhood Lee's Dumpling House. There will be many more tasty meals to come. Maybe an in-person visit is in order, once the pesky lockdown finally goes away. 

Overall mark - 7 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 399 Old Orchard Grove
 Delivery: Uber, Doordash, Skip the Dishes
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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never order again
  • 6 - decent for delivery and takeout, but there's better
  • 7 - this is good, for delivery and takeout
  • 8 - great for delivery and takeout, it's almost like you're in a restaurant
  • 9 -  wow, it's like I'm eating at a restaurant
  • 10 - I'd happily order this for delivery or takeout instead of dining in any day!


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Rollian Sushi (Toronto) for delivery

Note: Prices in post are based on regular menu prices and may be higher when using delivery services

When you head to Rollian Sushi, stick with menu items that are in their name - maki rolls - as the chicken karaage ($10) was probably the worst rendition I’ve ever tasted: there was absolutely no seasoning (the chicken not marinated and the batter tasteless); and it was so soft that it tasted more like a chicken beignet that karaage. It wasn’t until a second reheating in the toaster oven that enough of the oil escaped to create the crispiness you’d expect from the dish.

Their aburi maguro ($7 for two pieces) were literally pieces of tuna blowtorched for a few seconds - there’s no kewpie mayonnaise or much of a garnish. To be fair, my husband noted he preferred the tuna plain, but the dry papery texture of the fish was a turnoff for me. To make matters worse, we had also ordered the aburi salmon, but what arrived were three plain salmon sushi. While I appreciate Rollian trying to make up for it by giving us an extra piece, it’s not the same. Moreover, since their aburi sushi is simply blowtorching fish and then sprinkling on Old Bay seasoning and scallions, how difficult would it have been to just do the same with the salmon?

The meal improved once we tucked into the maki. Their kalbi roll ($12) is an interesting idea and incorporates a lovely combination of flavours – finally something that has seasoning! The chewy grilled short ribs aren’t necessarily the easiest thing to bite through without causing the rice, avocado, cucumber and masago to fall apart. These are best enjoyed in one massive stuff-in-your-face bite.

Given the deep-fried shrimp in the dynamite roll ($11.50) was slightly warm, it leads me to believe these are made fresh. It’s traditionally prepared, combined with California roll ingredients (avocado, cucumber, imitation crab, and masago). This would have been even better without all the tempura bits mixed with the fish roe on top, which made it too mushy and took away from the shrimp’s flavours.

In retrospect, we should have skipped the dynamite roll as the spicy trio ($27) already includes a “spicy” dynamite roll that didn’t have a lick of heat. The spicy salmon and tuna also lacked chili flavour, and the filling was the pulverized fish with lots of tempura bits combination that I detest. Furthermore, the bowl of miso soup that comes with the spicy trio set was also missing.

The bright side of the meal was their rice was fresh and flattened to a nice thinness. Plus, everything looks beautiful with pops of colours and uniformly cut ingredients. Alas, if only there was the taste to match the pretty presentation. I’ll be rolling on from Rollian Sushi.  

Overall mark - 5 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 2584 Yonge Street
 Delivery: Doordash and Skip the Dishes
Referral Discount Codes
 Support the blog by using my referral code
 SkipTheDishes: click link to get $5 off a $15 order
 DoorDash: click link to get $20 off

Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never order again
  • 6 - decent for delivery and takeout, but there's better
  • 7 - this is good, for delivery and takeout
  • 8 - great for delivery and takeout, it's almost like you're in a restaurant
  • 9 -  wow, it's like I'm eating at a restaurant
  • 10 - I'd happily order this for delivery or takeout instead of dining in any day!


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Enigma (Toronto)

Enigma’s 8-course tasting menu is priced smartly: at $230, it’s not an eat-here-every-week affair, yet it isn’t so costly as to become seemingly prohibitive unless phrases like my yacht also escapes your lips (Sushi Masaki Saito, this is directed to you). It’s a place to visit if you are celebrating an occasion or to really unwind, which is where I found myself a couple of days before Christmas. Another year of work was in the rearview mirror and the holidays were about to begin – why not get it started with a bang?

I wanted to give my brain a rest… no more decisions, just feed my body with provisions and provide a few hours of blissful conversation to melt away the stress. It seemed to start in that vein as a warm shot of Enigma’s immune booster was presented at the table. Yet, before we could cheers to good health, a host of decisions had to be made: did we want a juice ($75), cocktail ($130) or wine pairing to go with the meal? Did the occasion need some extra indulgence because we could get a spoon of sturgeon caviar ($80) added into the lobster chawanmushi or have an extra alba truffle dish? Please… just let the table have the lovely warm ginger citrus shot before inundating us with pesky decisions.

Luckily, once the pairing and supplementary questions were out of the way, we didn’t need to decide on anything else, other than what steak knife to use – more on that later. Instead, we were treated to two delicious snacks: a wonderful corn tartlet made from an impossibly thin crispy shell holding a buttery sweet corn espuma studded with popped kernels and other crunchy nutty bits that made me moan; and a chicken skin sandwich piped with a lovely miso-butter mousse. Yum!

What looks like a salad comes next, baked leaves of black cabbage, kale and spinach piled around squash and a smoked foie gras centre. Each bite is rich and oily… much too oily for my taste.

The lovely beetroot tuna cannoli were more up my alley, the sheets of ruby beetroot sandwiching chunks of tuna in a horseradish cream. Or the following kombu poached potato where chunks of soft humble potato were augmented with creamy uni and lovely crispy potato frizzles that made me want to lick the dish.

Of course, the chunks of delicately barely poached through lobster are delicious, but that silky egg of the chawanmushi was the star, each bite filled with so much flavour that made me wonder if this was going to be the peak of the meal.

This was paired with a crispy lobster kromeski, a crispy croquette that was tasty, but nothing compared to the egg, and a seaweed salad that could really benefit from being cut into more manageable bites.

In a gimmicky manner, a box of knives is brought to the table, and we’re asked to select one for the meat courses to come. It’s a strange interlude, perhaps meant to create excitement or a sense of participation. While it wasn’t a distraction I minded, it also didn’t really add much to the meal either and is likely annoying for the two staff members who needs to occupy themselves with the task.

Quite frankly, the following BBQ Iberico pork was so melt-in-your-mouth that I could have cut the coin of loin with a butter knife. It was a sing from the heavens type of dish that makes me appreciate the prized Iberico pig. The white peach salad, XO sauce, and dollops of apple gelee all did an excellent job at complimenting the pork.

Executive Chef Quinton Bennett comes out for the last savoury dish and explains that he uses PEI beef as he loves that the cows are finished with potatoes to give the meat an extra richness. The steak didn’t disappoint, and the accompanying king oyster mushrooms were fantastic dusted with bone marrow and the pickled onion petals such a lovely contrast against the meaty plate. Now that’s a way to finish.

Dessert begins with a plate of fallen leaves made from various juices. It’s a beautiful start, our spoons brimming with crispy textures and sweet flavours that made me wistful that the meal was nearing the end.

A trio of petit four are presented with a lovely wafer cake, citrus gelee, and a really large indulgent chocolate truffle.

All this is to warm us up for the fruit tree, which Chef Quinton cheekily tells us to get our cameras ready to “Instagram the hell out of the dish”. It’s certainly the most photographed dish of the menu, the gleaming red apples just calling out to the picked and eaten. 

Like the first bite of the meal, you’re greeted with a fluffy heavenly cream that’s wrapped around a slightly savoury dill laced salad centre that really works. A fantastic last bite that takes Enigma FOUR days to prepare. Boy did I feel guilty for not taking a few more photos.

To end, tables are given a goody bag for breakfast. My only complaint, and the reason why Enigma did not score a 9 out of 10, is that these takeaway bags are made per couple. If you’re dining with friends (like in our case) and do not live with your dining companion, it makes for an awkward end to the meal.

Enigma, if you’re going to give something away, just make it so that each person gets something to go. Or keep it simple and have everyone leave with just the menu. Either way, the meal was great, why have someone leave on a strange note?

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 23 St. Thomas Street


Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


Is That It? I Want More!

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