Kingyo Fisherman’s Market  – 51B Winchester St, Toronto, ON M4X 1A8
Country: Japan         
Must-try dish: Toro & Uni Hand Roll
Dinner guests: Baroness Hayabashi, Calabrian Chili, Pedro, Pornstar Sam & V-Baby
Seating: Indoor seating only.  
The high:The restaurant is attached to a small but mighty Japanese grocery store. 
The low: It’s not the best menu for a group sharing dishes. 

This off-the-beaten-track Japanese restaurant meets grocery store in Cabbagetown is a little adventure from the instant you step inside. It has that magic wardrobe effect that once you step through the doors, you’re in a totally new land. 

We brought along some Japanese experts to help us shop in the store for products from the motherland, and assist us in deciphering the menu to order the most authentic plates. Despite making it work, we quickly realized that the majority of the dishes aren’t the best for a family-style meal. That being said, we came, we ate, we conquered. 

The drinks list is filled with Japanese classics like Calpis, a Japanese soda referred to as Calpico in North America, traditional green teas, cold Kagua Blancs which are a popular beer not often found outside of Japan, and of course, a sake selection that’ll make you drool. Once everyone picked their poisons in the libation department, the focus quickly turned towards food. The fish and seafood is flown in daily from Tokyo, so that felt like a good place to start. 

These were our picks to feed a hungry table of seven in the most authentic and shareable way possible: 

Starters: 

• Chicken Karaage: Whether you’re a fried chicken fan or not, this Japanese fried chicken is one of the best things on the menu. The chicken is moist and flavourful inside its armor of crispy batter. 
• Rapini Sesame Gomaae: Let’s be honest, it’s rare for us to indulge in green vegetables during our dinners, so when we do, it’s kind of a big deal. Gomaae is a side dish usually made with spinach, but in this case, rapini is the base. It’s cooked to retain its crunchiness in a sesame sauce and topped with sesame seeds. The bitter taste is balanced with the sesame flavouring. 
• Jumbo Ebi Mayo: These gigantic shrimp are coated in a mayonnaise and chili batter then deep-fried, similar to a tempura in many other restaurants. You get many flavour profiles at once from sweet, to sour, to spicy.  
• Sake Kasu Miso Soup: We used the comforting soup as a palate cleanser between the starters and the mains, plus the salty broth made all of us happy. 

Mains: 

• 7 Kind Sashimi Assortment: This is a serious sashimi plate with seven kinds on display, and two pieces of each to indulge in. As previously mentioned, the fish is flown in daily from Tokyo, so it’s as fresh as the Japanese waters will allow for in Toronto. Although the variation may change, we had all seven that the menu promised: Maguro, Hamachi, Salmon, Scallop, Chutoro, Spot Prawn, and Sea Bream. 
• Kingyo Makunouchi Platter: This was an even more impressive display of fish and seafood. It changes daily, and ours was hard to decipher despite being delicious, but the name of the game is a beautiful platter of twelve variations of tasting dishes to share among friends. 
• Toro & Uni Hand Roll: This was a favourite for much of the table – these cones are hand rolled with seaweed then stuffed with rice, fish roe, fatty tuna pieces, and sea urchin. It’s fresh and hearty, and we all wanted more. 
• Pork Belly Kakuni Don: This is more of a meal with a rice base, tender pieces of braised pork belly, cod roe, and topped in a spicy mayonnaise sauce. It was a nice distraction from an otherwise “from the sea” focused meal. 
• Hamachi Kama: This was a special dish, and it’s actually a special dish in Japan, despite being an easy dish to cook. It’s an entire yellowtail collar with seasoning. The meat is tender, but trapped within a bunch of bones. Despite being a popular dish in Japan, it’s less known in North America. 
• Two -Kind Grilled Fish with Yuzu Miso: A duo of black cod with salmon cheek and belly that are marinated in soy and miso and lightly cooked for the fish to be flaky. These two fish types are some of the best and having them both on one plate was a treat. The marinade was fresh and flavourful. 

Desserts:

• Green Tea Ice Cream: This dessert is always a pleasure to eat after a salty meal because although there’s some sweetness, it’s otherwise earthy and bitter. 
• Parfait Pudding: This decadent number is built with vanilla ice cream, sponge cake, custard, and fruit. 
• Cheesecake: The flavour rotates – our lucky night was a red bean cheesecake. 

This is a fun place to check out, especially if Japanese food and culture interests you. There’s a lot of products in the shop that are otherwise hard to find in Toronto, and the menu has a number of dishes not usually present on Japanese menus in the city. Stepping into the restaurant takes you out of Toronto for a short period of time, so enjoy it. 

Eat with you soon, 

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)