The Kitchen Herald: ICHIMOTO

Ichimoto is a really amazing All You Can Eat Japanese Restaurant in Richmond Hill, with an amazing selection of food. It is probably my favourite Japanese restaurant I've ever been to. I was impressed both by the dishes I have never tasted before, and the familiar Japanese dishes which Ichimoto perfected. Not a single dish tasted bad, but with that in mind, some dishes stood out compared to the others. The dishes in this post are organized under two categories: "good" and "fantastic".

GOOD

Miso Soup

Beef Sashimi

Assorted Sashimi: "Crab Meat" (not actually made of crab), tuna, and salmon

Spicy Salmon Hand Rolls

Spicy Tuna Hand Rolls

Shrimp in Mayonnaise Sauce

Grilled Salmon

Salmon Roe Maki and Spicy Salmon Maki

Dragon Rolls

Cucumber Rolls and Dynamite Rolls

Shrimp Tempura

Golden Shrimp (Shrimp Tempura wrapped in fried sweet potato strings)

Black Dragon Rolls and Green Dragon Rolls

Teriyaki Beef Cubes

Seaweed Salad

Deep Fried Tofu

Mango Rolls

Mango Tapioca Dessert

Red Bean Ice Cream and Green Tea Ice Cream

Deep Fried Bananas

FANTASTIC

Steamed Egg. Though the flavour was very simple, it had a very silky texture comparable to Filipino leche flans, or silken tofu.

Yam Tempura Hand Rolls. I usually don't order yam tempura from Japanese restaurants because I am often disappointed by the disgusting piles of greasy yam that I am served with, but I took a chance this time, and I was not disappointed. The texture of the tempura breading was crispy, and the flavour was sweet. The crispiness and sweetness were nicely contrasted by the saltiness and smoothness of the mayonnaise.

Deep Fried Mushrooms. These did not feel greasy at all; they were crispy and delicious.

Beef Sashimi Rolls and Avocado Rolls. The avocado rolls were good, but the beef sashimi rolls were amazing. What makes beef sashimi better than cooked beef is because beef is much more tender when it is barely cooked. Because the beef sashimi is marinated in a combination of onions, soy sauce, and vinegar, it has a very concentrated flavour, comparable to a Japanese version of Italian prosciutto.

Iced Tea. I guess iced tea isn't anything amazing or revolutionary, but I was very pleasantly surprised that it wasn't made from Nestea powders; it was very sweet and refreshing.

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken. I loved the way it was cooked; both sides of the chicken's skin were really crispy even though they weren't breaded. The chicken had a very sharp and salty teriyaki flavour which wasn't too overwhelming. It was delicious.

Mango Hand Rolls. I know that I placed a similar dish, mango rolls, under the "good" section. Though they are made with the same ingredients, I prefer the hand rolls simply because of the mango to rice to seaweed to mayonnaise ratio which seemed to be a little more balanced. The mangoes were delicious; they were not too sour.

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