Since December 2018, J and I have made it a mission to visit JaBistro at least once a month, as we love their food. It's probably one of my favorite restaurants in Toronto, and the quality is consistent. JaBistro is a modern Japanese restaurant known for its beautifully presented sashimi platters and blowtorched sushi. Established in November 2012, JaBistro has remained a popular choice for many when it comes to choosing a premier sushi restaurant to dine at. Additionally, the restaurant is part of the Kinka Family, which also owns other establishments in the city, including Kinton Ramen, Yakitori Kintori, and Kinka Izakaya.
 
The restaurant is easily recognizable for its logo of the fish with the luminescence in front of its face. Walking into the establishment, you'd be greeted by a hostess, and most likely be asked to sit at the bar while you wait for your table. The interior was tastefully designed with its sleek use of wood, and it's also windowless. Due to the nature of having no windows; there is no natural lighting (even during lunchtime). Please note that this blog post is a combination of multiple visits throughout the 2019 year. 


JaBistro offers a more elevated dining experience by offering both classic and contemporary dishes that are sourced using the finest, and freshest fish from coastal waters around the world. We always start our meal off with two bowls of hot Miso Soup ($5). The soup here is made out of lobster broth and comes with a small piece of lobster claw.


The salad ($9) - cucumber, greens, is another regular order that we often get. A light start to a pretty filling meal.


Besides fresh sushi and sashimi, JaBistro also offers a bistro menu consisting of a variety of cooked items. My favorite bistro item is the Ika ($11) - calamari, tosazu vinegar. I order this dish every single visit, as I love it that much! Perfectly deep-fried, and the calamari isn't super chewy.





Ebi Nanban ($15) - battered tiger shrimp, tartar sauce


Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the Agedashi ($13) - deep-fried b.c. oysters, seasonal veggies, kombu dashi. I found the oyster too soggy and a little too battered.


Another popular bistro item is the Tori Nanban ($17). It's basically chicken marinated in rice vinegar, soy sauce, and chili and then deep fried in batter. It comes with tartar sauce on the sauce.


If you want sushi, then definitely get the Kyukyoku ($55). It's 12 pieces of market-fresh sushi and it's all comes down to the Chef's choice. So the pieces do vary depending on what's available that day. Each piece of sushi is already brushed with soy sauce and includes a small dab of wasabi.

Most of the time, service has been consistently great. The servers would explain each piece for the Kyukyoku platter. However, on our recent visits (November 14, 2019), one of the female servers just dropped the platter down and ran off quickly. I thought it was weird! Luckily, that lady wasn't our main server for the night, as ours was friendlier.





At times, they don't have enough fish for the Kyukyoku, so it's replaced by the Chef's Choice ($45). Instead of up to 12 pieces, you get a platter consisted of nine pieces of nigiri.





If you want to try a variety of their aburi, then I highly recommend getting the Aburicious ($22). The platter comes with 2 ebi, 2 saba, 2 salmon, and 2 JaBistroll. JaBistro's specialty lies in their aburi sushi. It is made by pressing sushi rice and fish into a mold to get that rectangular shape and then blowtorched. Blow-torching the top of the aburi creates a wonderful smoky flavor.




I don't get the Wagyu Oshizushi ($25) as often as I do salmon or ebi. It's pricier than the other oshizushi options, and the rice to wagyu ratio is sometimes not consistent.




Ebi Oshizushi ($15) - pressed tiger shrimp sushi. Another popular option for pressed sushi. Love this one too!



The Salmon Oshizushi ($17) - pressed Atlantic salmon sushi, was the perfect balance between sauce and fish. By torching the top of the sushi, it provided a nice smokey flavor as mentioned above. My second favorite after their signature roll, the Jabistroll.


Out of their entire menu, my favorite item is their signature roll called the JaBistroll ($22) - salmon, snow crab, uni, cucumber, tobiko. So creamy and melts in your mouth.



Fatty Bluefin Tuna Hand Roll ($10) 


JaBistro is a great mix of traditional sushi with modern approaches. One of its downsides is definitely the price as it's not wallet-friendly for everyday occasions. However, it's a nice place for business dinners, special occasions, and social gatherings. I highly recommend this place if you love sushi.

Address: 222 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON M5V 1V6

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a media tasting at JaBistro. I have been here on three occasions, and it has remained one of my favorite sushi spots in Toronto. JaBistro is a modern Japanese restaurant known for their beautifully presented sashimi platters, and blowtorched sushi. Established in November 2012, JaBistro has remained a popular choice for many when it comes to choosing a premier sushi restaurant to dine at. Additionally, the restaurant is part of the Kinka Family, who also owns other establishments in the city, including Kinton Ramen, Yakitori Kintori, and Kinka Izakaya.  



Both of my previous dinners took place during the winter time (third experience was lunch), so I was not aware that JaBistro had a rooftop patio. The patio is open every summer until it gets too cold, as they don't have any overhead heat system. JaBistro's Rooftop Patio was tastefully designed with its sleek use of wood, and string lights. It provided a more zen ambiance compared to their dining space downstairs. The patio seats 40 guests, with the possibility of using the eastern (direction) side of 20 seats for private functions.

JaBistro offers a more elevated dining experience by offering both classic and contemporary dishes that are sourced using the finest, and freshest dish from coastal waters around the world. We started off our menu tasting with the first course, a beautifully plated sashimi platter accompanied with a glass of wine. JaBistro did not disappoint me with their selection, and the sashimi platter was a great indication of the rest of the meal. The sashimi was silky, buttery, and fresh.

Course 1 - Sashimi Platter + Cava Sampling

Akami - blue fin tuna loin (Japan), Tai - sea bream (Japan), Wagyu Beef (US), and Salmon (Canada)

Course 2 - Appetizer Platter

Kanpachi Kama (fish collar), Ebi Nanban (battered tiger shrimp), Ika (calamari), and lobster miso soup

The kanpachi kama (fish collar) was a great introductory course, and we both enjoyed the fish head very much. To be honest, we didn't expect the head to contain so much meat, so it was a welcomed surprise.



The platter also came with 2 jumbo pieces of ebi nanban (battered tiger shrimp), which I quickly ate. I liked that the tartar sauce was available on the side instead of glazed on the shrimp as they were on my previous visit, as the shrimps are already sweet in flavor. You can order the ebi nanban from the bistro menu for $14, and it comes with 6 pieces.

Course 3 - Nigiri & Aburi (blowtorced)

Hamachi (yellowtail) from Japan, Chu Toro (medium fatty tuna belly) from Japan, Lobster from Halifax, Salmon Oshizushi, Saba Oshizushi (mackerel), Ebi (tiger shrimp), and JaBistroll (salmon, snow crab, uni, cucumber, tobiko).

Up next was a platter containing chef’s choice of 3 nigiri, and 4 oshizushi, including one of my favorites, the JaBistro Roll. The JaBistro Roll is a signature roll filled with salmon, snow crab, uni, cucumber, tobiko, mayo, and then lightly torched. Additionally, the uni provided a nice creamy texture to the roll, which I really enjoyed.



Oshizushi is pressed sushi, and is made by pressing sushi rice and fish into a mould to create a rectangular shape, and then lightly seared with a blowtorch. The oshizushi sushi are topped off with different toppings to give each one a distinct taste. For example, the salmon was topped off with thin slices of jalapeño, while the mackerel was topped with scallion and daikon radish. Additionally, all the aburi are already seasoned with their in-house soy sauce, and wasabi. My favorite was the salmon oshizushi, and it is one of my must-have dishes.

Course 4 - Dessert

Mousse cake with vanilla ice-cream

We ended the night off with dessert; a delectable green tea flavored mousse cake with vanilla ice-cream. The chocolate sponge cake was layered with creamy and light green tea mousse, and topped off with strawberries. This combination created a very airy cake with subtle sweetness. Perfect for those who aren't into super sweet desserts. If you like sweets, then the accompanied ice-cream should satisfied that craving.

JaBistro is a great place for business meals, dates, or special occasions. Overall, JaBistro is a great place to dine for its quality food, attentive service, and we had an enjoyable dining experience up on their rooftop patio. They are open for lunch Monday-Fri from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, and dinner from Sun-Thurs (5 pm to 11 pm), and Fri-Sat (5 pm to 12 am).

JaBistro is a modern Japanese restaurant known for their beautifully presented sashimi platters, and blowtorch sushi. It sits right in the Entertainment District of downtown Toronto; making it very accessible by both TTC and car. Additionally,  JaBistro is run by the Kinka Family who also owns Guu Izakaya, Guu Sakabar, Kinton Ramen, and the newly opened Yakitori Kintori. 

 The restaurant is easily recognizable for its logo of the fish with the luminescence in front of its face. Walking into the establishment, you'd be greeted by a hostess, and most likely be asked to sit at the bar while you wait for your table. The interior was tastefully designed with its sleek use of wood, and it's also windowless. Due to the nature of having no windows; there is no natural lighting (even during lunch time).

Normally, we would have dinner around 6-7 pm, but on this Sunday, the earliest available slot was 8:30 pm. I usually have dinner slightly about 1-2 hours earlier than our reserved time, so I made myself a sandwich at home. Probably not the best idea as I immediately regretted not waiting as I saw our neighbor's sashimi platter (oh well, there's always next time!). The bf prefers nigiri to sashimi, so I guess I'll need to bring in some reinforcements who loves sashimi to get the platter. Anyways, JaBistro doesn't offer a plethora of traditional sushi dishes; rather they have opted to have both tradition and innovative dishes.

Started the evening off with the usual drinks; coke and green tea. The green tea arrived in a large mug with a bigger-than-norm tea bag that was reusable at least twice. 

The both of us got our own order of salad (cucumber, greens) ($8 x 2). I enjoyed the salad very much as the dressing was light, and the thinly sliced cucumbers added a nice refreshing touch. 

We also got an order each of miso soup [lobster broth] ($5 x 2). I believe that the miso soup used to come with a lobster claw, but I guess they have changed it up since they first opened. It's now presented in a mug sans claw.

 The ika [calamari, tosazu vinegar] ($10) was lightly coated in batter, and wasn't too overly greasy. Although, the sauce might be a little sweeter than one might expect for calamari. It was still rather tasty nonetheless, and the portion was more than enough for two people.

One of JaBistro's signature roll is their JaBistroll (blowtorched aburi) [salmon, snow crab, uni, cucumber, tobiko] ($22), which we ordered. Apparently, by blow-torching the sushi, it helps seal in the flavor of the ingredients. I absolutely loved the smoky flavor, and how the creamy texture of the uni went well together with the salmon and snow crab. This particular dish is highly recommended!

The bf wanted to try out the kyukyoku that night, but our server informed him that they didn't have exactly 12 different kind of fish that night (so it was unavailable). He ended up getting the sushi (nama) [classic nigri 7 pieces] ($27) instead. This board arrived with a selection of 7 different nigri, and they all just melt in your mouth. I loved how the nigri are already flavored with both wasabi and soy sauce underneath the pieces of fish.

 The ebi nanban [battered tiger shrimp, tartar sauce] ($14) was six pieces of battered shrimp coated in tartar sauce. The shrimps themselves are very sweet in flavor, so the tartar sauce actually made them a lot sweeter than I would have liked. In all, the shrimps were crispy and well made.

The bf forgo dessert, but since I love sweets, I got the choco cream puff [choux pastry filled with chocolate whipped cream] ($8) for myself. As you can see from the image, it was beautifully presented and tasted wonderfully creamy and chocolatey.

As for service; it didn't start off very strong as we had to wait well over 25 minutes past our reservation. Apparently, the customers at the table were finishing up their desserts, and just called for the bill. Anyways, they paid for their bill but resumed chatting. I am assuming that JaBistro prides themselves for great service, so they didn't want to ask the customers to leave until they're ready. I am not too sure how I feel about this, as service is important, but we were just sitting at the front waiting ... and waiting. Eventually, another table freed up, and we were seated around 9 pm. I know that the staff are mainly from Japan, so they might follow the customary of always being polite (aka not kicking someone out).

However, once we were seated, the service was rather quite professional and really good. Our server(s) were friendly, knowledgeable of the menu, and courteous. The food also came out at a reasonable time, and spaced apart well. They also refold your napkin when you're away from your table (washroom, phone calls, etc ...) so I thought that was nice. Overall, JaBistro is a great place to dine for its quality food, good service, and I had an enjoyable dining experience.

RATINGS:

Quality of Food: 4.5/5