Location: Newmarket, Canada
Overall mark - 8 out of 10
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Address: 291 Davis Drive
Website: http://www.solosushiya.com/
Type of Meal: Dinner
In
preparation for an upcoming trip to Japan, my husband and I are expanding our
palettes by ordering omakase style (left up to the chef to choose). Having heard about this Newmarket
establishment, we made the 35 minute drive up North to put our taste buds in
the hands of Chef Jyo Gao.
The omakase
menu ($58) presents six courses (the first course consisting of three dishes)
and offers a variety of cooking methods (raw, steamed and braised). It’s heavily seafood focused with the only
taste of beef for the night being presented in the first course. To start we were offered a trio of small
dishes. Starting from the left:
- The first dish was a piece of simply prepared sweet squash, its softness contrasted well with the natto (fermented soybeans) that accompanied it. The beans had an interesting chewy texture and were somewhat sticky from the glaze on top. Although it’s sweet, there’s an indescribable depth to the flavour (unfortunately, hard to define you just have to try it). On top were little crispy specks similar to sesame seeds without the nuttiness.
- In the middle, were pieces of tuna marinated with shoyu & sesame oil and combined with bits of spring onion & spicy chili. The tuna itself was soft and delicious, with this dish filled with such good flavours that it could easily be featured in a larger portion as an appetizer.
- Lastly, was the sole meat dish of the evening - made from some sort of soft root vegetable wrapped with pieces of dried beef. The meat is the taste and texture of fruit glazed jerky which is an interesting combination. Packed with flavour and fairly heavy tasting it’s definitely something to be eaten in moderation.
Next came a
sashimi platter, which I’m still warming up to having only recently starting to
develop a taste for it thanks to JaBistro.
The salmon, the safest of the fishes, is still my favourite and was
tender and fairly delicate in flavour. A
piece of white tuna that’s lightly seared so that it just began changing colour
had a nice black pepper taste.
Unfortunately, my piece wasn’t fully thawed so the middle slices had ice
crystals which was gross (not a problem for my husband so likely on account of
my thicker piece). Regrettably, I
haven’t mastered the art of eating sashimi in the right order so when I finally
got to the other white fish (behind the shrimp head) it was rather flavourless
so not very memorable. However, in my
case, I’d rather things not taste too strongly so I still enjoyed it.
This meal was
my first taste of raw non-fish based seafood where I tried scallop and shrimp.
Having a quarter of the scallop, I expected it to be revolting but surprisingly
wasn't that bad. Having placed it beside
of a slice of lemon, the scallop took on some of the citrus flavour. At first, I was afraid it’d be rubbery but is
actually very tender – however, it doesn’t lend itself to chewing as the
texture quickly turned gummy in my mouth.
Overall, the scallop wasn't horrible and I could stand eating again if
it were perhaps in thinner slices.
On the other
hand, the raw shrimp was absolutely disgusting.
Since it was whole (thankfully the head disconnected) and there was no fork
or knife in sight, I had to bit into the shrimp meat. Instantly, my mouth was flood with an
extremely seafood/fishy taste combined with a mushy/sticky texture.
Side note, I’m actually cringing while writing this as I remember how
bad it was. Unfortunately, since I
was sitting right beside the chef, I couldn't exactly spit it out so I quickly
swallowed it whole and washed it down with a glass of hot green tea. This is seriously something I don’t think I can
ever acquire the taste for; no amount of sweet soy sauce or strong wasabi can
ever mask that horrible taste.
Luckily, the
next thing to arrive was a piping hot chawan mushi, a steamed egg custard, that
helped get rid of the queasy feeling in my stomach. Served in the cooking vessel, a cute lidded
tea cup, the egg was filled with chunks of salmon, scallops, seaweed and large
enoki mushrooms. The broth was a
condensed seafood consume which was very well flavoured and filled my mouth
with a wonderful umami essence.
For the
fourth course, a miso mackerel arrives on a large plate in a light sauce. The
fish having been braised was richly flavoured taking on the beany essence of
the miso paste and a slight sweetness. Topping the mackerel were anchovy
fillets (brings a brininess to the dish but I could have done without), paper
thin slices of daikon and a piece of lettuce.
I rather enjoyed the daikon’s simple freshness and would have liked more
of that in lieu of the anchovy.
The best dish
of the night was the fifth course - four unassuming looking pieces of nigiri
sushi. The fish topping them (tuna,
snapper, salmon and grilled eel) were of course fresh and cut to a suitable
thickness that you could easily pop into your mouth and bite through. But, what
made the dish extraordinary was the rice! The hand pressed pieces were lightly
warmed and had such an amazing texture – the plump soft kernels of vinegary
rice had a creamy feeling to it yet was still hard enough to pick up with
chopsticks.
In the Tokyo
episode of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown, chef Naomichi Yasuda notes the
most important ingredient in his sushi is rice.
Sure, when I heard this comment it implicitly made sense to me since
every piece of sushi contains it. But,
it wasn't until we had Solo Sushi Ya’s incredible rice that it really made
sense. Honestly, if the rice is this
good, it could be topped with a thinly sliced cucumber and I’d be just as
happy.
Last but not
least was dessert - a bowl of cold gelatin topped with a berry coulis and more
of those crispy white bits that started off the meal. Normally, I don't have high hopes for Asian
desserts because, let’s be honest, they're never that good. But, it wasn't that bad; the gelatin had a
light coffee taste and an interesting texture (lighter than Jello but still
firmer than custard).
Despite the
6-course meal, dishes came out like clockwork with the new one arriving as soon
as finished ones were whisked away. In the end, we were done in a little over
an hour, though I’ll admit we are quicker eaters. Solo Sushi Ya is an intimate restaurant
seating about 30 people so to be safe make reservations. We appreciated Chef Gao’s friendliness and
willingness to answer any questions we had.
Overall, the experience was great and we’d love to return to have some
maki rolls, more nigiri and perhaps some noodles.
Overall mark - 8 out of 10
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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!
