Yokozuna Japanese Ramen Inc.

We saw the Ramen restaurant when we passed by Silver Star Boulevard and decided to try it out:

Appetizer Menu


Ramen Menu

Tenderous Rib Soup Ramen
The beef ribs were tender and tasty, but I found that the ingredients didn't really go well together. There's something to be said about the balance of a good ramen and this felt like a haphazard pairing of ingredients including broccoli, corn, very thinly sliced naruto maki and mushrooms in a beef broth.

Sapporo Ramen

The Sapporo started with a garlic butter broth which was very heavy and super rich - it tasted like melted garlic butter in soup and was rather overwhelming. The combination of ingredients was better with this ramen even if the ramen egg was mediocre (see Kinton for a better ramen egg) and the cha-shu was okay.

Kyushu Ramen
The miso based broth was the best of the three (and I finally understand why most ramen places use it instead of playing up different soup bases). The cha-shu was okay, the narutomaki lacked flavour (most likely because they were too thinly sliced), overall it was okay.

Overall: Yokozuna Japanese Ramen experiments with the soup bases and the ingredients, but I wasn't really a fan of the combinations. The ramen was mediocre, but it was cheaper here than in downtown Toronto.

Solo Sushi Bekkan

A coworker recommded Solo Sushi Bekkan for lunch and so a group of us went to try it out.
It's a relatively tiny restaurant with around 20 seats - so if you don't make a reservation, it's probably best to wait until a little after the lunch rush to grab a table. 

The lunch specials are around $10-15 and come with salad and miso soup.

 

Salad

Fresh ingredients beautifully presented with a nice tangy soy sauce dressing.

Miso soup

Gyoza

The gyoza had paper thin wrappers around a meat and vegetable stuffing and they were lightly pan-fried. 

Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box

I kept staring at the bento wondering why it was different than the traditional Japanese bento boxes for lunch and then I realized that they served the salad separately and instead this bento had a side of egg and potato salad. It was okay, a little bland. However, the rest of the bento box with chicken teriyaki, spicy tuna roll and crispy battered tempura had tons of flavour. 

Overall: A nice lunch at Solo Sushi Bekkan: the food was decent and the bento was pretty filling.

Website: http://solosushiya.com/solo_sushi_bekkan

Lisbon by Night

Lisbon by Night has a great All-You-Can-Eat Fish deal for $24.95 (excl. tax and tip)

Fish Soup
A pretty good start to the meal.

Salsa, rice and beans and potatoes

The salsa was refreshing and tasty with tomato, coriander and peppers - it was the perfect complement to some of the fish.

So the All-You-Can-Eat Fish buffet starts with the waiters serving you one of each type of fish first.They serve about 9-10 varieties of fish with the fish changing up daily.
The All-You-Can-Eat part of this experience happens after you're done trying one of each fish because then you can reorder more of your favourite kinds of fish.

1. Sea Bream
The grilled sea bream was really delicious; the meat was sweet with a nice flaky texture. There were some tiny bones which made it a little difficult. It was definitely a fish I would order again.

2. King fish <eat with salsa>
The king fish was a thick cut fish steak. The flesh was firm, meaty and didn't really have a distinctive flavour.

3. Marithes

These were deep fried fish that were fully edible (you eat the fish with the head and crispy bones).
I was a little queasy about eating the heads of the fishes (just imagining eating their eyeballs and brains at the same time was kind of gross). It was an interesting experience.

4. Salmon
Something I would expect with a fish buffet. The grilled salmon was simple and delicious. It was quite a large portion too! (Great value for money considering most restaurants charge $20 just for the salmon).

5. Calamari

The calamari was fresh and simply marinated. It had a gummy texture and was pretty sweet.

6. Turbot <eat with salsa>

The turbot had really delicate flesh and it was cooked almost to a mushy texture. I wasn't really a fan of this one, but it was different from the rest.

7. Porgy fish <eat with salsa>
Relatively mild flavoured fish. It wasn't particularly memorable.

8. Stingray
I was thinking of the Ocean's deadliest animals as I was eating this. The meat was pretty tough and it was nicely breaded and deep fried.

9. Shrimp

The shrimp were pretty big and cooked in a yummy garlic butter sauce. I would definitely get seconds of this dish.

10. Sardine
It had a strong fishy flavour and was probably one of my least favourite fishes of the night.

After all the fish rounds (and seconds of the shrimp), we got dessert:

Grilled pineapple

Delicious caramelized grilled pineapple! Yummy!

Overall: Great all-you-can-eat fish experience at Lisbon by Night. Good value, quick service and there's live music entertainment on the weekends.

Website: http://www.lisbonbynightrestaurant.com/