My love for sushi borders on an obsession. I tend to seek out the top sushi restaurants in every city we travel to, always on the look out for that next outstanding Japanese dining experience. While visiting Toronto this past weekend to attend the Picasso exhibit (stay tuned for a future post on this incredible journey through Pablo’s life and art), we stopped by to-ne sushi on Queen West for lunch.
The decor and atmosphere at to-ne is fairly typical for sushi restaurants. Relatively small, but bright and clean with a casual cafe feel and Japanese branding throughout. But when you get to the food, it is anything but typical.
The presentation is simply exceptional. As the saying goes, first you feast with your eyes. Since it was lunch, we went with a small order for us – 2 rolls and 4 pieces of salmon sushi. Our meal started with a complimentary amuse bouche – a tasty soup with noodles, mushrooms and crunchy tempura bits. A great start to our meal.
Our sushi platter came handsomely dressed with a delightfully artistic swirl of tasty sauces. When in Rome, or when in Toronto as it were, we ordered the Toronto Roll which featured salmon, tuna and avocado. Super tasty. We also ordered the special roll of the day, the Rocky Mountain Roll, which featured along with spicy salmon – of all things, jalapeno and coconut sauce. It was incredibly delicious. I am a big fan of dishes that combine sweet and savoury tastes, and this combination worked beautifully with this roll.
But what really blew me away was the salmon sushi. Definitely one of the freshest and tastiest pieces of fish I have ever tasted. Heavily streaked with loads of fatty goodness, it just melts in your mouth and had such a sweet and meaty flavour. I was in sushi heaven! And the service was excellent too. We decided to order an additional cocktail to unwind at the end of our meal, and our server brought us a complimentary order of salty steamed edamame to enjoy with our drinks. Such a nice touch. We had a wonderful dining experience at to-ne sushi and will definitely be back on our next visit to Toronto. For now, back to the cage.
