55 Adelaide St. E., Toronto, ON RATING: Excellent
"Sushi restaurant for the non-sushi diner"
Plenty of people end up at sushi restaurants who don’t like sushi, and I count myself as one of them. Nami was the choice for our company Christmas lunch partly because they have a private room at the back of the restaurant, and our
boisterous group needed the privacy. But also, most
people seem to like sushi. Sadly, I do not. But this restaurant was not a
disappointment because every single food item I consumed was delicious.
Nami’s private room is actually separated from the main
dining area by traditional Japanese sliding paper-covered doors. Shoes are removed, and – horrors! - it looks
like you’ll be sitting cross-legged on the floor; but never fear, because there’s a cutout under
the table so you’re actually sitting as if you’re seated at a ‘normal’ table. It’s a blessing because most of us don’t have
the knee endurance to manage an entire lunch with folded legs.
The menu was full of sushi options that I quickly skimmed
over. For starters I ordered the Appetizer Tempura. I'm always impressed when deep
fried food items end up being not greasy because it defies logic; but thankfully
the Nami chef has mastered the art of non-greasy deep frying because the
tempura was moist and, YES, not greasy. It
meant that I wasn’t left reaching for my napkin to wipe grease from my fingers (shamefully I was using my fingers and not the chopsticks). There was a nice assortment of deep fried vegetables
and shrimp with a watery dipping sauce that you’ll want to keep pretty close to
your mouth or you’ll need a Tide stick after your meal.
The accompaniments included the typical bowl of miso soup
with floating cubes of tofu. This unfortunately was a bit too salty for my taste, but miso by
its nature is a salty soup. I dug in, making a mental note to purchase a bottle of water on my way back from lunch to deal with the after effects of excess salt.
The salad bowl that was plopped in front of me appeared to contain iceburg lettuce and
nothing else (is that even possible, because who serves iceburg lettuce anymore?). But the type of lettuce didn't matter because the dressing was that mystical Japanese dressing comprised of sesame, ginger, lemon and I don’t know what other ingredients; but it always leaves me wanting to lick the bowl.
I didn’t, but I really wanted to.
My choice for the main course was the teriyaki salmon and it was mouth wateringly tender and not overly salty, which can be a danger with teriyaki anything. Thankfully the Nami chef understands the delicacies of salmon and I was reaping the benefits of his culinary skill.
No dessert, and especially no rich dark
chocolate anything was offered up, so I went away with that particular craving
intact. Lastly, I never mentioned the
wait staff, all of whom were incredibly patient and knowledgeable. Overall I would give this restaurant a well-deserved Excellent rating. Go to Nami,
non-sushi lovers. You won’t regret it.
Restaurant website: http://namirestaurant.ca/
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