Ematei Japanese Restaurant

A few months ago I ventured off to downtown Toronto to check out one of Toronto’s few authentic Japanese restaurants. I was tres excited as I have heard many good things about Ematei. I really enjoyed dinner there and unexpectedly came out loving Japanese style curry dishes =D

Ematei is located  in the entertainment district. It’s like a hidden gem on St. Patrick St so it’s easy to overlook this restaurant if you aren’t actually looking for it.

When you walk into the restaurant there’s a sushi bar on your left and a few tables on the right and all in the back. Actually, I had an awkward experience while waiting to be seated. My friend and I stood at the front of the restaurant for a while to wait for the hostess to seat us. And at one point, we thought we had to seat ourselves because the hostess/ servers clearly saw us waiting but they just walked past us without acknowledging our existence and it wasn’t like they were busy or anything… I honestly don’t mind waiting but I was just hoping they would at least say something to us and not leave us standing there

I loved this squid tempura. It sort of reminds me of the ones that you can find at dim-sum. The batter wasn’t too thick – it was deep fried perfectly =] I can honestly nibble on these all night hehe!

This dish is basically curry rice with pork cutlet and is now my all time favourite. There’s just something unique and tasty about Japanese curry – I highly recommend it for curry lovers!

I ordered this sushi set and thought it just mediocre. It was really fresh and great quality – but I have had better. I personally  think Yuzu still has the best sashimi/ sushi in Toronto.

Just like any other Japanese restaurants I visit, I almost always order their house or special roll aka the most expensive roll on the menu (lol) This roll was ridiculously large. Almost twice or three times the size of a regular piece. It started to fall apart when I tried to dip it into soy sauce. Nevertheless, their house roll was pretty good but a bit overpriced.

Here’s a closer shot of whats inside the roll:

Overall, I thought the sushi here was good but not great. Their other  cooked food dishes that I tried were awesome (i.e. curry =D)  They also offer take out if you are not inclined to stay and eat. Ematei is definitely worth the visit if you’re in the area!

Ematei Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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