Weekly Lunch Pick: a hearty Japanese meal in a box down on Front Street
The homey rice bowls at Front Street’s Take Sushi are a nice break from the tempura-and-teriyaki-filled bento box you get everywhere else. The meal begins with a simple iceberg and spring mix salad that’s dressed with a thin ginger-based dressing and a cup of mild miso soup scattered with threads of pretty enoki mushrooms. The oyakojyu ($15) comes in a lacquered box packed to the brim with lightly pan-fried morsels of dark chicken meat piled high over white rice that’s dressed in sweet soy sauce. In between, sautéed onions and aromatic slivers of mitsuba herbs lend a subtle crunch. The dish’s name is actually a culinary pun: “Oyako” means “mother and child,” so the tender, flavourful chicken is accompanied by a soft, steam-cooked egg, which smothers the dish.
The time: an unhurried 34 minutes.
The cost: $21, including tax and tip and a mug of hot green tea ($1).
Take Sushi, 22 Front St. W., 416-862-1891, takesushi.ca
$21 for chicken and rice? – If this is your choice for lunch please don’t complain about your taxes, or the homeless person that asked you for a loony.
I am not sure how much your regular audience makes a year when you are posting lunches that usually costs $20 or more. I wish I can do that once a month and I just make average income based on Statistics Canada.
Please review lunch places that are more with the general public, not all people are Bay St. bankers or lawyers.
Take Sushi is absolutely wonderful … have been a “go-to” japanese restaurant for my family for a long time.
Take Sushi is a great place to go for lunch and dinner. Pricing is on par with other authentic japanese restaurants. My favourite dish is their chirashi.
Typically this is the cheapest dish at a Japanese restaurant. (It was at my parent’s restaurant) and should run less than 10 bucks. This is way overpriced. Sometimes they’ll call it chicken donburri (bowl) because it’ll come in a bowl instead of a box. I suspect the box is what costs so much, that and their rent.