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
