fusion | idea rabbit

Sheepie had found this restaurant during a traffic jam, lol. We came to check it out on a Sunday evening. Parking was near impossible to find at the time and we kept driving around the block – like 10 times.

We walked in a nice staff asked us if we had reservations. No, we didn’t. But there were spots by the counter/bar

A modern, minimalistic, concrete-focused restaurant on the edge of Chinatown of contemporary Asian cuisine. They use local ingredients sourced from local farms, and looking at the limited menu items, we felt it was leaning slight towards the izakaya feel where more people were there to enjoy wines, local craft beers, and cocktail. Not to say that the food wasn’t good though!

The restaurant was jam packed, but we only had to wait a few minutes.

We sat at the counter by the open kitchen, and the bartender was kept busy all night. (not that the chefs weren’t busily sweating in the heat).

They have a unique menu – physically as well as what’s on the menu. The physical part is interesting, though there seems to be a lot of pages without much content, and you find yourself flipping around, a bit lost. The names of the dishes are pretty creative and comical. However, if it’s your first time, even with the description of the ingredients, you are left wondering what’s coming your way. You are always in for a surprise.

Sheepie had the Calamari Done the Right Way $10 – crispy and fresh. Nice presentation.

Tuna Belly $10 Nice presentation. Good flavour of fish, which went well with the rice.

Magic Stick $7 had a little of bit of everything, so it was an interesting journey for the taste buds. Also visually engaging.

Their menu seems to have changed since going. It’s also different from what’s on Zomato and their website, so I guess their menu changes quite frequently.

Service was a bit slow since it was super busy. It took a while for them to take our orders, and when we wanted to order our dessert, it seemed like we were waiting quite a bit. If you’ve been following me for some time, you know I’m not a huge fan of crowded or loud places. That’s just my preference. Food was really good, but on the higher end per dish, and the portions were small, so we didn’t leave with full stomachs.

Note: they state that in order to serve customers comfortably during peak times, there is a 2 hour seating limit, and reservation will be held for up to 15 minutes. So don’t be late!

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Went there with a fairly large group of about 33 people (reservation was made ahead of time). This restaurant is fairly large, we only took a third of the entire restaurant, and with semi walls to section off each of the tables and areas, we were in there comfortably without being an annoyance to other customers.

The service isn’t friendly or anything, but not terrible. You become use to the type of service you get at these fast paced, cheap restaurants, so unless they are really awful, unfortunately, it’s become the norm.

Tea is like water, and the tempura sauce is so diluted it looks like apple juice. I got the Box 3, which had 6 pieces of california rolls, salad, 3 gyoza pieces, chicken teriyaki with vegetables and tempura – all for only $7.50. This a great deal cuz if you were to make all of them yourself, it would likely cost more, not to mention a lot of preparation and cooking time/effort.

However, the inspection report does indicate improper food handling, cleaning and maintenance. Problems with rodent droppings are indicated, but it seems that with these types of restaurants, I’m seeing that it’s something common among them. Yuck…

With that disgusting thought aside, the food is alright. Nothing spectacular, only filling. I use to go to these kind of restaurants a lot during my student years, because of the cheap price and quantity. But now working, this place isn’t my first pick. (nor is it in my list of ‘let’s go for sushi’ place at all lol)

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Went back again with a large group (not my choice) for lunch this time. Everyone was doing the All-You-Can-Eat. But I wasn’t feeling all that well that day, so I sat at the only table that was doing a la carte. The service wasn’t that great. Water, tea or food wouldn’t come out. I remember two previous experiences (again, not my choice for both times) that someone’s order was completely forgotten. The very last time we went was for take out – this went smoothly. However with new sushi places opening up and all around, I will likely be not returning, though I guess it’s never really been on my sushi restaurant list.

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