Edoko Japanese Cuisine - Tempanyaki

Time for another review. This time of Japanese Cuisine on Queen street between Metcalfe and Elgin Street.

Walked in and was seated immediately, drinks were ordered and I had gone for the House Saki, drinks came very promptly. Going over the menu and you will see plenty of tradtional Japanese tempanyaki favourites such as Beef and Chicken Teriyaki, Salmon, Shrimp and Duck. Sushi is also available but that is usually served in the common restaurant room rather than the tempanyaki room.

We were seated infront of a large grill plate and the drinks were served and it was time to order. For apps Ika Ten which is lightly fried pieces of squid served with soy and pork spring rolls were ordered. For the main I ordered the Chicken and Beef combo and my guest ordered the Duck. Mine was with the salad and my guest ordered the soup.

Sadly the wait for the apps was a little longer than expected, we waited about 15 minutes and the place wasnt super busy. When the apps arrived they were exactly as described and not overly oily. Both apps tasted quite good and I would order them again. The springroll was crisp, very little oil dripped out and very flaky. Meat inside was tender and just the right amount of onion. The squid was crispy as well but just a bit chewy on the inside, but not enough to complain too much. However for the salad and soup to arrive took way too long, I would say almost 15-20 minutes, the problem was though with what arrived after that length of time. I wasn't expecting a bit of iceberg, one slice of tomato a few shreds of carrot and two cucumbers and a few drops of ginger sauce. The soup was a clear both with a few mushrooms floating on it and some chopped green onion. Neither was flavorful and so simple that it should have taken 30 seconds to put together and get out to us. I understand waiting between your apps and the salad arriving but first of all the salad and soup should have been first and secondly the portion was quite small and could have come out a lot earlier.
After the dismal salad and soup the chef came out to do the mains. He started with preping the veggies and flaming onion. As he dropped the veggies on the grill plate, he began to show off his flare. Lots of fun and entertaining tricks, which included a flaming onion. Not overly chatty with the guests like they do at some other places but fun to watch nonetheless. He started with the chicken next on the grill and the duck. The duck was quite a large portion and was topped with teriyaki sauce, garlic butter, green onions, broth and soy and served. The chicken and beef were done next, beef was asked to be rare, although a couple of pieces I would say were raw and had no sear. It seemed during the cooking portion the chef was rushing a bit and the flare stopped as well. When cooking he just kept tossing the food over itself and then serving it drenched in sauce. Noodles and rice are also served, the rice can be asked to be fried rice but we opted for the white and the noodles are also done on the hot grill plate. Meats are served with two sauces, ginger and sesame. The ginger is similar to many other Japanese places in the city with no exceptional qualities, and the sesame is the same, good but nothing spectacular. Having both rice and noodles was a bit too much starch and you could feel it all expanding inside fast lol. The other negative I would add is that due to the chef's rushing, the sauces on the meat really didnt get a chance to flavour the meat or veg too much and it was a bit salty. For dessert they had fried banana and various icecream, but we decided against it. Costs for each was about 27 after taxes and tips so not overly expensive at all.
Would I return, probably. Would I recommend, well this ones gets a sure why not give it a shot recommendation, nothing strong nothing weak, a middle of the road recommendation.
Till next time.