Imanishi Japanese Kitchen

Address: 1330 Dundas St. W. (at Rusholme Rd.), 416-706-4225, imanishi.ca

Chef: Shori Imanishi

Hours: Wednesday to Monday, 5:30 to 11 p.m.

Reservations: Yes

Wheelchair access: No

Price: Dinner for two with tea, tax and tip: $45

Japanese on tap

The servers at Imanishi Japanese Kitchen chat amongst themselves, ignoring diners.

The seats deaden the lower extremities.

Imanishi is a newish restaurant, opened Nov. 1 by Daisuke Gomyo and Shori Imanishi (both formerly of Guu) under the vestigial sign of previous tenant Café Regional Bar & Grill.

It serves snacks and a few set meals drawn from Japan’s mom-and-pop “teishoku” restaurants. But is the food good enough to balance out the irritants?

Slow boil

The brick-walled room attracts Japanese speakers hoisting 1-litre steins of Sapporo ($15) and young women diligently splitting their bills. (“I had an extra beer so I’ll get the tip.”)

There are appetizers of cold boiled gai lan ($3.80) awash in thinned-out sesame butter and flaked bonito, or seared beef tataki ($9.80) that’s stiff and flavourless despite scads of raw red onion and tingly sansho pepper.

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Nothing arrives when it should, like the buckwheat tea ($4) that shows up after the appetizers.

“Sorry. It took a while for the water to boil,” shrugs the server.

Uncomfortably numb

Hot tea isn’t the only problem. Spicy ramen ($9.80) holds the unpleasant surprise of ground meat pebbling the bottom of the bowl like gravel in an aquarium. Taro ice cream ($3) has the mouth feel of kitty litter thanks to crunchy bits of roasted buckwheat.

Corn fritters ($6.50) look like vegetal Rice Krispie squares but taste like frying oil. The kitchen neglects to remove the dangerous pin bones in overcooked mackerel ($7.50). Pickles have no punch.

I sit on a low, hard stool. When I stand up at the end of the 45-minute meal, I can’t feel my legs.

Real flavours

There are real Japanese flavours at Imanishi. If only the cooking techniques were better. Fried chicken ($11) has gummy coating and arrives in pieces too big to manoeuvre with chopsticks. The tartar sauce served with it is typical in Japan — but as a dollop, not a sloppy deluge.

“I like it that way. It’s a very casual thing here,” says Gomyo.

At least they get the katsu curry ($12.50) right. The breaded pork loin is crisp and juicy, striped with de rigueur bulldog sauce and served with shredded cabbage. The curry sauce has the thickness of applesauce with a fair bit of heat.

Sticking point

Set meals come on plastic trays with rice, pickles, gussied-up miso soup and vegetables to the side. One night, a sliced tomato still wears its PLU code sticker. By this point, the lack of attentiveness doesn’t surprise me.

Fried pork “shogayaki” ($9.50) is basically ginger-glazed bacon, a fine mouthful.

But it’s not enough to make up for the disappointment of Imanishi. Better to duplicate the menu at home from Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat’s Japanese Soul Cooking cookbook.

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