.ch3rieberry*.: May 2017

I'll rate Akasaka Japanese Restaurant 3.5/5 stars.
I came here as a group of 4 for the teppanyaki dinner. Teppanyaki is when you're seated around a cooking table and a chef cooks your meal for you.

I think service was good in general except for that one woman on the phone when I was trying to book a table. She said (rudely) the place was too full to accommodate our group but when I called again and a man picked up, he gave us a table right away.. very strange.. I'd definitely recommend calling and booking early!

Highlights from the teppanyaki dinner:

* Black Cod (my all time favourite dish at ANY teppanyaki - I need to know how to marinated the cod fish like they do!)
* Beef cubes
* Beef & Enoki wrap
* Shrimps (very fresh!)
* Fried rice (I usually need to pack this because of how full I am at the end of the meal)

Usually the chefs does a lot of table tricks during the meal, the chef I'd recommend here is Ken! He wasn't there when I visited Akasaka restaurant last time but hopefully he still works there.. He's really good!

Akasaka Japanese Restaurant

$$ Japanese

280 W Beaver Creek Road
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3Z

😻 Happy 3 Years Anniversary 😻

My boyfriend took me to Chabrol Restaurant for dinner as a #PBsurprise over the weekend after a stroll at High Park. We were lucky enough to catch the cherie-blossoms (lol) in full bloom!

It was gorgeous but parking was a beetch haha. We were smarty-pants enough to park near Lakeshore Blvd W instead of the entry point for High Park. So there's your little tidbit if you plan on going soon!

I tried guessing where P was taking me for dinner but I really had no idea lol. Zero clues given.

He mentioned that he booked a table one month prior so I'd highly recommend booking well in advance! Chabrol is a boutique-sized restaurant. It seats 5 tables of 2 and a bar of approximately 10 people. We were lucky to be seated away from the group of 2's or else everyone would basically eavesdrop each others' conversations haha.

I think Chabrol is a great impress-your-date place but the quality of the food wasn't as good as we expected. We had a good time judging the food nonetheless hahaha #foodcriticsforlife.

DRINKS:

* Domaine Merlin Chardonnay 2014 - Macon La Roche Vineuse (mine)

* Pinot Noir (his)

* RIESLING-POACHED FOIE GRAS with black currant and salsify (2/5)

Ok.. I LOVE foie gras. I had very high hopes for this fancy sounding riesling-poached foie gras! Unfortunately, it was rather.. stinky(?) I really didn't like this. 2 points are given for the nicely displayed pieces of bread and salsify haha. Great for Instagram.

* TARTINE OF RABBIT with braised endive (3.5/5)

We felt a little guilty for ordering rabbit meat but the meat was delicious...!! It's a simple appetizer to cleanse your palettes before the mains. Even though this dish had a lot of bread, it wasn't overwhelming. I'd recommend sharing this dish between two people.

* "TTORO" (4/5)

This was delicious - I'd recommend this soup. It tastes like a squash soup with fresh seafood. Seafood included fish, mussels and shrimps. The fish was delicious! The soup was not overly thick so it didn't make us feel bloated afterwards.

* MUSCOVY DUCK with barigoule of artichokes, chestnuts, fennel and pearl onions (2/5)

It's a boiled duck with watered-down flavour. What stood out to me the most were the chestnuts in the dish. Otherwise, the whole dish was quite bland in taste. The duck meat was way too soggy. I wouldn't recommend ordering this.

DESSERTS:

* APPLE TARTE with calvados sabayon (4/5)

Our server highly recommended the apple tarte for desserts. Good recommendation! The apples were still crispy, which paired nicely with the soft pastry for the tarte. The sauce they poured on top was creamy and light. Save your tummy for this dessert!

We got two mini pieces of French dessert when we asked for the bill. It was almost the size of our thumbs but we were SUPER stuffed from that little piece. I wish I could remember the name of this dessert.. :S here's a picture of it: