Kiu Japanese Restaurant *.

♣ Happy June everyone!! ♣

I visited Kiu a couple of times for dinner.
:O Surprised at the ratings so far - I like this restaurant! 

It's located at the VIP theatre plaza; on the other side of the theatre (beside Goodlife).

I give +stars for its environment because it is very clean and spacious. 
I also like how there's a lot of windows, lots of light! 

It said on the menu that the chef choice sashimi platter is imported from Tsukiji Market. 
(One of my fav sashimi go-to places in Japan!)

MANKUNOUCHI BOX (4/5)
The display is so cute :D 

Loved all the items in the bento box, minus one item, which was the tuna fish guts [top right of the picture]. It looked slimy and gooey and we didn't want to try it but I did anyways. Its flavour tasted like it was marinated in Korean-style spicy sauce / wasabi sauce and the texture was raw octopus-like, very chewy. 
I wouldn't eat it again hahaha

The fish roe was delicious :) Also, the saba!

STUFFED CHICKEN WING DUMPLING (4/5)
[deep fried chicken wings stuffed with minced wagyu beef, pork, shiso, water chestnuts, cabbage & chives]

This is always my go-to dish in Japanese izakayas. Loved it! I order this each time I visit Kiu. 
If there was more sauce that goes with it, it would make it a lot better!

PRESSED SUSHI (3/5)
[12 pc of 4 kinds of sushi / 3pc each]

I liked the torched salmon pressed sushi the most. There was beef, mackerel... etc. 

You don't even know how many times I attempted to take that picture above... hahaha..

It would've been better if the pressed sushi could be held up by chopsticks, it kept falling apart :( 

BLACK COD FISH (5/5)

Nothing can go wrong with cod fish. Love ittt

TAKOYAKI (3/5)

Nothing special, would've liked it more if they added more sauce on top.

KARAAGE (3.5/5)

The chicken wasn't dry - it was nice, crispy and hot :)

* RAMEN SETS

Overall, the ramen sets weren't that good. (I thought this place was opened up by a ramen place..!!) 
I'd recommend the sushi/sashimi here instead.

WHITE SESAME SHIO RAMEN (3/5)

The neat part about this ramen is that it comes a cute wooden tool that you can grind the sesame seeds with. 

ASSARI LIGHT SHOYU RAMEN (2/5)

It lives up to what it's supposed to be, a very light broth - but the broth was too light, which made it not have much taste. (I didn't order this haha)

ROASTED GARLIC SHOYU RAMEN (3.5/5)

The most flavourful out of all the ramen sets I've tried. I'd recommend this out of the three.

Kiu Japanese Restaurant

$$$  Ramen, Sushi Bars

169 Enterprise Boulevard
Markham, ON L6G 0E7

Aka Teppan *.

Helloooo! It's Red Nose Day ?_?

I'm reviewing Aka Teppan which is another go-to restaurant for my friend meet-ups. 

After trying many items on the menu (I come here often haha), I'd recommend the:

* GRILLED CHICKEN - RICE [Hot Plate]

I always order this with cheese; remember to pour the cheese bits while it's sizzling hot! 
Melted cheese, yums! (+ o.99)

* GRILLED CHICKEN - PASTA with herb sauce [Hot Plate]

I like their grilled chicken so I tend to choose it. I tried this way back when it first opened and it wasn't that good but recently I came and they definitely improved a lot. It's yummy and saucy! :)

* MINI BEEF PATTY (3) with cheese inside

These mini patties are so good!! Comes sizzling hot each time. 

* SHABU SHABU with beef

Try the Hokkaido Milk broth!! Sounds weird but tastes good :D

^ That's actually Carmen's udon pasta + supreme beef

The pictures of the other foods are in my computer / other phone.. sooo I'll update this one day :P

Aka Teppan

$$  Japanese

3235 Highway 7 E
Markham, ON L3R 3P9

Tapagria *.

Came to Tapagria for double date dinner and had a wonderful time here. Service was great.

The interior was nicely decorated and had a retro / classy feel to it. 

We ordered a looootttt of food for 4 people:

DRINKS:

* LYCHEE SANGRIA (for us girls): 

We couldn't taste any alcohol, which we liked. It was very sweet, but the boys said it was too sweet for their liking and ended up ordering beer lol.

* BEER (for the boys; Spanish beer - I forgot the name :S)

What I liked about the tapa dishes here was that everything actually came as a "sizzling hot tapas" dish - you'd be surprised at how many tapas dishes that come in room temperature..

JAMÓN WRAPPED DATES (5/5)

The jamón wrapped dates were delicious. It's new to me because I usually order jamón as a cold dish with cantaloupes.

SALTED COD CROQUETAS (5/5)

This was so good! The breaded crust was crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside. If only the portions were a tad bigger. Its taste is similar to a crab cake but I like the salted cod more in comparison.

GRILLED OCTOPUS (3/5)

The flavour of this tapas dish was great, but I didn't like the combo of octopus and olives (personal opinion because I'm "meh" with olives).

ROASTED BONE MARROW (3.5/5)

The roasted bone marrow was great! What could make it better is that the salt be added on the side rather than already on top of the bone marrow. It was a tad too salty! Otherwise, yummy! :)

PAELLA DE MARISCOS (3/5)
(bomba rice, lobster, shrimp, mussels, clams, calamari, saffron, peas)

They put a lot of ingredients! But we thought the other dishes that we've order stood out more than this paella.

CHULETÓN ASADO (4/5)
(32oz roasted rib eye, garlic, charred scallion, romesco)

Sooo good! The meat was very tender and juicy - if only there was less fat in the meats (we had to cut out a chunk of fatty out!). One of my favourite dishes of the night!

DESSERTS:

[ We were already stuffed after all the food we ordered... but there's always room for desserts... haha ]

CHURROS WITH NUTELLA (2/5)

Not special, and the churros were half its usual size. 

SPANISH TOAST (5/5)

We should've just ordered two of this because it's SO GOOD! Tastes like the Japanese dessert "Mochi", which is a sticky rice that's sweet. It looks like a pancake - it's crispy on the outside but inside has a texture like a pudding / mochi. So good! I'd recommend you ordering this! :D

Tapagria

$$  Spanish, Tapas/Small Plates, Bars

230 Commerce Valley Drive E
Markham, ON L3T 7Y3