GRATEFUL FOR SAKAI
Burlington’s Sakai is not one of those all-you-can-eat joints
Walking into the double doors of Sakai, one of the first things we encountered was a framed article on the original chef, who was born in Korea and trained in Japan.
It said that he was rapped on the head or kicked in the shins when he made a mistake.
Rigid training like that is no longer endorsed, however. I found out the current chef is the son of the subject of the article. He has carried on the attention to detail that makes Sakai a destination well worth considering.
The restaurant is in Burlington on Fairview, just east of Walker’s Line. When we entered the dining room, we were greeted by the traditional “Irasshaimase!” (Welcome!)
Like many Japanese/Korean restaurants, the options for seating are a bar or regular dining tables. Here, as in some slightly more formal places, semiprivate booths are also available. If you are on a date, the booths are the perfect intimate space, but if you want to watch an event like the Olympics (women’s weightlifting was on while we were there), sit out in the open or at the bar.
We ordered one of my favourite sakes, Hatsutori Nigori, a milky white. It had the consistency of a port and the particles of rice not filtered out made it almost creamy. It was cold and sweet, the way seasonal corn is sweet, and a delicious accompaniment to the food. If you aren’t a fan of sake, beer is also available.
There are plenty of meal choices, including a variety of noodles, shabu-shabu (beef cooked in broth), and traditional Korean bee bim bap.
Our miso soup was first to arrive, amid oohs and cheers for the weightlifters on TV. Those cheers very well could have come for the broth. This was no powder and water mix; it tasted of quality miso.
The small salads that usually come with Japanese food had the typical iceberg lettuce, along with some mixed greens and a dressing that gave a punch with freshly grated ginger.
Then came the tako yaki (Japanese dumplings) and the mandu yaki (Korean dumplings). Having lived and cooked in Tokyo, I was looking forward to the tako yaki: octopus cooked in batter. The octopus was tender and fresh with a deep flavour, but the batter wasn’t cooked through and had a gummy texture. The mandu, however, was delicious. The wrappers were delicate and thin, folded by hand, and the filling — a deliciously delicate pork and vegetable mixture — was soft, almost fluffy.
On the heels of the dumplings came the eggplant tempura. I love eggplant, but it has to be cooked perfectly, as it was here. Not mushy, but with no bite to it either. The batter was light without being too puffy.
There’s also a lengthy list of maki rolls and à la carte sushi or sashimi.
I chose the hamachi and the shrimp. I was expecting raw shrimp but it came cooked, each half served over thinly sliced half moons of lemon: a beautiful touch.
The hamachi was incredible, as I expected. This fatty fish is the foie gras of tuna. Our hamachi had a light, fresh tuna flavour and a smooth texture that lingered on the palate.
Our waitress brought out the chap chae (Korean glass noodles) next, with potato noodles that were a deep brown, having soaked in the soy sauce and sesame oil during cooking. The beef had the sweetness I expected and overall, the dish was a winner with its balance of umami (savoury), sweet and salt.
Along with that was the bool go ghee (Korean grilled and marinated beef ). (I’ve also seen it spelled bulgogi.) We got it ssam style — with lettuce leaves, fried garlic and a spicy pepper sauce — plus extra spicy green peppers if one should wish more heat. The meat was a little less flavourful than I anticipated based on what I had already sampled, but still tasty with the accoutrements.
We really impressed our server by ordering dessert. My dining companion was very skeptical of the tempura banana as an offering, but it was fantastic eaten with my black sesame ice cream. It didn’t go quite as well with the green tea ice cream.
The sesame ice cream reminded me of eating peanut butter and bananas as a kid.
With the all-you-can-eat sushi joints and too many mediocre Japanese restaurants around, I left Sakai feeling grateful. I tasted just a fraction of its offerings, and I can’t wait to go back for the rest.