Be sure not to Skippa this sushi bar
Skippa
★★★★(out of 4) Address: 379 Harbord St. (at Roxton Rd.), 416-535-8181, skippa.ca Chef: Ian Robinson Hours: Thursday to Monday, 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. Reservations: Yes Wheelchair access: No Price: Dinner for two with beer, tax and tip: $100
New sushi bar Skippa is noteworthy for many reasons.
I could go on about the delightful tasting menu that clocks in at $40 a person — a bargain for fish of this quality — and the crazy good squash ice cream ($6).
I also like Skippa’s homegrown Japanese herbs, cute chopstick rests and sweet hospitality. And how pleasant to get informed advice about sake; Niwa No Uguisu ($20) really does taste like heady fermented apples, while the fuller Tengumai ($20) deliciously complements the food.
But perhaps Skippa’s most interesting element is owner Ian Robinson, 29, the charming chef behind the wooden sushi bar.
Robinson spent four years apprenticing under redoubtable Japanese chef Mitsuhiro Kaji at Sushi Kaji, learning to mimic his mentor’s soothing hand movements. By observing customers’ faces and plates, he saw when to tone down the wasabi and when to make smaller nigiri. It was knowledge Robinson pursued in spite of the language gap and his lack of formal chef’s training.
“I gave my whole life to it. I used to practise moulding the rice in front of a mirror so I’d look at ease,” Robinson says.
“I gave my whole life to it. I used to practise moulding the rice in front of a mirror so I’d look at ease.” IAN ROBINSON SKIPPA OWNER AND CHEF
(Robinson doesn’t use halfmeasures, including exercise. In 2011, he ran 247 kilometres across the Sahara desert in the Marathon des Sables.)
For all that intensity, Skippa is a relaxed and unpretentious restaurant named for Robinson’s father’s sailboat.
It opened July13 in the former Roxton at the Ossington Ave. end of Harbord St.
The short menu covers sashimi, sushi and vegetables. The latter, grown by a Japanese farmer in Leamington, Ont., are turned into salads and pickles that take me back to Japan at first bite, such as peeled tomato salad ($6). Same with an expansive pickle plate ($12) that nicely marries sliced daikon with yuzu, eggplant with smoky dashi broth and cucumbers with reduced soy sauce. The plate further includes delicate buds of Japanese ginger, or myoga, rare in these parts. The subtlety evaporates when it comes to the caramelized onions hammering delicate roasted kabocha squash ($9).
However delightful the vegetables, sushi — by the piece ($2 to $6) or as omakase (chef’s choice) — is the point here.
Robinson has a passion for teaching as well as learning. He gifts miniature nigiri upon children to expand their palates.
He tells those seated at the sushi bar when to use the homemade soy sauce and when to refrain. For those sitting in booths, he includes instruc- tions on the menu.
“Please eat the sushi with your fingers and in one bite . . . Ginger can be eaten in between each piece of sushi, never on top,” it reads in part.
Robinson shuffles around his station like a boxer in the ring. He slices fish, scoops up rice and flicks on wasabi while making easy small talk.
Chef’s choice starts with warm edamame followed by six or seven pieces of sushi, depending on the day.
There may be soft octopus anointed with crunchy flaked sea salt or amberjack sprinkled with green onion. Robinson offers up their provenance but far more interesting are the sauces and garnishes that make these nigiri sing.
Yuzu and mandarin peels burst with citrus pizzazz. Green olive oil works brilliantly with red snapper. Soy-based tare sauce glazes garnetcoloured big-eye tuna. A dot of shisocorn purée complements sweet shrimp.
It’s a progression of small pleasures. Wasabi is dialed higher for the meatier fish, turned down for the shrimp. Scallops, though, are paired with the bright heat of scotch bonnet peppers in a sauce that draws on Robinson’s Barbadian roots.
The inside-out hand roll of chopped tuna is balanced and clean. The meal ends with triangles of saltysweet tamago omelette lined up like the Sydney Opera House roofline.
Skippa isn’t the only sushi bar on Harbord St. But unlike Yasu down the street, where omakase is more than double at $105 a person, Skippa feels warm and approachable — a great spot to eat without breaking the bank.
“I wanted to hit the middle ground between Sushi on Bloor and Yasu,” Robinson explains.
Goal met.