Hana-bi 花火

Hana-bi 1There’ve been delays in getting these posts up my blog these days because of all the OTs and parties going on recently. The week before last week, I had 5 hours of cardio exercise, which made me really proud of myself. “Yeah!” I thought I would be in a really good shape to see my trainer last week. But it turned out that I had to stay late 3 nights, including the night of freezing rain – stayed til 11pm. Then, there was also the V-day dinner… So, my original plan was totally ruined. *sigh*

Friday night. I was so exhausted but felt good about the busy week has passed. So, we went to try out a new restaurant again. (“again”!!! I think my bf kinda hated me for always wanting to try new things) Originally, we were going to a restaurant in Commerce Gate (can’t remember the English name, but the Chinese name is 橫綱). Many years ago, it used to be a pretty good Japanese noodle place. About 2-3 months ago, we went to this place again, and it was totally different from what it used to be. The overall feeling was … it’s going down. But we ate there anyway and ordered a bowl of noodle and a “Egg-wrapped rice” (what a poor direct translation from the name 蛋包飯) and a dessert. Overall, it wasn’t bad and the rice was actually quite good! So, back to the story… we went there and it was closed down already. *sigh* We were so glad that we’ve made the tough decision for the night, and this question just came back to haunt us again?!?!?

After lots of struggle, we decided to go to First Markham Place, where there’re relatively more choices. The first sight – Hana-bi Japanese Restaurant – seemed to be fullhouse – it gotta be quite good, right?

Here we go! When we first went into the restaurant, the waitresses were polite and helpful. They gave us a table near the entrance and said we could switch later when an empty table came up. So, we looked at the menu and then later on switched to another table. The chef was also very welcoming and friendly. Although he was very busy making the sushi, he kinda looked at me and signaled that there was an empty table.

So far so good. Then we ordered some dishes, and the miso soup came. However, surprise – the soup was warm, not hot. I definitely gotta deduct marks because of that.

Hana-bi 2The first dish we ordered was the salmon teriyaki – Totally disappointing. I know you can’t compare this with the one you get at Seoul House, but this is just, just too overcooked. You could even taste the bitter taste of the overcooked part.

Hana-bi 3Second dish, a chance for redemption, Hana-bi! The look of this sushi pizza was not bad.

Hana-bi 4BUT when you put this in your mouth, you will feel how hard it is. The outside layer was overfried. It was the second time I have ever had such a disappointing sushi pizza in Toronto. The first time was at a new restaurant near Woodbine and Hwy7 (a few years ago), but the restaurant was closed down/sold after about 1 year.

We also ordered a small sushi tray. It was so-so, the sashimi – not extremely fresh, just so-so. But the rice wasn’t sticking onto the sashimi piece. When we asked for the bill, they gave us two little cups of warmed sake, and 2 small packages of Smartie’s. The total of the night was around $45 before gratuity. I still wonder why there were so many customers… Final comment… the waiting time for the dishes was a bit too long.

Aside, they have fresh oyster – $18 a dozen. Not sure if it’s good or not.

Hana-bi 花火
3255 Highway 7 East (First Markham Place)
Tel: 905-948-9666

One thought on “Hana-bi 花火

  1. ha ha, I’ve been there last year. Never visited since. What can I say? Always trust a Japanese to make good Japanese food. Dont’ settle for imitaters.

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