Anna Leung
Google
Maybe it was an off day but my partner and I came in expecting Michelin guide quality food. We ordered 4 tapas and two cocktails. I am confused over all the 5 star reviews, it may be that most customers have never experienced a normal Japanese or modernized Japanese meal. I’ve truly never had an experience so confusing and unpalatable. The menu sounded promising and the cocktails as well. The service was great, though looked understaffed with two staff being the bartenders and waiters for a full restaurant. The waiter/bartender was knowledgeable and kind about the menu and we had good experiences with the service.
The tsukemono was extremely sour and purely tasted like rice vinegar. There was little to no balance, it literally stung our throats as we tried to swallow it. Meant to be marinated with Japanese methodologies, it feels like it did Japan a disservice.
The courgette was the best thing we ate, because it did not just taste sour, it was good and relatively balanced with it’s grilled flavour.
The omble was salty beyond belief. I wish the fish was cut thinner, the saltiness of the thick slice which could have been delicate and the flavour of the smoked salmon mousse overpowered our whole meal. The pickled garnishes helped us survive this dish. Without them, I do not know how we could have eaten the entire plate.
We got the fish dumplings as our fourth tapas. The filling is good, however drenched again in this strangely sour yet creamy dressing aided in making this meal incredibly questionable. Try Sammi and Soupe in Montreal for actually Michelin guide worth dumplings. Hand folded dumplings with no technique either, folded like some sort of wonton. The way they are folded leaves much of the dumpling skin exposed compared to other more traditional ways of folding. In such, when the dish inevitably cools down, more skin is exposed to the air and hardens adding unwelcome texture to the experience, whereas traditional folding avoids this.
The presentation of the food was lovely, the plating with spinach leaves (or whatever the green leaves were) that were on almost all of our plates was interesting. Added little flavour to the dish. Maybe try using microgreens to add some plating variety.
Again, I understand the fusion, innovative and modernized aspect of Torii but the execution truly fell flat. Either we had an off day, or the cooks need to revisit Japan and have a true experience of what Japanese food encompasses.
We got the milkpunch cocktail and the strawberry field cocktail. I can’t blame the bartenders for the inconsistencies either due to the busy-ness of the restaurant but it would seem like our strawberry field cocktail has a different amount of foam than our neighbouring customers. The milk punch cocktail was simply wine and whiskey layered on each other, it was difficult to even finish. No thoughts seemed to go into this menu creation and cocktail mixology.
A side note, we watched one of the bartenders try to pour a tap beer for our entire meal because it was so foamy and he kept failing to get a good pour. He kept rinsing out the cups, even leaving the beer with foam out so that it’d settle, it was truly embarrassing and unfortunate to watch right in front of us at the bar. It was also excruciating to watch him pour out failed attempts multiple times and waste so much beer.
In all, I am not sure what I expected from a proclaimed izakaya in Quebec City, but I do beg all fellow reviewers to venture out of Quebec City to experience real and authentic modernized Japanese food because Torii left many questions about the Michelin guide and the state of East Asian food in Quebec City. We have few notes on the service, again, staff were trying their best. But maybe the kitchen staff need to taste their food before serving it. Possibly one of the worst “Japanese” meals if not the worst we’ve ever had.
