Le Cafe Michi Experience

[.alias]

First time at Le Cafe Michi.

All in all it was a good experience. I ordered the Cafe au Lait Chirashi at first as well as a plate of assorted sashimi afterwards.

The Chirashi was very good. The amount of sashimi was comparable to the assorted plate I had afterwards and the pieces were fresh and delicious. Uni was very a highlight, but the others were good as well. I would of prefered the manguro (tuna) to be a little softer. Under the sashimi was a thin layer of egg which was new compared to other experiences I've read. And under that between the rice was a good amount of unagi. It was delicious overall, fresh fish, well seasoned rice, and a unagi with each spoonful to finish it off.

I believe they used freshly grated wasabi too,definately not the pasty wasabi you usually see.

Sashimi plate was good, similar to stuff on the chirashi.

cafe michi is great if you're starting off and looking for the basics without too many untried types of sashimi and such.

Price could of been a tiny bit cheaper, the chirashi was 35 now, and the sashimi i believe 28.

The place is small, reservations made not be necessary sometimes, but I had one. We sat in the small back room where the sushi bar is.

Cakes were good, my friend and I tried the green tea cake and the chocolate sakecake. Sake was a bit strong, but good . Greentea cake was delicious.

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Le Cafe Michi
1802 Pharmacy Ave, Toronto, ON M1T1H6, CA

[sumashi]

mm, thanks for the pic, Charles, and thanks for the very detailed description Notorious P.I.G. Every time I've been there, I ordered their green tea cake, hehe, I'll have to try this english trifle you speak of!

[Notorious P.I.G.]

It will explode your mind.

[.alias]

I think i'll try this on my next visit as well.

Sad to see Michi doesn't get as much recognition as i think it should though.

[Notorious P.I.G.]

Definitely try it!

I think they get enough recognition to be fairly packed most of the time. At least when I go in they seem to be near capacity.

[Charles Yu]

Any busier and I don't think Toshi san can handle the traffic??!! On any given night, he looked totally exhausted around 8.30!!!

[sumashi]

haha... So I ended up going to Le Cafe Michi about a week after your post. I was so serious about ordering the english trifle that I actually reserved it right when I saw it in the display case since there were only two left!

Our table of four had two desserts : the english trifle and the hazelnut cake. Everybody liked the english trifle best. The custard was smooth, fruits were fresh, and the whole thing put together was really good. Thanks for expanding my horizons!

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Le Cafe Michi
1802 Pharmacy Ave, Toronto, ON M1T1H6, CA

[Notorious P.I.G.]

No worries, it was probably only a matter of time before you tried it on your own anyway!

[Notorious P.I.G.]

Went to Michi yesterday and it was better than ever. Got my Cafe Au Lait Chirashi and it was stellar. Maybe even a bit more attention to detail than usual. Really nice.

It had%3

Ika with fresh Tarako on it

Uni with different kinds of shiso buds

Hotate

mae Ebi

Botan Ebi

Maguro

Hamachi Belly

Sake

Hirame

The usual Bento/Kaiseki style Maguro sushi with wasabi dots

Hokkigai

Tamago

Unagi (under the rice)

The sushi chef was saying that he had just picked all of the Shiso/Shiso buds from his garden that morning and that he grows 5 different types.

Instead of the usual English Trifle (which may just be my favorite dessert of all time) I went with their Tofu Cheesecake which was pretty much perfect. Fumi San actually bakes most of the desserts there herself using fresh fruit and never keeps them for more than a day making it each of you visiting Michi's gastronomic duty to eat that Trifle to prevent waste.

It really is amazing though.

[.alias]

Yeah, there are 2 types. go for the au lait, the 35 dollar one. It's much better for value, and it's delicioussss.

[Charles Yu]

At $35 vs $27, are you sure the 'au lait' is better value??!! Apart from an extra piece of uni, almost every ingredients are the same ( at least 9-10 different types for #2 )!!! Besides quantity of #2 is more!!

[.alias]

The amount of fish you get and the ratio of fish to rice is much better for the au lait.

In my opinion definitely better, and the layer of eel is great.

[sumashi]

Yummy, somebody was JUST telling me about the Chirashi at Le Cafe Michi the other day. From your description, it sounds amazing. I always got their bbq eel and egg on rice dish whenever I went for lunch. This sounds somewhat similar and then topped with sashimi!

Do you have a picture? Is it big enough to share?

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Le Cafe Michi
1802 Pharmacy Ave, Toronto, ON M1T1H6, CA

[Charles Yu]

There are actually two versions of Chirashi at Michi. The more expensive ' au lait' which is in the form of a large bowl and my favourite ( and better value for money ) 3 bowls version ( #2 on the menu ). Photo's enclosed

[Bobby Wham]

Had the Katsu Curry yesterday, It might just be the best in the city

[mtx]

Interesting you tried "curry" at a Jap restaurant. Guess it doesn't hurt to try new things.

The cakes were good?!? I went twice and tried the sake cake twice but barely tasted any sake!

[pinstripeprincess]

i feel a little buzz in my brain when i eat that sake cake.

as for the wasabi, i'm pretty sure he's using the half-half mix available these days. chunky real wasabi with paste. noticed that sanko now has divided them into mini packets so i don't have to waste a giant 2kg bag of the stuff.

[jlunar]

Actually, Japanese Curry isn't some new-fangled fusion :) Maybe old-fangled fusion, but it's a very established speciality these days.

[jayt90]

Wiki says the British brought curry from India over 100 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if the Portuguese boats brought it to Japan even sooner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese...

[T Long]

Curry dishes are very popular in Japan and Japanese curry is different than other curries. Michi does a good job its curries. I like the cakes too at Michi...like many Japanese baking I think they use less sugar than mainstream western cake makers.

[Notorious P.I.G.]

And you finished off with the trifle no doubt? It's a crime to go to Michi and not rep that trifle.

[Bobby Wham]

haha i guess i should be arrested cause i didn't try it, next time for sure. On a second note the miso was really on point as well, rich and flavourful.