Carol F
Google
An amazing hidden hole in the wall that takes us back to Tokyo, Japan! With strengths in Ramen by Yamamoto and Tempura and Tendon (Tempura Donburi) restaurant by Akimitsu, the menu covers the best of both worlds. The owners have several awards and generation of mastered arts in traditional Tendon and even Michelin guide Tokyo One Star for Ramen (2019-2021). Food was amazing and really awesome! Do note, it gets pretty busy after 5:30pm and the tempura backlog may happen around 6:30pm but they are very accommodating on changes! Just be patient because it is worth the wait!
We were wandering to another restaurant that was overly full and happened to stumble upon this restaurant. It's stairs with banners noted the awards and achievements, the faint glow of the restaurant lights with diners and lit up name of their restaurant, you can easily miss this location. Entering through the door, there's an Asakusa Station sign indicating where the main entrance is on your right. Main entrance has a waiting area, staff comes up to greet you and ask for ID and proof of vaccination. The lack of windows inside makes it feel like you've teleported back to Tokyo. The hanging noren (Japanese fabric dividers), wooden panel walls, the thin corridor space along with branches of trees, there's some thought that went into the restaurant that gives a nod to the Japanese ambiance.
We tried a bit of everything since they're known for their ramen and tempura (no tendon today). We ordered the Original Shoyu Tonkatsu Ramen (with extra chashu). Note, they don't char their chashu but sous-vides it for a different texture which is different from other ramen places in Toronto. The pork bone soup base was very rich, not too thick compared to other ramen places. The thin noodles were just right and not overly soft or hard, the way it would be in other Tokyo ramen stores we've been to. It is not as salty as most places.
We also ordered the Vegetable Tempura Udon Set which comes with 7 vegetables (in Akimitsu original tempura batter on asparagus, shishito pepper, king oyster mushroom?, brown mushroom, pumpkin, yam and broccoli) , udon, tsukemono (Japanese pickles), 3 kinds of salt and tempura sauce. Hands down, the yam and pumpkin tempura were the best we've tried in Toronto. The batter was really light and didn't taste oily.
Lastly, we tried their delicious chicken karaage which came with 5 pieces of fried chicken with Japanese mustard (karashi) mayo on the side. For all 3 ordered items, we paid a total of $50 for our food and was very stuffed afterwards!
Overall, during our whole experience, the staff were very responsive and very prompt with checking on water and our experience. Needless to say, we had a great time and would come back again!
Edit: We are back here again to share the love of food to friends.. food is still delicious - tried more items on the menu like the Wagyu Ramen, Signature Clam Mild Shio Ramen, Deep Fried King Mushroom, and Asakusa Tempura Udon Set. All were great options! The Wagyu Ramen was a great choice and came with a clear beef and chicken soup base with really delicious Wagyu beef. The Deep Fried King Mushroom was took us by surprise as the thinly sliced mushroom felt like chips. The Asakusa Tempura Udon set came with 2 prawn tempura, 3 seafood (salmon, unagi and herring roe), 2 vegetable (pumpkin, shishito pepper, yam) which were all great tempura options to cover all flavours!