The road leading up to the old cinema empire always trigger in me a nostalgia feeling, It was the best cinema when I was in school and a teenager, some 27 years ago… but we didn’t make it to the top, as we had to stop midway at Tsu…
Thank God for the valet parking, it was raining hard with no parking space available…
Aprons on, Chicho and I went in, exactly at Foodie O’Clock (wink wink) who welcomed us with her usual professionalism and warm comforting smile… The Zomato team was on top of things (comme d’habitude)
People were fugitively eying us… who are those 2 clowns wearing those aprons? Yummy who?
– Monsieuuuuuuur ento lachou lebsin hole el aprons? (why are you wearing those aprons?) I was asked by a lady who was struggling to sound serious…
– To get your attention, I replied with a wicked smile…
We got to our seats and were happy to see a good friend of ours Dha Leen and her husband Wha Reed.
The restaurant is very cozy, I loved the glass surrounding us with the rain dripping and those kumkat plants on the outside with their little orange fruits… very Asian… speaking about Asian, tiens… edamame on the table… green fresh salted Edamame… yummy (Lebanon)
The staff were all smiles as they started to serve the salads…
The Chicken Salad… not the best presentation, with however an obvious effort on originality with the wonton fried strips on top. I wasn’t very fond of the chicken, because the flavors didn’t come out as I would have liked them to, but it was probably just me because Dha Leen who has an undeniable refined palet, appreciated it very much.
The Thai Beef Salad on the other hand, I liked, it looked better, colorful, and the Thai sauce and the mango made perfect sense with the juicy grilled beef slices… I enjoyed it much better and loved the rice vermicelli on top.
Both the Salmon and Beef Tataki landed in front of us in a very simple display, I really appreciate the simplicity here that gave all the focus on the main ingredients… Both were perfectly seared and fresh. The Salmon bathed perfectly in what I suppose was a soy lime sauce that enhanced its taste taking it to new gAstronomical heights…
The beef as well, in its wafu dressing was a mouthwatering delight, nice touch with the apple sriracha and the crispy garlic…
The disappointment started with the Sashimi Tacos, the sashimi mix with tomato and avocado sauce was amazing, it’s the Crispy wrap that failed to deliver, it was simple actually, the oil in which it was fried made it bitter… overcooked or overused oil ? I think it’s the latter, what came next confirmed it…
The spring Rolls and the Spicy Shrimp Tempura…
The Spring Rolls were tucked into what I think was a banana or bamboo leaf, simply beautiful… it’s just that frying oil… transferred a lot of bitterness to the rolls, which is a shame because it was obviously delicious judging by its filling…
The same applies to the Spicy Shrimp Tempura… the dish looked beautiful, topped with delicious Shitake Mushrooms, the mayo sauce was perfect with it… it’s the fried shrimps themselves that caught a lot of the oil bitterness… again… a shame, should have been perfect…
The waiters and waitresses were doing a great job, our table remained neat our glasses always filled and our requests filled in timely manner, with a smile and a sense of humor… greatly appreciated.
Then the Maki rolls & Sashimi arrived…
Let’s stay simple, the Maki Rolls were delicious, each and every piece of them… so were the sashimi slices presented on ice and flowers… fresh and crunchy in the mouth, very toothsome…
The general ambiance was really nice and you could tell that everybody present were really enjoying themselves, we roamed around greeting nos connaissances here and there, and time passed… we came back to our tables and were starting to wonder where the rest of the menu was… over 25 minutes passed before the Grilled Chicken and the Mongolian beef were served… and here a surprise, they were served cold… I’m guessing the plates were taken out of the salamander or wherever they were kept hot a bit early and a miscommunication happened with the waiters… because I mean… the kitchen is real close, it made no sense that the food arrive cold to our table… It definitely affected the taste experience…
The Grilled Chicken, I didn’t appreciate at all, what was in the Tsu sauce? The chicken was cold but fine, the Soba noodles were okay too… but the sauce? I apologies, but it’s a “no no” for me… I suggest you change it… I’m not sure there is anything you can do to make it better and it’s too bad because it could easily be a star item.
The Mongolian beef, also cold, was by far superior to the chicken, the pre marinated beef slices were probably sautéed in a wok and mixed with that mouthwatering Mongolian sauce with some veggies and garlic… My favorite of the night… if only it wasn’t cold
The theory of the miscommunication with the waiters I wrote about above seemed to confirm itself when came the dessert… Both were nicely presented, both tasted real good, both were mainly ice creams… both were served melted… the plates were out of the fridge for enough time for them to start melting before they were served…
Now, honestly, Tsu deserves a second visit, the mishaps we had were probably due to the place being full (which is certainly not an excuse) however we understand… Better communication would have certainly led to a better experience, and please watch that frying oil. You will see us again very soon…
Genghis Gaston le Hun
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