Katsura

We've heard good things about Katsura at the Westin Prince Hotel in North York, so we decided to try out the restaurant when they suddenly appeared on the Winterlicious list. The Lunch was $20 but in a lunch box format, while the dinner was a full-out teppanyaki dinner for $35 - so we decided to try the dinner. 

Nishiki-Mori Salad

Too vinegary for my taste - there was quite a lot of dressing in the salad and the leaves weren't as fresh and crisp as I would have expected an up scale restaurant to serve.

Kakitama Soup

I actually really liked this egg drop soup. The taste was clean and it was a refreshing way to start the meal.

Miso Soup

Nothing spectacular about the miso soup - although it was slightly orange...

Teppan table

In Teppanyaki, the chefs multi-task: (1) they cook your food right in front of you and (2) they put on a show! In this case, our chef was pretty good with the salt and pepper shakers and he put on a bit of a show with the cooking of the assorted veggies:

Onion Tower on Fire!

Teppanyaki seasonal vegetables - zucchini, red peppers, white mushrooms and onions

Nicely done veggies - given the show the chef was putting on, I was glad they weren't burnt or under-cooked. I found that there was enough seasoning on my vegetables to forgo the sauces (one was mustard seed and the other was a ginger soya sauce).

Teppan chef cooking the steaks

Hiyama: My medium steak...which turned out to be well-done and the garlic shrimps

I wasn't happy with the medium steak since it was much tougher and chewier than I'm used to (I don't like my beef well-done), but on the other hand, the garlic shrimps were delicious! It was kind of disturbing watching the chef put in a huge block of butter - but wow - was it ever worth it!

Bean spouts

I didn't like them at all since they had that earthy and raw taste. I usually eat bean sprouts with garlic to take away that earthy taste so I didn't enjoy this at all.

The three types of dessert: from the top left, green tea ice cream, Anmitsu (agar agar jello & red beans) and pear sorbet. 

I was hoping to finish off the meal strong with a good dessert, but we were disappointed. I had the pear sorbet and it just wasn't as nicely done as other pear desserts I've had in the past (pear gelato is AMAZING). They went heavy on the alcohol in the sorbet and I wasn't too pleased. 

Conclusion: Not worth the $35 to eat dinner here for Winterlicious. The Teppanyaki was a great experience and although we left with our tummies full, we weren't particularly satisfied with the meal. 

Website: http://www.katsurarestaurant.com/home.html