Weekly Lunch Pick
Nami
This calming Japanese restaurant offers a four-course lunch worth loosening the belt for By Renée Suen
Image credit: Renee Suen
The place: For over two decades, Nami has been a quiet escape in the traditional Japanese style, right in the heart of downtown. Simple and polished, the restaurant features a spacious dining room, kimono-clad waitresses and a rice paper–screened tatami room for secret rendezvous. A reservation lands us one of the private booths, although a seat in front of (or at) the robata bar would be just as comfortable.
The crowd: Suits stop by the sushi counter or cooking grill for quick lunch fixes before returning to the Bay Street shuffle. The more casually attired blend their business chatter with the traditional koto (a Japanese string instrument) tunes flowing from overhead speakers.
The deal: We resist the temptation of the sushi spring roll ($12), the popular made-to-order teriyaki lunch plates ($13.75–$24.75) and cubes of steak grilled on the tabletop hibachi ($12.50) in order to indulge in one of the rotating lunch specials ($18). The package includes a garden salad, two mains and a scoop of ice cream (black sesame, green tea, ginger, vanilla or mango).
The dish: On this visit, the midday deal features highly slurpable green tea soba noodles topped with a pair of tempura shrimp and salmon grilled two ways: one salt-kissed with crispy skin, the other brushed with teriyaki glaze. The former's simple flavours pair nicely with a mound of grated daikon; the complexity of the latter is juxtaposed by a tannic stack of sesame spinach. Random blocks of tamago (sweet egg) complete the rest of this protein-centric dish (which, in retrospect, was missing its advertised bowl of rice).
The time: 60 unhurried minutes.
The cost: $23 per person, including tax and tip for four courses and a perpetually full cup of green tea.
Nami, 55 Adelaide St. E. (at Yonge), 416-362-7373, namirestaurant.ca.
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