Down By The Bay

On Wednesday, I met up with some out-of-town friends visiting on a short vacation. Like many Canadians, they have opted for local trips this summer. I used to mingle with the Harbourfront crowd during summer week-ends as there were always some festival, event, or show. I'm now only in the area typically for an evening dance recital when the daytime mob has already dispersed. I knew with the pandemic, it wouldn't be bustling but I was a bit shock at the sparseness. Visitors may still think things were lively but I knew what a busy week-end used to looked like.

We ended up at Kinka Izakaya for dinner. Though this location was relatively new, Kinka was the first Izakaya to open in Toronto on Church St in 2009 under the name Guu Izakaya. Most izakayas in the city seemed to be an offshoot of a Vancouver establishment. So my friends, more Vancouver-philes than Toronto lovers, were planning to dine exclusively at Vancouver-based izakayas throughout their stay here.

After sitting down at the curbside patio, we ordered Okonomiyaki ($8.90), Karaage ($9.90), Yaki Udon ($12.30), Kakimayo ($9.30), Salmon Natto Yukke ($12.30), Japanese prawn "risotto" ($12.30), and a pitcher of Sapporo beer ($9.90). It was a tasty meal with fun conversation. I remembered the excitement when izakaya first came to town; every dish was eye-opening and exotic. Izakaya is literally Japanese bar food and so it was interesting that a decade on, it has normalized in the same mental space in my head as chicken wings, nachos, and other North American pub fares.