So Then

Thursday night, I went to the Ossington Strip for dinner. I do miss the Karaoke bars and modest shops that were here but you can't fight progress. I walked past old-school record store Rotate This (although it was also a recent transplant from its long-time spot on Queen St. W.) as they were closing up. I recognized some familiar faces and thought that they must really love music. To come back after more than a year to a job that probably pays minimum wage, and involves long stretches of standing around without customers, well there are other retail positions. Its contemporary Soundscapes on College St. has closed up shop. But there are always new contenders (Dead Dog Record, Grasshopper).

Japanese sushi bar Shozan Room never caught the buzz of the other restaurants so there was a table free right by the window. I enjoyed looking at the pedestrians passing by as I had some Kinpara Gobo ($9), Squid Tempura ($6.50) and a 10-piece chef's choice ($34). The Kinpara or burdock root was good though I've only ever had it as a small side dish with lunch during my yoga training. It was perhaps too much roughage as an appetizer. The squid came out as a mass of tentacles skewered on a wooden spit. It looked intimidating but turned out to be a nice balance between crispy tempura and chewy squid.

By its appearance, the 10-piece sushi plate obviously used better-quality fish. It was a wonderful main with good rice and mouth-feel. But I have only been eating cheap sushi (like here) over the last year. So the rich flavour and texture were a bit overwhelming. A thought occurred to me that paradoxically you'd want to start with the cheap, bland stuff for a newbie. Because I can't see someone who hasn't had sushi being able to eat this or would want to try again.