Toyotomi 豐臣家

REVISIT POST ON TOYOTOMI [HERE]

I have been wanting to visit Toyotomi for a while after seeing the restaurant on many people's Instagram. The restaurant's exterior is deceiving because the open sign is not lit and it is dim inside. As we were about to leave, the security guard from the plaza was nice and walked out to let us know the restaurant was open.

The restaurant is surprisingly spacious with comfortable booth seating.

DELUXE $21.59 CHILD (5-12) $15.99

ADULT $15.39 CHILD (5-12) $9.99 

BROTH $8.88, YIN YANG $9.88 

JAPANESE CHILLI AND SAKE CHICKEN YIN YANG BROTH ($9.88). DEEP FRIED GARLIC ($0.56), CILANTRO ($0.66) AND SATAY ($0.56). The japanese chilli broth has a medium settled spiciness without tasting too spicy. For the sake chicken, the broth has a light and clear taste with a hint of sake. Onto the condiments, the deep fried garlic tastes crispy, the cilantro tastes fresh, and the satay sauce tastes saltier than most, which surprises me because I thought all satay sauce tastes pretty much the same.

ON THE LEFT, FATTY BEEF, AAA PRIME RIB, LAMB SHOULDER AND PORK SHOULDER. ON THE RIGHT, SHIU CHOY, PUMPKIN, FISH TOFU, PIG BLOOD, MUSSELS, TIGER PRAWNS, COD FILLET, INSTANT NOODLE, SHRIMP WONTON , SEAWEED AND OYSTER MUSHROOMS. Every order is per piece, so make sure you write 10 instead of 1! I thought the prime rib would taste tasty and tender rather than chewy and tough. The fatty beef and lamb shoulder tastes average with no complaints. Basically everything tastes like what it is and there are no complaints. My watercress or abalone never came:(.

ON THE LEFT, DEEP FRIED CHILLI SALMON, CHICKEN WINGS AND SMELT. ON THE RIGHT, CURRY FISH BALLS. Everything except the chicken wings are only 1 piece per person or there is an extra $1.00/piece charge. The deep fried salmon tastes a bit stiff but not overly battered or over deep fried. The chicken wings are nicely deep fried and does not taste dry or moist. The smelt is probably my favourite out of the cooked items because they are nicely battered and tastes moist inside. The fish balls have no curry taste and tastes old as well as rubbery. Everything else we ordered is sashimi and sushi rolls.

LOBSTER SASHIMI ($11.99). The lobster sashimi is only $2.99 for the first six people after 6:00pm! To be honest, this is the only reason why I came here. The lobster sashimi could have been shredded more and the closest way for me to describe the taste would be... it tastes like amaebi with a crunchy texture. 

These are the cooked claws. You would think because of how frequently I eat lobster, I would have thought to throw the claws in the hot pot, but it was BFs idea and is apparently common sense, whoops.

SALMON, TUNA, SABA AND SPICY TUNA SASHIMI. I think one of the reasons why Toyotomi is more attractive than other AYCE restaurants is because of the presentation (ice cubes). Judging by the how the salmon sashimi is sliced, clearly they are trying to save as much as possible. But hey, it is AYCE and understandable. I was expecting more skin on the salmon sashimi since I have seen other people's photos, but mine is not too bad. None of the tuna sashimi or spicy tuna are end pieces which is nice (most restaurants use scraps and end pieces for rolls or spicy sashimi). 

For the pieces of salmon sashimi I could not eat because of the skin (too chewy), I cooked them in the hot pot which turned out pretty yummy and melts in the mouth. 

AVOCADO, CALIFORNIA, MARPLE ROLL (SPICY TUNA SASHIMI) AND SUMMER ROLL (IMITATION CRAB MEAT). For the marple and summer roll, there is a limit of 1 piece per person. All the rolls are nicely made without tasting too heavy in mayonnaise. The avocado roll has a few brown pieces of avocado, the california roll has nice shredded imitation crab, and the specialty rolls have a good amount of topped masago. I also like the black sesame seeds too! If anything, the rice is heavy which can be a given at some AYCE restaurants.

BEEF SASHIMI. The beef sashimi tastes fresh, and is sprinkled with deep fried garlic and green onions.

Toyotomi is not bad for an AYCE hot pot and Japanese restaurant. Luckily we were seated by the sushi bar so service was not really an issue. We came around 9:50pm and was pretty rushed to order since last call is at 10:00pm. I took a few minutes because I wanted to read the fine print, such as if it really is 1 piece per order. I confirmed a few times because I did not want the per pieces of sushi to turn into per rolls! Also since it was last call, I wanted to make sure I can try everything I wanted. When all our dishes came, one of the waitresses was kind and asked if everything was enough because she knew we could only order once.

POSITIVES
- Presentation is nice for an AYCE
- Stayed after closing and the owner's son and another waiter was friendly
- Beef sashimi is yummy
- The only AYCE hot pot and Japanese restaurant that I know of

NEGATIVES
- Skin on the sashimi is not the best (it is AYCE though, so acceptable?)

LITTLE THINGS
- Revisit post on Toyotomi [here]
- Lobster sashimi comes with the lobster's head which will twitch, I personally feel guilty seeing that and if you do too, I recommend asking them for no head
- Comes to $43.00/person, not sure if it is a good deal (we did order the lobster sashimi though)
- A waitress was putting gas in the burner and elbowed BF pretty hard to get out of her way while she was kneeling beside him on the booth seats LOL (she did not apologize either). Usually this stuff happens to me and I was pretty pleased it was not me for the first time

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 2/5