OZen Japanese Restaurant

Typically, when we want good value sushi (that is actually decent), we look at places such as Sushi Garden or Sushi Town.   Sure, there are others, but I won't list them all here.  However, as much as the 2 aforementioned spots are acceptable for casual eats, there are limitations as to how satisfied you will be.  What I mean by that is that their menu is fairly basic with not a lot of unique dishes.  I'm not going to get into the argument about them not being Japanese-run because I don't care who makes my food, as long as it is prepared properly.  This brings us to OZen Japanese located in the T&T shopping complex on 152nd.  Taking over from Maguro, they offer large portions of well-made dishes that are reasonably-priced.

Before we got to the larger plates, we started with the Assorted Tempura.  Now this was a pretty large portion despite not being a main.  It consisted of 4 ebi, 2 yam and 1 piece each of sweet potato, kaboucha and asparagus.  The batter was relatively light while being crispy on the outside.  It was easy on the greasiness, even after biting into each item.  The ebi was buttery and sweet with a slight snap.  The other items were fully cooked while not being mushy.

We had something a bit different in the Deep Fried Sablefish Collar.  Now I've had kama many times before, but not battered and deep fried like this.  Personally, I enjoy grilled kama, but this was still good.  Due to the fact it was fatty sablefish and also that the batter locked in the moisture, the meat was super juicy and buttery.   It was also well-seasoned, only needing a squeeze from that lemon for acidity.

Neatly arranged on a sushi boat, we had the Assorted Sashimi.  This was plenty appetizing to look at with fresh slices of fish.  Colour and sheen were appealing with the hamachi being the best of the bunch.  It was super buttery with a natural sweetness with a taste of the sea.  We also found tuna, red tuna, Atlantic salmon, hokkigai, saba and tako as well.  As much as Atlantic salmon gets a bad rap, I liked this one as it was soft and fatty.

We didn't end there with the raw stuff as we also added the Deluxe Nigiri Combo consisting of Atlantic salmon, tuna, ebi, tamago, sockeye salmon, hamachi tako, unagi, ika, chopped scallop and ikura.  Much like the sashimi, the fish was fresh and visually-appealing.  They ate well too, with once again, the hamachi being the highlight.  But the salmon (both kinds) were good too as well as the tamago.  It was fluffy and layered properly.

For our one specialty roll, we selected the Aburi Popping Roll consisting of a imitation crab, cucumber and aburi salmon inside with aburi sauce, tobiko and jalapeno on the outside.  I found this quite pleasant with chewy sushi rice (that was also not laid on too thick) encasing soft salmon and creamy imitation crab mix.  The aburi sauce on the outside was creamy with a bit of a tang.  Since it was torched, it was caramelized with some smokiness.

On the topic of aburi sushi, we went for both the Aburi Saba and Aburi Salmon Oshi.  As you can see, the torching was evenly distributed.  Hence, we got the smokiness right off the bat with each bite.  The creaminess of the mayo-based sauce complimented the fish.  About that fish, the slice of saba and salmon was thick enough for impact.  Really liked the flavour of the saba as it was richer than the salmon.  I thought the jalapeno pepper slice could've been thinner though.

Now the best things to order here are actually "Sets".  For their Unagi Donburi Set, you can see that they include a considerable amount of food.  For $34.40, you get a large bowl of chewy rice topped with buttery slices of sauced unagi.  Then you also receive salad, miso soup, agedashi tofu, karaage, chawanmushi tsukemono and daily dish (this one was aburi oshi).  The unagi was buttery and soft with enough glaze to help flavour the rice.  Side dishes were solid where the karaage was juicy with crispy rendered skin.

We also ordered the Grilled Gindara Kama Set consisting of salad, miso soup, karaage, agedashi tofu, chawanmushi, onigiri and aburi oshi.  So I got my wish for grilled sablefish collar and it was fantastic.  Nicely marinated, these were buttery and flavourful with smokiness and caramelizatoin.  Sides were essentially same as the other set.  Overall, the food at OZen is above average and well-portioned.  Prices are reasonable for what you get too.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:

- Above average eats

- Large portions

- Good value

The Bad:

- Super busy, prepare to wait