I knew I'd say it again: stylish appearance should never be a substitute for good quality food. So when I'm gullible enough to run into a place that's new and has a flashy interior I'm almost always disappointed in myself. Not the place though, it's just a product of the times. Instant gratification, quick fixes, fast food (though fast food is delicious). Okay okay okay. You can have crappy food, but don't try to cover it up with fancy presentation and even fancier walls, cool ceilings and good looking wait staff. Unless of course you know you're serving people who don't really mind sub par-food. I for one don't mind sub-par food if the price is right, and the wait staff is good looking. Hey, I'm just a product of the times.
I've literally waited 4 months for this place to open; since September, when I first saw its sign and the little stereotyped Japanese character on it, who did look dangerously familiar. And, being a fan of the show with the similar name (though both are definitely unrelated; and if the cooks from this place were contestants they'd lose hands down for lack of creativity/ originality/ not having Masaharu Morimoto on their team) Iron Chef Restaurant seemed promising and something refreshingly new. I use the word "fresh" because if you haven't already guessed, Iron Chef is a "Japanese" restaurant, and things like sushi construct much of their food identity from being fresh. Okay, I'm lying. It's not all Japanese. In fact, and this should have been a red flag for me, Iron Chef is actually a fusion restaurant: A Korean/Japanese fusion restaurant. Yeah, I know what you're saying (like you always do): it's the same thing. Maybe, maybe not. I'm opting for maybe not. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Korean food, and I like Japanese love hotels; but lady, fusion cooking never seems to live up to its name in these here parts simply because fusion implies fusing, not putting two cultures' foods on the same menu. Not so you have pork bone soup and sushi to choose from, but that you have something like pork bone sushi, which the menu did not! More importantly, it just seemed like it was all Japanese. The only thing that may have hinted at fusion was using a Korean pot to eat Udon soup out of. Yeah, they didn't think I'd catch on, but I did. I always do. And as far as I'm concerned, there's only one type of fusion that works: that's good old Hong Kong cooking, baby. You want good fusion cooking? I'll take you somewhere sometime. Because quite frankly, the idea of a huge steak on a plate of stir-fried noodles is just sheer genius. Sometimes I can't believe China's official language is Mandarin and not Cantonese. But let's get this ball rolling shall we? 我们去.Now, because I'm such an excellent sleuth, I finally managed to put two and two together: Iron Chef is the by product of a little food hole stationed in a university's student life centre. What university? Not important. Point is, this place, called Wasabi, is a fast food sushi establishment, or was, (I don't know if it's still there) that used the same stereotyped Japanese chef icon. At first I thought, strange coincidence. Then I saw the place's real sushi "chef" preparing my food, and well, things clicked. Movin' on up. George would be proud. So, now we know its history.
I'll be completely honest. I was wowed when I came in, because with it's draped curtains and yakitori-esque bar, red walls, and sexy Japanese Happi worn by the staff, I was awestruck- brainwashed if you will. Kitchener-Waterloo doesn't have a Japanese eatery this visually stimulating, which makes me wonder why its looks are so Japanese influenced, but apparently fused with Korean undertones. How do I know? Well, the Korean on the sign's corner tended to give the notion away, or imply that "fusion" stood for a Japanese restaurant owned by Koreans. Stranger things have happened. Regardless, I was still dazzled by the place's looks. With that said, my respect goes out to the owners exemplary taste and creativity; it's almost as if they knew their food would taste like everyone else's and that they had to make up for it. Too bad I won't go back. I may peer inside the window from time to time, just to appreciate its aesthetics and dream of being a samurai, or ask one of the waitresses out.
Things seemed off to a good start: my friend and I sat down, we were given the typical genma cha tea in fancy cups, we looked at the nice velour trimmed menu, we got generic items that you can find anywhere else. I ordered the most original thing I could lazily find: pickled pumpkin wrapped in rice. Lame? Maybe, but I never had it before. And I hoped, absolutely hoped, that this place would, in the least, have a solid bowl of Udon that I could attempt to mimick and cook for myself. Which it did. (Thank Kami-Sama) Which the waitress informed me, was a soup base, not rice dish, like the other "don" dishes. U-doi? Soo ka.
I was excited. Aside from those two items there was the odd spicy tuna role. And appetizers: a house salad with miso soup. オリジナル. The salad's dressing was a good start, my only regret was that there wasn't more. I'm almost positive a girl wouldn't feel good about eating the sweet mayonaise drenched salad, but I couldn't blame her. Not all of us have a 11,000 kick a day kung-fu regime. Still, why not make an exception. It was good.
After a nice pace, our orders came, my pickled pumpkin roll and my friend's spicy tuna roll arrived. We ate them. That's really all there is to say. Nothing new. Unless you count the fact that my pumpkin roll tasted an awful lot like chewy fish instead of sweet pickled pumpkin. Sirrah. Konna kurashi yo. I still had the udon, and at the rate things were going I was willing to bet it would taste mediocre, but satisfying. And it did. Did it ever. It's broth had a sweet acidic taste, which hinted at the use of maybe more mirin and sugar than some may wish to apply, but I wasn't disappointed; I expected it to have that umami seaweed, fishy flavour (but it didn't). I think after that pumpkin, it was appreciated. I considered the balance a nice little favour, but who could say that always happens. The udon was plated with some tempura, random vegetables in the broth and good, chewy noodles- but not too chewy. I don't know how people do it, I can't cook udon to save my life. Not yet, anyway. Like I predicted, it would satisfy, though it wasn't anything special. I could have used a spoon, but I felt it rude to ask the cute waitress who was talking to her even cuter friends. Oh, and we would have liked more tea too; but apparently it's bad politics to come during someone's meal and ask if they want a refill. Oh no, that sort of thing is reserved for the end, when we're ready to leave. Did I mention the service? It's new. Maybe they're off to a bumpy start. I don't think I'll ever really find out.
The prices are average: the rolls ranged from 3.99 - 5.50 and my udon cost a cool 10 dollars. for a 15 dollar meal, I can honestly say I wanted to expect more; so much more that I came home an hour later and ate. But if there is one redeeming quality to Iron Chef it certainly would be its atmosphere. And if anything warranted a return, it would have to be the cute waitress that served us, that is of course, unless her friends drop by again. With that said dear reader, I bid you good eating.
Iron Chef Japanese Fusion Restaurant117 University Plaza
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Wasabi Sushi BarUniversity of Waterloo, Student Life Centre
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
519-888-4567
x35925
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