Genuine Food & Travel Review

This suki-yaki all you can eat restaurant is located on 438 Dundas St W in Chinatown downtown Toronto. Continuing with the AYCE review last time, I wanted to do another AYCE. I had been here once before and want to check it out for the second time. AND it did not disappoint. (Spoiler alert: one of higher score up until this date).

Historical Context

In the past, many of the Japanese’s typical cuisine did not contain meat due mainly to religious belief from the Buddhist influence. Around mid 1800s with the political change in Japan, increasing contact with the overseas countries also brought more western influences to Japanese culture including food. During this period the Japanese leader started advocating for more beef and dairy consumption which originally was difficult as the meat needed to be imported. Therefore, in order to cover some of the undesirable smell, miso and scallions were used. But eventually as more cattle became more popular in Japan, the quality improved and many ingredients replaced miso including sugar, soy sauce, sake and mirin. Variations of these dishes would then become “gyunabe” in Kanto and “sukiyaki” in the Kansai region.

Value & Vibe

Value: For AYCE (All you can eat), I thought it was a fantastic value. There are only two options which are premium set and luxury seafood set. The premium set is $31.95 for weekday and $33.95 for Fri-Sun and holidays. The luxury seafood set is $56.95 for weekday and $58.95 for Fri-Sun & holidays. My recommendation is that unless you want to really focus on premium seafood such as scallop, oyster, abalone, mussel or snow crab legs(seasonal), the premium set is more than enough and you will have plenty of options to enjoy. We ordered the premium set.

You also have options for one flavor or two flavor broth. You will need to pay separately for the broth for the table. One flavor full pot is 16.95 and 18.95 for two flavors.

Vibe: We went around dinner time on Friday. It was relatively full later on but it did not feel too crowded. There is plenty of space for you and your group. Overall pretty lively atmosphere. The service was outstanding, especially for an all you can eat restaurant. The servers were great and the food was super quick. Honestly I was super impressed. The service attendants were super friendly, very attentive, offering the refills without having to ask etc.. but at the same time were not too overbearing, given us plenty of personal space. Super impressive.

Taste

I need to be honest here, I was so excited for the food that I didn’t actually take all the pictures. Im sorry… But I wanted to show you a glimpse on what we ordered. We ordered all the fresh cut meat including: beef brisket, lamb shoulder, lean cut sirloin, premium beef chuck and premium beef basket. We also ordered some seafood(not pictured) fish fillet and shrimp paste. We also have ordered many of the appetizers and a generous amount of vegetables. The meat quality was fantastic for AYCE. They came in thinly slice which was perfect for Sukiyaki as you can quickly dip them in the soup to cook. Appetizers were also amazing especially the crispy chicken and fried crispy milk curd (I might be slightly biased toward fried food here…).

The soup of choices were sukiyaki broth and golden sour & spicy broth. My personal recommendation is the Sukiyaki broth, it was absolutely delicious. It had a hint of sweetness, but not too sweet. Very aromatic and goes really well with the beef/meat. The golden sour soup was not bad, but in my opinion it did not go quite as well with the beef and the rest of the meal. If you are really craving the sour soup, I would suggest putting the seafood in the sour soup or just get it for a separate meal. I think the sourness is quite strong which could be quite overpowering for the meat flavor and other broth/sauces.

Plenty of options for you to make your own sauces. It has everything from chili oil, peanut based, ponzu, onions, garlic, fresh chilis. Honestly I’m not the expert in making the best sauce, so anyone that has a secret recipe that you would like to share I would love to hear more about it in the comment!

But the highlight which also make Sukiyaki unique is the onsen egg. Although I didn’t get it this time, but traditionally you dip the raw meat in the egg before dipping to cook it in the broth for better flavor. I had it last time when I was here, would recommend for you to try that if you haven’t tried it out.

Overall, from the meat, broth, soup, and other appetizers/side dishes, the quality was fantastic and the taste was outstanding. I would definitely highly recommend this place for a group occasion so that you can try all the dishes. For those who like meat and broth, come hungry and you would not be disappoint!

Score

Atmosphere: 9/10 (Super attentive staff and fast service)
Price: 7.5/10 (Great value for AYCE)
Taste: 8.5/10 (Excellent all around)

Scale:
Would not recommend: Below 2
Need some improvement: 3-5
Average: 5
Decent: 6
Great: 7
Excellent: 8
Outstanding 9+

Website: https://www.matsuteisukiyaki.com/