Birthdays: Inspire Restaurant

I actually came here on 2 separate occasions but both were to celebrate a birthday - one was mine and the other a friend's. The first time I came here, I wasn't quite too impressed with the food. But 10 points for food presentation! The ambiance is quite industrial like, it was as if they tried to reinvent a warehouse feel. The decor for the most part were not matching (hanging lights) and was a quite romantic setting.

Kiku Japanese Cuisine/Destiny's Bubble Tea

 Sushi, again! Another birthday calls for sushi celebration! My dear friend is celebrating her birthday this month and we had the opportunity to go to Kiku to try out their menu. The interior of the restaurant is quite modern. It allows you to feel as if everything inside is new and fresh. The chairs were slightly awkward to sit on, since as you can see in the photo that the ones in the aisle did not have a back rest. What is cool about this restaurant is that they adopted the idea of using an ipad to place your order, so you don't have to flag someone down. 

We didn't have the all you can eat option, but instead ordered a party set. It was the sushi and maki set. It consisted of squid, shrimp, salmon, octopus, red and white tuna, eel, imitation crab, and some other fish near the tip of the boat. We didn't realize that there would be so many sashimi sushi, but we should've paid more attention when the description said 'assorted sushi'. It was an awesome set because it consisted of green dragon and red dragon! 

Although some of us at the table weren't really a fan of the sashimi sushi (such as myself) it wasn't a horrible experience. The squid was my least favourite though, probably because of the texture and slime that came with it. The salmon was my second least favourite, since it came warm. 

 The rest of the sushi was mediocre, nothing great nothing horrible. It's phenomenal to see restaurants serving a la carte options for those who don't have a big appetite. Unfortunately though, it really causes the quality of the sushi to be less than spectacular. I was a bit shocked that there was no sauce on top of the dragon rolls. Usually, those would be my favourite but I wasn't that big of a fan. 

I took a picture of the place set to feature some of the sushi. The plates at the restaurant were a bit dirty, so I'd advise you wipe it down yourself first before enjoying your meal. It was the standard wooden chopsticks, soy sauce in a bottle kind of restaurant. Not sure if I would suggest coming here again for the food, but if they wanted a modern looking restaurant sushi north of the 404...this would be the place! I'm rating this restaurant a 2/5 stars. The total of the bill was about $80 with tips and tax.  

Destiny's is totally unrelated to the sushi restaurant, but we went to the neighboring plaza to grab some cake and dessert. No birthday is complete without cake! Destiny's is one of the popular bubble tea place north of the 404. They have been challenged by other bubble tea cafes recently though. The atmosphere is bright, which allows you to be awake while you sip through the night with your drink. I would not advise you to order a piece of oreo cake if you already had a very filling meal.

 I enjoyed the strawberry shortcake very much and usually is one of my favourites. We also had drinks as well but perhaps I'll make another blog entry about that. The total for this dessert adventure costed us $40 with tips and tax. 

Mi Ne Sushi

What's a better way to start off the weekend than with a birthday lunch?! At least it wasn't intentional of us to celebrate a birthday. In a few days will be one of my good friend's birthday and we celebrated by going to sushi! Such a shame I didn't get to snap more pictures of the restaurant but we were one of the only ones there when we arrived so it was a bit awkward. Although of course I had to get a picture of the sushi.

 Don't know if you can tell from the pictures but the pieces were super big. I didn't end up finishing everything off of my plate! This is a Spicy Salmon and California maki set lunch. The total came out to be around $12 with tips and tax which is a little more expensive than what I would normally pay for lunch. 

I wouldn't say the flavour of the sushi was particular good and didn't seem to impress me too much. If there was more rice per roll it would've balanced the fillings a little more. Since there was so much filling, it made it difficult to eat (although like they say, the bigger the better!). Service was mediocre, nothing to really complain about. Probably give this about 2/5 stars, not great but not that I wouldn't come again.