Shiso Tree Café

on
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Jack and I went to Shiso Tree Café for dinner, 'cause you know how I get those cravings for Japanese-Italian fusion cuisine.

Okonomiyaki fries

Cream of potato soup

We got the Okonomiyaki fries to share, which is topped with homemade steak sauce, Japanese mayo, bonito fish flakes, and green onions. The fries were perfectly crispy on the outside, soft and potatoey on the inside. The sweet tanginess of the steak sauce paired beautifully with the creamy Japanese mayo, and proved to be ridiculously addictive since we finished the whole plate in about five minutes. I really don't know why I never tried their fries before. For our entrées, we both wanted dishes from their Wafu pasta menu, and decided to add $8 to get a dinner set (which includes salad, soup, and dessert to your meal). Their soup of the day was cream of potato, which they serve piping hot in a mug. Silky, creamy, flavourful, and topped with croutons. Perfect on a cool night.

Tarako pasta

Sukiyaki pasta

We decided to share our pasta dishes, which are served with garlic toast; I ordered the Tarako, which was one of the specials of the day, and Jack ordered the Sukiyaki. The Tarako is comprised of spaghetti that has been tossed with a creamy fish roe sauce and shimeji mushrooms, and then topped with nori and shiso. I love pasta that is simple, wherein you can taste all the individual flavours of the ingredients, and this is a beautifully executed example. The Sukiyaki was an interesting hybrid of a pasta dish and noodle soup. Thinly sliced, ultra-tender beef rib eye is cooked rare in house-made Japanese shoyu sauce and flavourful beef jus, and then tossed with spaghetti and mushrooms, and topped with green onions, nori, and shiso. This dish pretty much combines all my favourite things in a wonderful flurry of flavours, and is therefore magnificent.

Japanese-style tiramisu

For dessert, they present a tray of the day's cake offerings from the Japanese bakery next door. As I felt it represented Japanese-Italian fusion the best, I decided on the tiramisu. They use coffee-flavoured sponge cake in place of ladyfingers, fluffy whipped mousse in place of mascarpone, and generous chocolate shavings in place of cocoa powder. And there is nary a drop of alcohol in it. So if you wanted authentic Italian tiramisu, this is not it. But it works, and it's positively delightful. And it remains light and airy, which was just perfect as I was about to bust out of my pants at that point. Needless to say, it was a seriously epic meal.


Shiso Tree Café
3160 Steeles Avenue East, Unit 1
Markham, ON L3R 4G9
(905) 479-9319
4 comments on "Shiso Tree Café"
  1. I am in love with this restaurant especially their unagi pasta and the various cakes! I've never tried their Okonomiyaki fries. I guess I'll have to make a trip there soon!
    Also, amazing pictures! =)

    http://tseparfait.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! I think I actually first checked out Shiso Tree because of one of your comments here! :)

      I've never tried the unagi pasta, but I will be sure to try it next time!

      Delete
  2. I'M SO HUNGRY, DENISE!!! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!?!

    ReplyDelete

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