After reading about Ame in Toronto Life as one of 2010’s Best New Restaurants, I was very excited to try the latest contribution from the Rubino Brothers. Their previous installment, Rain, reopened as Ame (Japanese for “rain”) last fall to rave reviews for their contemporary Japanese cuisine.
Pushing open the heavy wooden doors, I feel as though I’m entering another world. The spacious interior is beautifully decorated with bamboo walls and a tree trunk bar, while daruma dolls and kimono printed glass add exotic accents. The large space still manages to feel cozy with a variety of booths and low wooden stools and tables draped with Asian designed silks. I could totally picture myself lounging here after work munching on some sashimi and sipping one of their plum shochu/ bourbon/seaweed/siracha/wasabi/sudachi/maple syrup/egg-white foam cocktails.
- Ame
However, my husband and I arrive at Ame for dinner and unfortunately, I can’t sample any of their cocktails because I’m off alcohol at the moment, so instead we spend $16 on green tea. Our waitress informs us that the menu is “tapas-style” and they advise picking 2-3 dishes to share. Both of us are starving, so we pick 4.
Salmon Sashimi
The two sashimi dishes arrive and are elegantly presented: the long strips of buttery salmon belly are dotted with an eggplant infusion and the pickled daikon piled high in the center cleanses the palette. The salmon is so fresh I don’t even reach for the soy sauce.
Red Snapper Sashimi
Our red snapper sashimi sits on top of rolled daikon in a ginger ponzu (light citrus sauce) and is delightfully soft and balanced well with the crisp texture of the daikon. Our appetite is peaked and we anxiously await our two “main” courses: kinzani miso butter fish and miso lamb from the infamous Robata Grill (imported from Japan!).
The waitress arrives and proudly sits the butter fish in the middle of the table and declares that the butter fish sits in a bath of cold consommé with chili oil, tapioca, miso, cucumber, and topped with a crisp tapioca chip. After she leaves, my husband and I both lean over and peak another the chip in anticipation, then look back up at each other in disappointment. “We’re supposed to split this?” our hungry eyes say to each other “that’s barely enough for one person!”. The delicate fish is perfectly cooked and the sweetness is complimented by the robust miso sauce, while the brunoised cucumber refreshes the palette followed by the crunchy chip in contrast. Two bites later, and we are left wanting more! The dish was such an invitation of flavours – it was such a tease! Both of us are still quite hungry, so while we wait for our lamb, my husband orders another $6 beer and I try to fill the void with my $7 sparkling water. Perhaps because we are so hungry time passed slowly, but it takes ages for our final dish to arrive. Finally the waitress brings our lamb in a miso sauce and sets the dish in the middle of the table. The “tapas” show is getting a little silly, and the tiny piece of lamb that sits between us looks a bit ridiculous. We have to ask for cutlery to cut the tiny portion and three bites later we agree once more, that the lamb was tender (though I personally thought it was a bit lukewarm) but for $30, tapas or not, we expect some kind of rice or vegetables on the side. So far we’ve only eaten protein, no wonder we’re starving! We couldn’t believe that they suggested only 2-3 items for two people, we would have had to spend at least $200 to even begin to feel full. While my husband and I love to eat out and will gladly spend money on food, there comes a price point where one should no longer feel hungry. Ame would like to believe it is comparable to Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s restaurant in NYC, where we had seven delicious, filing dishes for $100 US; while Ame’s 4 dishes for $100 left us having to go for a second meal afterwards.
Miso Butter Fish
Ame is a gorgeous restaurant with very creative dishes that are fresh and full of interesting textures and flavours, but going for dinner can be a frustrating experience. Neither the portions nor the tapas claim validates the high pricing, and the service is not on par with a five star restaurant, including the fact that I got locked in their individual bathroom due to a broken lock. Also, for a restaurant that claims to be high end, I was also unimpressed that I had to lean over a large, ugly plastic garbage bin to reach the sink. I would return, but only as an after-work lounge to sample their cocktails.
I SEE HUNGRY PEOPLE 
