Adventures of A Foodie Wannabe: Inatei Japanese Cuisine

Inatei, a restaurant that I have always been curious about. It’s been opened in Richmond Hill for quite a few years, and I have visited other restaurants in the same plaza. One thing that held me back was the fact that I have a lot of friends who have tried it, and just say, it pretty expensive. They mention nothing of the food quality, but just that it’s pretty expensive.

One day, I had a craving for Japanese food, and I never really crave Japanese food! Plus we had to meet up for some friends who we haven’t seen in a long time. It was decided that we would dig a little deeper into our pockets and try Inatei.

Since there were 5 of us, we got to try a good variety of dishes. We ordered a chirashi, sashimi ‘boat’, sushi ‘boat’, tempura don, chicken katsu curry, kaarage, pork katsu don, spider roll, crab meat chawanmushi. The fish looked fresh, and I didn’t detect any sort of fishy smell. The other diners with me seemed to enjoy the fish. The cooked dishes, meaning the katsus, tasted pretty good, nothing too spectacular, but can there be outstanding katsus? If there are, please let me know! From reviews that I read, their spider roll was worth ordering. It was larger than other sushi restaurants, and you can see pieces of soft shell crab, not just deep fried soft shelled crab crumbs. The chawanmushi was very good. The egg was soft and silky, and there were chunks of real crab meat, no imitation stuff. When we asked for the bill, the waitress brought over a shot glass filled with a lychee pudding. It was very creamy and tasty, with a piece of canned lychee at the bottom too.

Overall, I’m not too sure that Inatei is worth the extra money to go to. I would much rather to go Le Café Michi instead. Lower price point and the food just as good!