Bar Shozan
Bar Shozan is a restaurant specializing in smoked sashimi and a menu of shareable Japanese dishes.
Sitting on the Lower Ossington, Shozan is actually the reinvention of the restaurant Konnichiwa: one of several businesses in Baldwin Village that was forced to close after a devastating fire in 2017.
While Konnichiwa focused on affordable, family-style comfort food like donburis and authentic Japanese noodles, this new rebrand offers a menu of unique, high-quality dishes.
Replacing Hawker Bar, the first floor of Bar Shozan is a tight squeeze. It's much more spacious on the second floor, with room for about 43 guests.
During the duration of your meal, you might hear occasional loud banging coming from the kitchen.
That's an indication that somebody has ordered the duck pastrami wraps ($9.50), a popular order that sees a trio of 24-hour-brined duck hammered flat by the chef per order.
Rolled up inside are micro greens, served with a miso and red wine reduction, and a sprinkling of cacao nibs.
Another popular order: the decadent and flavourful Sashimi No. 7 ($45).
Sashimi is typically served raw and plain, but this dish serves chunks of seafood that are either smoked on the stove or cured for a special flavour that's best eaten without soy sauce.
Cured chive-covered ebi and smoked tuna served atop avocado are all part of this decadently presented plate.
A smaller, more affordable plate of fish is the New Wave Nigiri Sushi plate ($16), which comes with a bright beet-cured salmon with a kumquat sake purée. Also on the plate: cured botan ebi, and aburi scallop with black sesame sauce.
Chicken tabasaki wings ($7.50) come with a layer soy and spicy peanut, served with garlic dipping sauce.
A pair of massive soft-shell crab croquettes ($14) have a fragrant miso flavour and come with a side of yogurt and garlic tartar sauce.
Smoked tuna tartar is made with blackened eggplant ($12) and served with an apple and caper sauce.
There's a handful of signature cocktails offered here, including the Shozan Lady ($14) with sake. lemon juice, triple sec and egg whites.
Fareen Karim