Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Simply Simon's

Matsuri Sushi - Simply Simon’s

I distinctly remember the first time my wife (my exceptional first-line-of-defense-editor-in-chief) and I went to Dundas for Sushi about seven years ago. Yes, really. While the combination of Dundas and Sushi in a sentence may seem incongruous, bear with me.

I suppose we may have noticed the restaurant sign when we were doing our weekend shopping at Cumbrae’s, an expensive but excellent old-style butcher. We decided to pop across the street for an impromptu lunch. As we entered we were greeted by a loud “Namaste” from a bespectacled gentleman who was efficiently slicing fish of some kind behind a refrigerated display.

While there were tables available, we opted to sit at the counter. Putting ourselves in his hands may have endeared us to the Chef, Simon Wong as our relationship has blossomed since then. Over the course of our meal – and as he prepared a steady stream of orders - he
told us about his two decades and more as a sushi chef and the keys to enjoying first class sushi.

The fish has to be the best available of course (he travels to Toronto regularly to pick his up), but we should also watch to see whether it is treated with reverence, how clean the cook’s station is kept and how often the Chef washes his hands. He encouraged us to eat our Nigiri, the hand formed rice ovals topped with fish that most of us consider sushi, with our fingers, commenting on our good form as we dipped the fish and not the rice in soya sauce. (Otherwise the rice becomes soggy and falls apart.)

Perhaps feeling we were kindred spirits, he lamented that people ordered take out, saying the sushi really should be consumed as soon as possible after it was prepared, something I suspect most of his customers know and understand by now.

It was probably on a subsequent visit that he encouraged us to try the Japanese scallops from Hokkaido, a sweet revelation once they’d defrosted. (Sobey’s used to carry bags of them a few years ago, though lamentably they no longer do.) He also had us end our meal with Unagi (freshwater eel) which he said should never be eaten earlier than other sushi as the strong flavor of the sauce detracts from more delicate fish. A bit reminiscent of the rule for wine tasting of always put the light whites before the full body reds and always put the ice wines last.

Since those initial visits we’ve been back many times, the cry of “Namaste” a constant as is the customer’s usual refrain of “Hello Simon!” The quality of the fish has endured too and over the years our daughters have become fans as well. Where they used to nibble suspiciously on tempura, and what we called “Shirley Temple Rolls” with their bright pink tofu wrappers standing in for the familiar black nori (dried seaweed), they now also gobble down salmon tataki and other delights including a standout white tuna in a home-made ponzu sauce (Simon is suitably vague on the details of what goes into it, except to say it is very high quality ingredients).

Chief among these, and a near constant order whenever we go, has to be the delicious and copious “George Betty Kaiser” roll. Simon engineered it (a roll this size has to be structurally sound!) to honour his mentor and benefactor. They helped “make my dream come true,” says Simon. The roll is a combination of what George Kaiser and his late wife Betty liked, and includes soft shell crab, tuna, salmon and salmon roe (Ikura).

Kaiser is a U.S. oil billionaire and major-league philanthropist who lives in Oklahoma and who helped the young Wong when he first came to Tulsa, and again when he wanted to set up his own restaurant after a decade in Toronto, including a stint at the Embassy Suites Hotel. It is quite the story that I’ll leave Simon to tell when you sit at his counter and he’s got to know you. Ask to see the picture of when George came to eat at the restaurant during a trip to Toronto.

The service, led by Wong’s beautiful but shy wife, Kennis, who came from Hong Kong eighteen months ago, is very pleasant. Meals at Simon’s (it is hard to think of the restaurant as anything but) often end with a satisfying, complimentary slice of watermelon, or perhaps a decoratively-cut, tangy orange. The Spectator Review by Dan Kislenko is on the money and rightly laudatory and has pride of place in the restaurant which has moved down the street from its original spot to a more open and airy location at 36 King St. E., Dundas (905-628-0133).

“Everything is brand new,” says Simon, though he smiles when I respectfully disagree, pointing out his loyal customers have remained despite the painful (for his clientele) six-month hiatus while the new location got up and running, and Simon did some travelling, visiting other restaurants to observe and learn. While, over the years – and especially during the six months Simon was away - we occasionally found ourselves at other sushi restaurants, they always disappointed. They may have been recommended or cheaper, but, as they say, quality will out.

Among the new elements is the name of the restaurant which used to be Matsu, and is now Matsuri, Sushi. Matsuri means Celebration, notes Simon as we end our interview conducted after a spectacular lunch with my daughters (see the pictures accompanying this piece). That’s fitting, as to visit Simon’s is to celebrate what is likely the finest sushi this side of Toronto. 

For more pictures of Simply Simon's, click here. 

Alex (Alex can be reached at fft@thehamiltonian.info )

Food for Thought logo, designed and kindly donated by Ninka Bielak. Ninka can be reached at ninka.bielak@gmail.com.

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