Katsu heaven: dining at Mr. Tonkatsu

Original Pork Loin Katsu @ Mr Tonkatsu

My kindred spirit in fried (and junk) food (you know who you are!) recommended we try Mr. Tonkatsu in North York. And since the fam loves a good, deep-fried pork cutlet, we had to check it out. One Saturday, for an early six-ish dinner, we managed to get one of the 3 parking slots up at front for a yummy meal!

I immediately liked the industrial décor. The counter-height wooden bar stools had space to store your bag and rest your feet and they had pipes and valves to hang your coats. The ambience was hip and vibrant, but friendly to kids as well. The crowd was a mix of young folks and some families with kids.

We all ordered from the Original Tonkatsu set which includes shredded cabbage, miso soup and rice that are free to refill!! How awesome is that?! Hubby and I got a Pork Loin Katsu, but he included an order of soba (noodles) and pickled daikon (radish). The girls shared a Chicken Katsu while Grandma tried the Fish Katsu.

Soba @ Mr Tonkatsu

We were served some sesame seeds with a mini mortar and pestle. You get to grind these to your liking for use with the dipping sauce. 

Sesame seeds for grinding @ Mr Tonkatsu

Our meals did not take long to arrive. I got to try each dish, which the fam generously shared with me and they were all good. The pork loin was fried to perfection. Not at all greasy, it had a beautiful, golden brown crisp coating and the pork was tender inside. The sweet-tart tonkatsu dipping sauce complemented the katsu. For the original tonkatsu set, prices range from $12-15. The servings were decent sized and with free refills of the sides, what more can you ask for? Extra meat can be ordered as well for about $8-10. We only ordered refills of miso soup, which the girls love. We were not so much fans of the shredded cabbage which had a house dressing available on the table. As the cabbage was bland, it needed a lot of the dressing which was bordering on the salty side. 

Fish Katsu @ Mr Tonkatsu

Service was truly superb! DD#1 was feeling a bit clumsy that day and spilled not only her water but also her miso soup! The server quickly came over and cleaned up the mess, all the while smiling and reassuring DD#1 that it was just alright. She came back soon after with a new glass of water and new bowl of miso soup. How is that for family-friendly?! A couple of times as well during the meal, they would check on us for refills. Love their service, love their food! Would definitely be back!

Trying something new: Pottery Class at Glaze Craze

Pottery Wheel class at Glaze Craze

The girls and I have always wanted to check out pottery classes. However, the time commitment (usually a 3-month or so workshop) and costs are not very appealing—considering we have other activities we were busy with. So, it was nice to have discovered a try-it pottery wheel class in Glaze Craze in Richmond Hill.

No experience was necessary and it was one class just to try it out. If interested, you can book further practice sessions or join a workshop to learn other techniques. What was a bit confusing was that this was supposed to be a three-hour thing. I thought it would actually take us three hours to finish about 3 pieces included in the session or that we would actually be painting the pieces as well. Maybe the 3 hours was the average but when DD#2 gave it a try, she was done with 3 pieces in just over an hour. And, I should have deduced, we needed to let these dry (for weeks apparently) before these could be painted. So, what I had allotted in our sked for 3 hours left us with free time for a movie date but did extend the outing to two more trips back to Richmond Hill over the next few weeks. We were to come back after 1-2 weeks to paint then another 1-2 weeks to pick up the glazed/fired pieces.

Pottery wheels, Glaze Craze

There was only one other person during the time of the workshop so we got a good personal lesson. It started off with instructions and actual demo of what steps are needed to complete a simple piece. Throughout the session, Karin (owner/instructor) was there to guide the students on things to look out for and what the next step was.

Some ceramics for painting at Glaze Craze

It did seem hard especially for my almost 8-year old as you would need some hand and arm strength to work on throwing, centering and working the clay. She even had some difficulty getting the right speed for the pedal.  At the end of it, she did seem pleased with some of her work, but the experience was anti-climactic as she was not able to bring home any of her work right away.  I emailed 2 weeks later to check if we can already come over and paint, but did not get a reply. I then called 2.5 weeks later but the owner was too busy to check if our pieces were ready. When I finally got a call back, we came over and DD#2 enjoyed the painting experience. To pick up the finished pieces also took another 2 weeks. So, all in all, it was an outing that was about a month in the making. Fun but be prepared that this whole project requires time and patience.