menami

this was an unplanned visit as we were house hunting and walked into the first place we saw.

we were quite surprised by the interiors, the lively music and ambience were soothing for a weekday dinner. the service is quick and the staff was polite and well informed.

we had the mushrooms. and vegetableudonwithout the fish cake and the shrimp tempura udon. both were served quick, hot and tasted good.

they have some variety for vegetarians with their tapas but not so much with the udon, something i would have really liked.

good food, nice place. recommended.

i had the salmon cream sauceudon- salmon just barely cooked (like sous vide), pretty good, and i liked the cream sauce. honestly i don't taste much difference from regular frozen udon, but thisudonis more soft and less chewy. . the mentaikoudonand albacore tuna tataki were good and i liked the watercress in the spicy seafood soup. yakiudonvery flavorful sauce as well. also tried the popular corn kakiage which tastes like it sounds - deep fried battered sweet corn - nothing mind-blowing.

one of the bestudonplaces i’ve ever eaten at! the noodles are so fresh, delicious and perfectly cooked. better to make a reservation if you have a big group or else you’ll be waiting for a while.

heard a lot of good things about this place so we stopped by for lunch. theudonwas pretty good but the salad was a bit sad. some of the leaves were past wilted. the service was extremely slow when there were only 3 tables seated in the whole restaurant. we were not impressed and probably not coming back.

love the decor and atmosphere here. sultry jazz playing in the background. had the spicy porkudonwhich was great. definitely coming back to try the draft sake.

i wish zomato would get rid of the 140 char minimum!!

2017/03/02
working my way down yonge street, and today i stopped in at menami for lunch. it had a bit of an industrial feel to it, with the corrugated steel facing on the bar.

i had a quick look at the menu, and saw that they had a couple of specials, including something that i had never had before: dondeki (pork jowl steak) for $13. i was feeling adventurous, so that's what i ordered. not my favourite dish. i don't know if it was cooked correctly or not, but for me it was not tender enough and too chewy, as well as too much fat on the one side. the meal came with a small bowl ofudonsoup, which had a very flavourful and slightly salty broth. the lunch special was supposed to include a salad and a can of pop, but they forgot to bring the salad.

theudoncame piping hot and was perfectly cooked. it was definitely the perfect dish for a cold evening, but i couldn’t help but fawn over the saucy noodles my friends were having.

i started thinking about menami over the next few weeks and was itching to go back to try their pasta-like dishes. i finally returned a few weeks ago, and ordered the mentaiko cream sauceudonwhile my friend ordered the seafood yaki udon.

we decided to check out menami on the weekend for lunch after hearing all the hype. i mean, fresh housemade udon? that's pretty cool and unique in toronto. they even imported anudonmaking machine from japan! we got the corn kaki-age as an appetizer and that was good (not amazing like other reviews have said). the sauce went well with the deep fried corn. for ourudonmains, we got the tsukeudon& mentaiko cream udon. i love dipping noodles but i was surprised the tsukeudonwas served with cold noodles and broth. mentaiko was good at first bite but you get sick of the cream sauce fast.

the service was fast and for me, it was an interesting experience to try their housemadeudon(verdict: slight difference, more chewy texture). overall, i won't be coming back and i'm not sure what others are so excited for. but if you are *really* curious about what freshudontastes like, then sure, give this a try (but that's the only reason i can think of to go here).

came here with pretty high expectations, alas my experience fell a little short of that. came by late on a friday night, our appetizer came very quickly, but we had to wait 45 min before our entees arrived. did not expect to have to wait for so long. the deep fried okra batter was laced with wasabi; i would've preferred a warning beforehand. the inside of the okra was still slimy, a tell-tale sign that they weren't fried for long enough. the salmon cream sauceudonwas fine, pretty much what you expect it to taste like. however, the seafood yakiudonwas wayyy too sweet! i was really looking forward to that dish because i've heard good things. the sauce was so sweet i had to mix it with the remaining cream sauce from our otherudondish to make it palatable.

the food is great! definitely come for the udon. beef brothudonwas the only slightly let down - soup was quite plain. bakedudonsounds weird but so good. cold chickenudonhad the best texture; i enjoy firm noodles. the protein is generous and fried well. the karaage app is also cooked well and the accompanying mayo is addictive.

service leaves a little to be desired. efficient, but distant. a place like this is screaming for energetic, outgoing staff.

address:  5469 yonge street.  toronto, on m2n 5s1phone: (416) 229 – 6191website: . conveniently located on yonge street, near finch avenue makes thisudonspecialized restaurant easily accessible and noticeable.  but you have to be walking to really notice the entrance because the sign is on an angle and indifferent from a lot of other storefronts, on the darker shade.  when we drove down yonge street, we missed it twice, as big as our eyes were.  but, if you are purposely making a trip to visit the restaurant, just use a gps, especially to find parking because we had to park at the church on the side street.  hopefully, they were not mad at us.  thank you god. =)

this review is based 2 visits to menami. both on a weekday tuesday, one during the hype when you need a reservation to get in anyday and one when you can drop by as a walk in on a weekday.

i like the simple menu of menami. an unique menu that differs from all the izakaya/restaurant in the area.: their star is the housemade udon.

i like the freshness of non frozen udon. yes there is a different. a subtle different. but if one is paying the same price for a bowl of packaged/frozenudonat other restaurants, why not go for the fresh one with no preservatives?

i tried the original kamaudon($7.95) and tsukeudonwith shrimp tempura ($10) both which i really enjoyed. i would say just skip the tempura as theudonis really the star of the dish.

for tapas, i tried the corn kaki-age, roasted hamachi gama, tako-wasa all really solid dish.

for drinks i would suggest to stick with beer (they have delirium on tap) or sake. their cocktails is sweet and weak.

service though was exceptional during my most recent visit. both waiter was nice and go out of their way to make sure i have a good stay.

i would be back for some more fresh udon. i think this is the only restaurant that offers freshly made noodle in gta.

menami prides itself as the first genuine traditionaludonhouse in ontario.udonis a type of thick wheat noodles found in japanese cuisine. it can be served warmed or cold depending on the type of dish. opened only a few months ago, menami has already created a lot of buzz. this place is pretty busy, hence expect to wait if you don’t have a reservation. the restaurant is located at yonge and finch. we swung by around 5:30pm on a saturday evening, put down our name and number and waited for about 40mins. they will contact you by phone when your table is ready.

we were blown away by the beef tataki ($12) appetizer and this was my favourite dish. the sauce was very tasty, full of flavour, and has a bit of a kick to it! it is citrus -y and sweet. 

the spicy salmon tartare ($9) was yummy as well and is served with crispy deep fried wonton skin. the salmon is chunky and fresh. 

next was the black sesame pureeudonwith beef ($15)! i rarely leave a restaurant without trying one of their speciality items. there were manyudondishes to choose from on the menu but this one caught my eye. it was an interesting dish since the sauce is quite sweet and reminded me of the traditional asian black sesame dessert. it was warm and we were quite content slurping up the noodles. theudonnoodles were springy and not starchy. the only downside is that there wasn’t much beef.

corn kaki-age ($5) with a honey butter mayonnaise dip! i can see why a lot of people enjoyed this corn tempura dish. personally, i’m not a big fan of fried food but i liked the sauce and i thought it went well with the corn kaki-age.

the bar area is nicely arranged and i liked the wood furniture and details, the cool lighting fixtures, and hip vibes. 
i think menami is a great place to eat with friends or with a date. there’s a good selection on the menu whether you’re feeling for something unique, or just tapas and drinks.

the oven bakedudoncontained shrimp, scallop, bacon, green pepper, white onion, and tex mex. this one was extremely cheesy with the tex mex on top and full of cream sauce as well. since it was oven baked, the surface of theudonwhen it arrived was a beautiful golden yellow colour from the oven baked cheese. it smelled amazing too!

there were a lot more shrimps in this than scallops and i liked the bacon slices that were hidden within this creamyudondish as well. if you love cheese, you will love thisudondish! just like the first dish, i really enjoyed the texture of theudonand its chewiness.

we came to menami for an early dinner on the weekend. it is the same owner from han ba tang that opened this restaurant. the interior is similar to hbt - very hipster haha.

roasted pork belly (4/5)

this was delicious! loved the marinated pork belly. it wasn't too fatty, *like*! :)

smoked salmon with parsnip sauce (4/5)

the smoked salmon was very fresh. the parsnip sauce paired surprisingly well with the salmon.

beefudon(2/5)

there was a mishap with their kitchen for my beef udon... can ask me for details but i'll just leave it at that. the owner was nice about it though!

i'll still return to try other things on the menu.