From the Far East

Beyond borders:


Chinese and


Japanese cuisine


in Canada


By Leslie Wu

Although it’s impossible to cover the traditions of two vastly regional and storied cuisines within the confines of one article, it is possible to look forward to see the development of Chinese and Japanese cuisine within Canada’s shores.

“Nowadays, if you look at classes or boundaries of food, you don’t have as many divides between things like upper or lower class food,” says Susur Lee, who has spent over 20 years blending the flavour profile of his native Hong Kong and other parts of Asia with French and other classical techniques.

Susur Lee's Singapore Slaw.

“Ingredients are widely accessible, and people are demanding more,” says Lee.

Today, as changing demographics bring new familiarity with regionality to Canada, and consumer awareness of ingredients such as shark’s fin and bluefin tuna create restrictions on items used, Chinese and Japanese restaurateurs are diversifying their offerings to offer customers new entry points into the menu.

With single-item chains such as Congee Wong targeting a fast casual market, changes to the traditional Chinese banquet audience, and kaiseki restaurants and izakayas approaching both ends of the fine dining/casual spectrum, customers at Chinese and Japanese restaurants are offered more choices in terms of price point than ever before within Ontario’s borders.

A changing landscape

Twenty years ago, Chinese food in Toronto was very different, says Canson Tsang, director of Chinese food and beverage operations at Lai Wah Heen. “At that time, Hong Kong immigrants came to Canada due to the handover, and restaurants reflected that high-end Hong Kong, very wealthy style of dining. The Chinese restaurant scene was dominated by Cantonese restaurants,” says Tsang.

Variations of steamed buns are found all over Asia.

After the 1997 handover had been settled, says Tsang, in most of the families the second generation either went back to Hong Kong or China, and their parents retired, so their lifestyle and spending patterns changed.

More immigrants came from mainland China, where the dining habits are very different, bringing things like a more northern Beijing style of cooking to Canada.

It was at this point, says Tsang, that there started to be more of an expression of regionality in the Chinese food available in Canada.

The influx also brought two new types of diners to Canadian shores, says Tsang: students from mainland China who have money, but don’t want high-end Chinese food such as shark’s fin or abalone, and young urban professionals from China with better spending power that, like their western counterparts, have a lifestyle where they finish work and do not want to go home to cook.

Both of these types of diners are attracted to modern, subtle, contemporary decoration with inexpensive food.

Kim Ng, general manager at Ottawa’s Yangtze Dining Lounge, has seen a definite increase in younger diners to her restaurant, many of whom are not Chinese.  Many of her older Chinese customers now eat more at home, or visit restaurants in the suburbs where they live.

Chinese cuisine by region

“There are so many different areas of China, and culturally, it’s so diverse,” says Lee, who hails from Hong Kong. “When I first started cooking, I wanted to know what made northerners eat the way they do, with more fat, noodles, etc.”

China has eight major regions of cooking styles, based on geographical location: Anhui, Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang.

Looking at it more broadly, Chinese cuisine can be split into four areas: foods of the north tend to be sweet and bread-based, the south is savoury and rice-based, the west is a heavy taste, spicy, with meat and the east revolves around seafood and light-tasting, non-spicy food, says Tsang.

The movement of cuisine from China to North America has led to a new type of cuisine. Tsang sees this 9th region of North American Chinese food consolidating the recipes from all eight chinese cuisines to have new ingredients and ways of cooking that are easier to be appreciated by local tastes. This new type of regional cuisine will grow in the next 10 years, using a mix of modern and classic technique, and using local ingredients,  says Tsang.

When Peter Chen, president of the Ontario Chinese Restaurant and Food Services Association, opened his restaurant in Toronto 30 years ago, he says no one knew Szechuan food.

Today, people are definitely more familiar with Chinese ingredients, says Ng. “Now, you have to know what’s MSG or gluten-free. Plus, more of our non-Chinese customers are familiar with different regions because they have travelled to China.”

“In the last 10 or 15 years, people know that Chinese cuisine is not chicken balls with sweet and sour sauce,” laughs Tsang.

The issue of shark’s fin

Currently, shark’s fin is banned only in certain cities throughout Ontario: Brantford, Oakville, and Toronto.

Toronto city councilors voted 38 to 4 in October in favour of a bylaw making it illegal to possess, sell, trade or distribute shark fins or products made from the fins.

Fines for breaking the law range from $5,000 for a first offence to $100,000 for a third and subsequent offences.

Restaurateurs and retailers have until September 1, 2012 when the bylaw comes into effect to deplete their current stocks of the fins, used largely for Chinese weddings and banquets.

Mississauga, a city that a 2006 StatsCan poll puts at having 50,000 residents of Chinese descent, had banned shark’s fin in restaurants in October. The ban was later overturned in December until June 30th, 2012, so that city councilors can review it further.

At the time of writing, shark’s fin was not banned in Ottawa, but restaurateurs such as Ng are in preparation, just in case. Yangtze, a 280-seat restaurant, does a lot of banquets, and has added a lobster seafood medley containing lobster, crab and other prestige items to the menu.

“People still see the seafood, and can taste it, so they feel that they are getting their money’s worth,” she says. “At the end of the day, you make do with what you don’t have. Because we’re in Ottawa, and we don’t serve the dish that often, shark’s fin soup is not something that will be missed.”

Susur Lee doesn’t think that the shark’s fin ban will restrict Chinese cooks too greatly. “The Chinese have so many different ingredients, they won’t go out of business. I think it’s a great thing that the ban will help save the world of nature,” he says. Except for banquet halls, most restaurants don’t even stock it, says Lee, who added that in Hong Kong, he was recently served vegetarian shark’s fin substitute which was “pretty good, actually,” he says.

The market for the product is not really big, says Peter Chen, since most people can’t afford to pay $60 to $80 for a bowl of shark’s fin soup with any great regularity.

He feels that a ban, however, does affect Chinese restaurateurs, as people looking for that specific item may choose to hold their banquet elsewhere. “You don’t just lose the price of the bowl of shark’s fin soup, you  lose the whole bill for the whole party,” he says.

Chen also strongly feels that a ban of this nature needs to be at the federal government level, prohibiting the catching and importing of shark’s fin, rather than banning it at the local level of government.

Suggested pairings for traditional food found at a Chinese banquet

“To the Chinese, good food is one thing, drinking great wine is another thing. It’s not thought of necessarily as a match,” says Susur Lee. “The Chinese like to taste individual quality things.”

To address this image, a couple of years ago, restaurateurs from Lai Wah Heen and wine expert Tony Aspler put together some suggestions for traditional banquet dishes and wine pairing.

• Roast suckling pig crackling with scallions on rice dough flat bread, with hoisin sauce and sugar. Appropriate wine: Off-dry medium bodied white such as Alsace Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris or a fruity, light bodied red such as a German Spaetburgunder, Beaujolais Crus or Spanish or California Rosé.

• Wok fried prawns and scallops with pine nuts. Appropriate wine: Off-dry white such as Vouvray, German Riesling Spaetlese or Alsace Pinot Gris.

• Braised dried abalone. Appropriate wine: A light red such as a Beaujolais Crus, Oregon Pinot Noir, Ontario Pinot Noir or Dry Rosé.

• Steamed whole black bass with scallions and coriander sprigs in a light soy blend. Appropriate wine: A dry white such as white Burgundy, unoaked Chardonnay or Gavi.

Information excerpted from a study from Lai Wah Heen and Tony Aspler.
New research for a report due out mid-2012 will cover more informal dining from the eight regional styles of Chinese cuisine.

Japanese cuisine

“A traditional Japanese chef works under a series of demanding constraints,” says food writer Jeffrey Steingarten in his article Kyoto Cuisine.

Freshly made soba noodles can be expensive and highly prized in Japan.

“His insistence on cooking food only at their seasonal peak eliminates three-quarters of the possibilities at one time. And his concern for freshness rules out most ingredients from other parts of the country.”

Like Chinese cuisine, Japanese food is extremely regional, split by geography into Hokkaido, Tohoku region, Kanto region, Chubu/Tokai region, Hokuriku region, Kansai region, Chugoku region, Shikoku region and Kyushu region.

Even a seemingly simple bowl of ramen can have distinct regional differences, such as the miso-based ramen of Sapporo, or the lighter style broth of Hakodate (those interested in further regional differences of ramen would do well to consult Nate Shockey’s article in Lucky Peach, Vol. 1).

Japanese cuisine faces its own challenges on Canada’s shores. The tsunami that caused catastrophic damage in Japan earlier last year not only made some supply difficult for restaurateurs in North America, but also created consumer concern over dangers of irradiated fish and other ingredients.

Adding to the challenge is the consumer’s new awareness of sustainable fishing practices, especially with popular ingredients such as bluefin tuna. Some restaurateurs such as John Lee at Toronto’s Omi concentrate on sustainably-sourced fish as the basis for his dishes.

Apart from regionality, Japanese food is also divided by levels of formality. On one end of the spectrum are izakayas.

“Neither restaurant nor bar, the izakaya is more than a place where you can share delicious food and relaxing drink,” writes Mark Robinson in Izakaya, The Japanese Pub Cookbook.

“The menu is like a road map and the diners are at the wheel, calling out orders as the mood takes them. All dishes are inexpensive, and as the ‘scenery’ and conversation changes, items that initially escaped notice acquire new appeal,” writes Robinson.

Some, like longstanding stalwart Ematei in Toronto, combine elements of the izakaya with traditional restaurant dining. Others, like newcomers Guu and Fin, create more of an exuberant atmosphere, with each diner greeted by the cooks behind the bar with a loud irasshaimase! (“welcome” in Japanese).

Fin Izakaya's tempura shrimp and bento boxes.

When Akiko Masuda, owner of Fin Izakaya, first came to Ontario when she was 19—underage for drinking in Japan—she didn’t know izakayas very well. In subsequent trips back, she fell in love with the izakaya experience.

Although izakaya culture is well established on Vancouver’s shore with brands such as Guu (which have since expanded to two locations in Toronto) and Hapa Izakaya, it has made small inroads further east.

“Before, people’s image of Japanese food was sushi, which is more of an occasion food in Japan, and tempura,” says Masuda.

There’s still some education needed with the izakaya culture, and its small-plate style of service.“Our customers don’t necessarily know what izakayas are when they walk in. Let’s say there are four people that come in…they don’t always understand why we don’t serve everyone’s entrée at the same time,” says Masuda.

She created a flyer to explain the sharing nature of izakaya plates, and the restaurant offers a special bento box with a starter, a small dish and a main course for people who still don’t want to share.

By contrast, the izakaya’s polar opposite is  kaiseki cuisine, a highly specialized and seasonal form of artistic expression. “We find that people are more open to Japanese cuisine now than before, and it is enjoyed by all ages,” says Kei Hashimoto, assistant manager, at Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto. 

Hashimoto'a signature crane, accompanied by lightly fried squid and white meat fish, decorated with popped rice stock.

Without a menu, the entire meal is based on the choice and skills of the chef.

Hashimoto’s uses the word “Yu-zen” to indicate flexibility in preparation and service to adapt to the customer’s needs.

“Kaiseki menus are a reflection of the region in which they are served and rely, to as great a degree as possible, on local products that are in season,” writes Anthony Bourdain in A Cook’s Tour.

“The meal is in many ways a celebration of that season, the presentation, garnishes, plates and serviceware designed to glorify that which is best about the particular place and time of year.”

At the source of the matter

When Mitsuto Kumai of Mississauga’s Kumai restaurant came to Canada in 1982, he says that fresh fish was not as available as it is today, when he can source product from areas such as Portugal, Japan, South America, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

Kumai, who has been preparing sushi for 46 years, says that today’s customer is willing to pay more for Japanese food. “If it’s special, such as o-toro (tuna belly), people recognize and will pay for the quality.”

Some Japanese restaurants, including Etobicoke’s Sushi Kaji, Kumai, and Hashimoto, import ingredients directly from Japan, or make elements such as soy sauce in house.

The purity of the ingredient is especially crucial in kaiseki cuisine, which changes according to seasonality.

Hashimoto’s, which requires reservations a week in advance to order ingredients, changes its menu both based on season and what the customer had the last time they came (the restaurant records the meal with each visit.)

“For example, in the summer; it may be ayu, a river fish in Japan which can only be caught in the spring. For summer/autumn, it would be hamo which is a conger pike,” says the website.

Suggested pairings


















The food at Fin Izakaya, in keeping with the theme, is designed to match the restaurant’s libations. Sake and shochu novices and enthusiasts alike can explore the restaurant’s flights, where diners can choose three options off an extensive list.

When pairing food with sake, strong or overly sauced dishes interfere with the sake taste, says owner Akiko Masuda. These foods, however, pair well with beer.

Good flavours with beer include teriyaki sauce and also food cooked on the robota grill. Fin uses 100 per cent bincho-tan, a white charcoal imported from Japan, which imports a smoked flavour to food that pairs well with beer.

Sometimes, the dish is adapted somewhat from its original form.

A traditional dish of namareba made with raw cow liver in sesame oil initially stumped Masuda. “I thought, how can we best sell this in Canada? Then my chef suggested that salmon has a similar texture to cow liver, and that the sesame oil is the important component to pair with sake.” The dish went onto the menu as salmon sashimi namareba, or salmon sashimi with salted sesame dipping oil.

Other dishes to pair with sake have their roots in pragmatic tradition. A tuna dish, prepared by Japanese fishermen, who chop fish when out on their boats and mix it with miso and ginger, is usually drunk with sake, as beer would be too warm served on a fishing boat without refrigeration.

Pairings for kaiseki cuisine, on the other hand, can be as complex and refined as a wine pairing for an elaborate tasting menu.

Robatayaki—Japanese grilled food cooked at an open hearth in front of customers.

Interested in learning more?

Shark’s fin and Sichuan pepper, a sweet-sour memoir of eating in China,  Fuchia Dunlop.

Chow: from China to Canada: Memories of Food and Family, Janice Wong.

Food of China, Kay Halsey.

Just Add Shoyu: A culinary journey of Japanese Canadian cooking, Joy Kogama.

A Cook’s Tour, Anthony Bourdain.

Japanese Cooking, Emi Kazuko.

Susur: A Culinary Life, Sarah Angel and Jacob Richler.

Lucky Peach, issue 1, Ramen.

Izakaya, The Japanese Pub Cookbook by Mark Robinson.