Tomo
109 Clarence St., 613-241-0990, tomorestaurant.ca
Open: Sunday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to “late,” Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Prices: sushi rolls $7 to $15, kitchen items $5 to $18
Access: fully accessible
An old friend was visiting Ottawa, her hometown, from Japan. She had taken a vacation from not only her adopted country but also its food. Four weeks here, she still hadn’t had any Japanese food. She was craving it, and I decided to take her to Tomo, which says its name means “old friend” in Japanese.
Not that she and I are among the Clarence Street venue’s prime demographic. Opened May 1, Tomo is a enlarged, sleeker reboot of the Asian-fusion restaurant formerly known as Wontonmama. At night, Tomo is as much club and lounge as restaurant, entertaining a younger and apparently deeper-pocketed crowd with DJs spinning tunes and bottles of $1,500 champagne and $500 cognac on offer. A server told us that Tomo has an application in to increase its legal capacity from 180 to 220, in line with its bustling evening popularity.
But Tomo serves lunches too, and my back-from-Japan friend and I went for that on its wee patio, even if the table was far too small for the array of dishes that later speedily arrived. (The interior, with its chic wall-sized mural, Edison lights in sake bottles and brick wall adorned with sake barrels, was attractive and energized rather than zen, but we wanted to enjoy some late-summer sunshine.)
Scanning the menu, my friend noted the grilled squid. “Fifteen dollars? Oh my God, that’s so funny! It’s festival junk food,” she said. And yes, a few prices here do seem a little steep, compared not just to Japan but to good Ottawa Chinatown eateries, where fare is served in more spartan, less hip surroundings. But my friend was very pleased when the whole squid arrived, savouring the give of its nicely sauced body and its crispy tentacles.
Grilled squid at Tomo
Four takoyaki ($5) croquettes with a bit of octopus inside, also got her thumbs-up, this time for getting its textures and inner moltenness just right, and for not being over-sauced. (We did find out that the takoyaki were not made in-house.)
Takoyaki and tuna tataki at Tomo
Of the tataki items (we could have gone for steak, tuna or duck breast), tuna ($12) was clean and fresh but a little underseasoned, although its sauces and toppings, which included shreds of daikon, crisp onion and tiny, intriguing red peppers, did compensate.
Moving to the sushi menu, we tried the sashimi platter ($16) and met with our biggest disappointment. Raw salmon and tuna, plus the slices of octopus, were fine, but the cheap and easy choice of pieces of fake crab just didn’t belong.
Sashimi platter at Tomo
Among the tricked-out sushi rolls were many made with tempura shrimp. “They’ll have that (in Japan) for children who don’t want raw fish,” my friend said. That aside, she and I thought the tomo roll ($11.50), made with tempura shrimp and topped with beef slices, was attractive, well crafted and tasty.
Tomo roll at Tomo
“You can eat it. It’s awesome,” my friend said of the roll’s protruding, deep-fried shrimp tails. She was right.
Two more visits helped me focus my take on Tomo.
I’ve tried more snack-sized items including the fried chicken ($12), skewers of duck meat dusted with togarashi, the peppery Japanese spice mix, and what’s billed as tempura baby octopus ($4).
Fried chicken at Tomo
Duck skewer at Tomo
Above all, they struck me as bar-food pairings with beer or cocktails in the best izakaya (Japanese watering hole) style. The chicken and duck were straightforward and fine, but the octopus was heavier and greasier than hoped for, lacking the finesse of true tempura, while the whole baby octopus emerging from the gloppy casing was just offputting. Make my octopus takoyaki or tenderized tentacles any day.
Tempura baby octopus at Tomo
I’d take beef tartare ($15) over the striploin ($18). The former came with greaseless, house-made potato chips for scooping, and the meat was well-chopped, nicely herbed and slightly chilied, even if I would have liked it more had it been brighter and more acidic. Striploin here meant not a steak, but slices of meat with a too-strong sweet sauce.
Beef tartare at Tomo
Striploin at Tomo
Tomo slaw ($11) provided more interesting flavour contrasts, with julienned green papaya, mango and cabbage playing nicely together and united by a slightly creamy, spicy dressing and topped with crisp filaments of taro. Again, had the dish been brighter or more acidic, I and a friend would have liked it more — but we could understand Tomo going for a more accessible flavour profile.
Tomo slaw with duck breast
On my last visit, we filled up with a spider roll ($15) that pleased us all with its still-warm, properly tempura’d soft-shell crab and tight construction.
For dessert, there was just a single choice, but an excellent one — a plate of three Asian-inspired Moo Shoo ice cream truffles (milk tea, mimosa, sesame, $9) by Ottawa’s Liz Mok. That smart outsourced pick suits Tomo’s fusion approach to a tee, and surely would surpass a half-hearted try (say, Asian churros) from the eatery’s kitchen or cheaper sweets bought elsewhere (say, red bean ice cream from Chinatown).
Mooshu Ice Cream at Tomo
In all, Tomo seems to pick its spots to get its blend of food and club-based fun right. Those who like their Asian fare contemporary and crowd-pleasing and their sushi beautiful and packed with cooked seafood will do well making friends with Tomo — even if $1,500 Cristal is out of reach.
phum@ottawacitizen.com
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