Tempo Review June 12, 2001
596 College St. at: Clinton Ave. Toronto ph: (416) 531-2822
Chef: Tom Thai. Style: Japanese/Asian fusion
Amex , MasterCard , Visa Accepted
No Wheelchair Access
$110 for two, including drinks

Okay, first of all you have to get your head around that you are going to Little Italy for Japanese food, not ravioli. Once youve past this barrier you are ready for Tempo. Located in one of the hippest areas in Toronto, at College and Clinton, you walk in and are surrounded by hip. The front of the restaurant is deeply 60s, with a couple of semi-circular booths upholstered in green tufted neo-naugahide (remember those?), and one or two chic girls with bad habits smoking at the bar. (They have to: the restaurant doesnt allow smoking anywhere else) The music is techno, the wait-staff is much cooler than you, and the people watching is deeply fun. Especially from one of the booths. Theyre great for twos and threes. And no, nobody minds being watched. Lots of them are posing pretty aggressively including wait-staff and are probably quite pleased to have an audience. For fidgeters we recommend the front window tables. Tempo has smooth rocks piled along the window walls next to those tables. The patrons that sit there seem to spend a lot of time fondling them.

Now. About the food and drink. Well, looking around we got the feeling that the clientele probably didnt know what they were eating not a good sign, usually. In our experience, however, the food ranges from quite good to almost outstanding. So if you are a Japanese food snob heres your chance to show off.

Drinks: 5 sushi rating.

We started with a saketini. There are two available, mango and litchi. ($5.50)
Magaretto: I thoroughly enjoyed the litchi martini. (vodka, sake, litchi liquor and litchi juice.) The peeled litchi bobbing in the drink is not very esthetically pleasing (Margaret screamed when she saw it, actually, and said it looked like an eyeball. ed.) but you immediately forget that after the first scrumptious sip.

I didnt care for the mango saketini. There are 6 different sakes available, which is a little more than usual, including the premium Japanese sake Tamanohikari and the premium U.S. sake, Hakusan.

Adorien: If Im hooked forever its ALL MARGARETS FAULT. She MADE me order the mango saketini, and now Im doomed to becoming an alcoholic. Next time I have to do one of those long-haul horrors to Tokyo, Im going to ask the bartender to fill me up a thermos full of the stuff. Yum.

Dinner: 3-4 sushi rating

We then ordered from Tom Thais small but extremely enticing menu of Japanese/Asian dishes. Food is prepared as ordered and will come to your table when ready so this place is best to go to for a long chat when youre NOT ravenous. The food is great quality, and beautifully presented but it wont come fast.

For starters we ordered the salad of organic greens. ($5.50) Although it looks like just a bowl of boring lettuce the dressing, miso citrus vinegrette, is very light and is thinly tossed over each leaf. Very tasty, very pleasant.

Our favourite dish was the baked hamachi ($15.00). It looks like a lump of charcoal when the deeply-cool-waiter deposits it on ones table, but once the banana leaves are peeled the fish is luscious: rich, boneless, sitting on a bed of ground almonds with chilis, flavoured further with lemongrass and perhaps a few other things we couldnt identify. Note: unwrapping the hamachi will get ash everywhere, unless youre tidier than we were. Thats ok, though. The tables are formica.

The sushi and maki combo ($18.00) was good, but a little uninspired. Margaret liked the fact that there was no California rolls (she used a rude word here, but CJST we deleted it ed.), just very fresh fish.

Our last main dish order was the Boston Sea Bass with fried plantains in a tamarind/lemon grass sauce. That was the only real mistake of the meal. It was expensive and, though spectacular to look at, a complete pain to eat. Bones everywhere, and half a bale of very annoying lemongrass garnish thingies to wade through besides. If you go, dont order this. Try the fish curry instead. The chef seems to know what hes doing with spices, and we think he would probably do a terrific job with curry.

Dessert: minus 5 sushi rating

As to desert and coffee, our recommendation is: dont. Tea and dessert are clearly not something the hip people eat much of, because the poor dears at Tempo broke down completely on this part of the meal. Their dessert menu is restricted to ginger ice cream or green tea cream (both mediocre), topped in each case with stale Peak Freen sugar cookie. Yes, we tried both. We are nothing if not thorough The green tea, if you ask for a pot, comes in one of those nasty little glass thermoses that even bad diners dont use any more (Margaret points out that it is guaranteed to spill, but Adrienne is recovering nicely, owing to the fact that her tea was, thankfully, only tepid). Higgins & Burke tea bags. Sigh.

Our overall assessment:

We give this restaurant a 3 sushi rating.

Tempo is a fabulous for people-watching (inside or on the patio), impressing a date, drinks and a light dinner, or a few drinks before or after dinner. Not, perhaps, for serious sushi-imbibers, those looking for traditional Japanese food, seriously professional service or a great-value dinner. And if you want coffee and dessert, youre better off ordering an espresso and a couple of pasteis nata down the road at Nova Era.