Northern Chinese stands out at Takumi BBQ

• Name + address: Takumi BBQ, 956 Merivale Rd.

• Type of food: Northern Chinese

• Mains: $13-$21

• Sides: $2-$8

• Diet: Meat, seafood

• Wheelchair accessibility: No

• LCBO Licensed: Yes

• Website: takumibbq.com

In Japanese Takumi means “artisan” so you would be forgiven for thinking of this as a Japanese restaurant. You’d be wrong.

On the heels of many restaurant closures featuring North Eastern Chinese cuisine, Takumi is a welcome addition to the landscape but with a BBQ twist. From my searches it’s also the new incarnation of a restaurant formerly known as Mr. MIC (Made In China).

There’s also a blending of Korean elements such as a sweet and spicy sauce made with gojuchang and sides such as kimchi and pickled daikon radish. For the record these are all top examples of their type and I was grateful that refills were offered gratis. Unfortunately they’re not offered for sale in larger formats.

The room is nicely decorated and seats 32 and on this day it was moderately busy and so service was rather efficient. My main arrived just minutes after the calamari appetizer.

Panko crusted calamari was moist, creamy and tender with just a little too much batter but then again this was the one item that was brought in from a commercial food service supplier.

The server came to turn on the hot plate in the centre of the table warning me to keep my hands away lest I injure myself.

At Takumi, as at a hot pot restaurant, you do the cooking and it’s an activity best shared by two. There’s a certain pleasure to this way of eating. It’s more contemplative, encourages conversation and is so leisurely that you find yourself eating less and more slowly. These are all good things and a healthy contrast to the way we seem to function in our modern age.

The menu has a good selection of meats, seafood, vegetables and starches for grilling. I was told that the lamb shoulder and beef rib fingers were the two most popular items and I opted for the king oyster mushrooms and black pepper beef.

I’m a bit of a mushroom fiend ready to devour any edible example and king oysters are certainly one of the most satisfying. When cooked they’re fleshy in texture and give off a savoury aroma. They also happen to pair perfectly with beef. At $7 I was impressed by the healthy portion and the fact that they were so thinly sliced making for quick and easy grilling.

Cuts of beef make up the largest protein category with tongue, tendon and aorta rounding out the list. If you’re less adventurous there’s pork, honey garlic duck breast, scallops, shrimp and squid.

When the thinly shaved beef arrived, I knew straight away that I wouldn’t finish it all. The cut was flat-iron which, when whole, can take longer to cook but contains sufficient fat to keep the griddle from drying out. It’s also a succulently flavourful cut.

Years ago I adopted the habit of rarely eating starches with animal proteins, preferring to fill up on vegetables instead. It’s easy enough to do at Takumi but you are offered potato and sweet potato as options. If you like to wrap your food, you can choose from perilla leaves, lettuce or thin round wheat wrappers.

A crowning touch are side seasonings, sweet and spicy chili sauce, a tangy sesame sauce and the star: a cumin laced peanut and mixed nut powder that had me thinking “I’m making this at home.” These options kept every bite new.

At Takumi the food is supremely fresh and plentiful and I suggest dining with a friend or partner. You will be satisfied and marvel at how little — in a time of skyrocketing prices — you’ll pay for a very good meal.