I have had many friends of mine ask me about Japanese food in and around Toronto and Markham. Right in a little corner in First Markham Place is a restaurant called Hana-bi, there are "classier" and more innovative places downtown, however, this little homey Japanese restaurant had me going back more often than not.
I went back because of great food, reasonable price and most important of all, welcoming service. In my opinion, the most off-putting thing is when you have great food, and horrible staff that just makes the food have a horrible aftertaste. The first thing you notice is the smiles and acknowledgement from the staff and sushi chef. On the off chance were you enter and the waiters happened to in the kitchen or busy, the sushi chef would not hesitate and welcome you in. Service is top notch and rivals many of the restaurants I have been to downtown. On one of our normal family visits, we tend to order their combo which has a variety of stuff. For the three person set, you are looking at around $60. However, this actually feeds 4 people with the relatively large portions.
The following is the first appetizer we received, its is a teriyaki skewer with fried tofu and dumplings. The appetizer was lackluster, it was properly seasoned. It felt clunky as the appetizer since it was relatively heavy, but it was decent nonetheless.
Vegetable-Chicken Teriyaki skewers with Fried Tofu and dumplings
The next dish was a tempura medley. The tempura you get from other restaurants are typically very dense and feels no wear near as fluffy as the ones I have had here.
Tempura Medley, The shrimp tempura is extremely fluffy and nice.
The next part of the meal was the amazing sushi/sashimi. One thing that the restaurant likes to do is provide something on the house every so often, this time we had the most amazing Botan Shrimp Sashimi on the house. The fish was fresh and the rice had the right amount of seasoning. The most impressive was the uni, it is very easy for improper preparation of uni to showcase a very fishy taste instead of a clean and fresh taste, but it seems like they put just the right amount of seasoning to bring the best of the uni.
Sushi Boat
Uni and Ika Sashimi.
The final dish was a combination of Salmon/Chicken/Beef Teriyaki with a bowl of rice. Similar to the teriyaki skewer, it was decent, but lackluster in terms of innovation.
Teriyaki Platter
Overall, the combination of a reasonable price and decent food quality makes this a very welcoming restaurant to go back to. 8/10