Shibui Robata Bar: Japanese hot charcoal dining

Recently opened in Toronto’s Entertaiment District on Adelaide just east of Duncan is the upscale Japanese restaurant, Shibui Robata. It shares the same open-space just below the newest expansion of the popular Copacabana Brazilian Rodizio.

Robata translated as “fireside cooking” is a Japanese method of hot charcoal fire cooking that originated in the Northeastern part of Japan.

Shibui Robata uses fresh seafood, meats and vegetables and slowly cooks them on a hot charcoal grill on skewers.

Headed by executive chef Masaki Nakayama, the results on the table are beautifully presented and delicious.

The seafood and sashimi are incredibly fresh as in the case of one of my favourite sashimi pieces that I sampled: the O Toro blue fin tuna. It’s seriously melt-in-your-mouth-buttery deliciousness.

Another memorable dish was the pork belly skewers with Shichimi pepper.

Pork belly skewers with Shichimi pepper

Lastly, my absolute favourite (and also one of their most popular dishes) is the Black Cod with miso glaze. The black cod is really tender and flaky with an incredibly rich and buttery consistency. This is the taste of quality.

Black cod marinated in miso glaze

They also have a menu of Japanese-influenced cocktails including Kyuri Sake which is a deliciously balanced and enjoyably strong cocktail of gin, sake, yuzu sour, cucumber and garnished with a shisho leaf.

Kyuri sake with gin, sake, yuzu sour and cucumber garnished with a shisho leaf

And conveniently enough, after dinner you may be able to catch a drink and a Brazilian samba or aerial performance upstairs at Copacabana. If it’s just upstairs, why not, right?