Bare Bones

In the new year I find myself in a new neighborhood with my new job in the area near Yonge and Sheppard in North York. There are some familiar names and some new ones to explore in the restaurant scene here. The wintery winds and falling snow really made me yearn for a bowl of hot comfort. I trekked the roads onto the first location that came to mind. At the doorsteps of Joons, I feel like a Japanese salaryman looking for solace in repast after a stressful day of work. Steamy windows obscuring toasty patrons enjoying themselves. Across the floor I sees students and young professionals talking about their day.  Clarity slowly came to when  my noses can smell all that delicious table side cooking. Settling in my cozy little corner I let my mind de-stress from my day as I have already made my choice for dinner. The aromatherapy washes over my mind and body as I wait for the side dishes before the main course. It didn't take long as my meal was delivered just as my stomach clamored for nourishment. It didn't take long for the food to arrive thankfully.

The side dishes that had accompanied the meal was very generic. These are the usual suspects line the dinner lineup. Only one thing that was memorable was the mashed potato for reasons I will reveal later.  

It is always nice to see effort putting into presentation for something as simple as a plate of dumplings. Sitting atop a bed of shredded lettuce are these dumplings fanned out and streaked with hot sauce. Each dumpling looked as if they were clones of each other which only confirmed the suspicions I had after I bit into my first one. Tasting the void of flavor only confirmed to me that they were hibernating in a freezer awaiting their scalding destiny. What was that saying about style and substance again?

Coming to the main course I wanted to give them one last chance at redemption. First impression of this was that it was going to be worth it after struggling with all the disappointment. Don't let looks deceive you as the meat in the pictures was about all the meat I found in my meal. Perhaps I may have viewed this dish all wrong in the past.  It is called Pork Bone Soup so why am I saddened to see there is so little meat on the bones.  In the soup base I observed that there was a transparency that I'm not use to in this dish. The taste was very flat as there wasn't much flavor within it except for a sourness. Do you remember when I said that the mashed potatoes was the only memorable dish of the night? The reason why it was memorable was because of the absence of the spuds in the bowl! My guard was totally down for this one, two rapid assault combo in the gut.

Shock and disbelief was still fresh in my mind next morning whether or not the events of the previous night had actually transpired.  All the table cooking happening around me last night has started to make me re-evaluate what I should order the next time I come back.