Hino

When Mel and I first moved into the Hintonburg area in Ottawa, we only had a few restaurants that we knew about beforehand. With a preemie in the hospital, we were really always looking for comfort food – the familiar. That said, there wasn’t much variance in what we ate, and one of the places was getting kind of expensive.

After bringing Quinn home we went for a stroll with the intent of travelling a bit further from our immediate neighbourhood in search of eats. Hino is literally a few blocks from our house, but the fascade is dark enough that I wasn’t even sure it was a reastaurant (despite the sign… don’t tease me). As we walked by the waiter saw us peeking and insisted we come in. He was friendly enough that we obliged and, after a great meal, we were thoroughly impressed with the quality of the food and the unassuming nature of the place. Was it “pretty?” No – but it was close, good, and not very busy…

A few years later and we end up eating there once a week. Terry (Hino San), the sole owner for 25 years is not only a gracious host, but a friend. He makes our meal and comes to hold one of our kids so that we can actually enjoy our meal. I don’t get this kind of service at Casey’s.

I think the place get’s a bad rep because some people come with expectations; it’s Japanese so it has to be Sushi right? No – it’s a grill, or the Japanese equivalent of a diner. Can Terry make Sushi? Yup – and he does on occasion, if he has the cut.

All said I really like the place, I recommend it to friends, but not too many, while I want Hino’s to do well, and stick around, I also enjoy the fact that it, and he, are never too busy for our family to come as we are.

Posted on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 at 10:31 pm. Filed under: Portraits Tags: Hino, Hintonburg, Ottawa, portrait, Restaurant, Strobist RSS 2.0 feed.