Out & About #273 | UNIQLO, Rolltation, and Tsujiri

I love Fridays, but not for the reason that other people enjoy it.

It's the last day of the work week, and is also the day that my classes end the latest. However, I don't mind that: it just means my commute home will be that much more peaceful since everyone already abandoned campus.
But really, the nicest thing about Fridays is realizing that you've gained an additional 48 hours to do work.

Yes, I'm serious. An inhumane amount of assignments with incredulous difficulty has accumulated to become one of the most torturous academic years in my entire lifetime. That being said, not having to attend class is a blessing. No further assignments being assigned is even more of a blessing. And sleep? Oh, I'd appreciate that too.

The past two weekends were thoroughly spent moping at my desk, making desperate attempts to toil through a steadily increasing pile of agony-inducing papers. Indeed, the only times I inched away was to retrieve print jobs and occasionally feed my growling stomach. Sleep was, of course, reduced to the bare functioning minimum - usually headaches and griping attitude followed suit.
To reward myself (and catch up on social activities), I headed downtown for UNIQLO's Grand Opening at the Eaton Centre.

​Prior to that though, I wanted to introduce Nohohon's wondrous beverages. My company was unfamiliar with working her way around the city, however, and failed to remind me that we had embarked on the wrong streetcar while conversing absentmindedly. It wasn't after a short detour that we neared the doors of the Japanese tea room.

Watermelon Basil Oolong was my first choice, but unfortunately the order was denied due to lack of seasonal ingredients. Two Momo Oolongs were selected instead. As always, Nohohon offered up amazing drinks and extraordinary service. (Can't wait for their fall/winter beverages to release!)

UNIQLO's official opening time was actually at 10 AM. A friend of mine had shown me the details of the morning mayhem, along with the mention of free bottled water and cream puffs (courtesy of Neo). Despite the several hours that had passed since the Japanese import shop's unveiling, a queue remained for those that wished to enter the store.

Thankfully, the lineup moved quickly, with staff members tallying the number of customers entering for the sake of maintaining safety and reducing crowding inside the store.
I noticed that majority of the items catered to Canadian weather, specifically that of Southwestern Ontario. Thin insulating (under)garments sealed in small pouches ("HEAT TECH"), bombers, stretchy dress pants, and fleece/down jackets were found in almost every inch of the store. Lumberjack-esque flannels and layer-able striped sweaters were also in abundance.

I took to picking up two HEAT TECH items, each retailing for $19.90, as well as a sleek, hooded black jacket to contrast against my colourful winter down coats. The items were largely affordable - on par with H&M, but unmistakably better quality.

Despite the chaos, the cashiers remained extremely pleasant and welcoming. 
Additional touches that I greatly appreciated included sealing each bag with a logo-donning sticker and the availability of in-store Wi-Fi.

​The two-floor shop required approximately 1.5 hours to explore, so the sky had already dimmed by the time we headed over to Rolltation for a late dinner.

For the month of September, they were offering a 10% off deal to students after 4 PM. I opted to take advantage of this deal, and swiftly headed inwards to satisfy the deep growl being emitted from my body.

​"Boy, it's cramped." was the first thought that popped into mind. Being claustrophobic, the five bar seats and tiny line-up/ordering/cashier area was already less than attractive from where I stood. Nonetheless, I wanted to take advantage of their deal, especially considering it was the last day.

The menu was posted at the back wall of the shop, though smaller, brochure-sized versions were also being given out for the sake of narrowing down with more ease. My heart desired a poke bowl, but I probably should have known better than to order an item that the shop did not specialize in.

As with all shops, Rolltation also made a series of Signature creations available for those too pre-occupied with other life duties than to create one from scratch. These Signatures didn't permit the substitution of ingredients though, so I was asked to pick the "Roll Your Own" option instead.

The crew worked in a simple assembly line: the first member of staff (who was evidently Japanese and hadn't honed her English skills quite enough) spooned my choice of base into the bowl, while two others were in charge of scooping ingredients. Towards the end of inverted L-shaped counter was the cashier and a very hidden utensil and takeout condiment bar.
I requested a mix of brown rice and greens as my base, though received a heaping mound of brown and white sushi rice instead. My chosen toppings were salmon (the "protein"), kale, corn, red pepper strips, thinly sliced carrots, tamago, and lotus root chips; the bowl was finished off with a meager squirt of wasabi mayo sauce and a handful of toasted sesame seeds. The one-protein choice landed me at an outrageous $12.99 plus tax.

Let's also not forget to mention: as the ingredient-picker reached over to scoop my veggies, his shirt grazed the surface of the chunked salmon in its entirety. (I even spotted the glisten of the raw-ness once he regained his posture). By this point, the germophobe in me was already curdling. Hunger kept me from opening my mouth to point out the obvious though.


It's also important to mention that the bowl that was delivered to me was most definitely NOT poke.

In the words of mistermagicman, "poke is not poke unless the fish is marinated".
Rolltation had just committed such a sin. The fact that their ingredients were of mediocre quality could have been neglected, but I fear the unauthenticity and inaccuracy of their dish could not.

Majority of the vegetables were simply chopped or sliced and thrown on top of the chosen rice base, sauce was almost non-existent, and the fish was NOT marinated in any way, shape, or form. Simply put, they had attempted to recycle the same ingredients for their sushi burritos in makeshift "poke bowls".

Towards the end of the evening, they had also reached a shortage of disposal chopsticks as well as packages of (disposal) soy sauce and wasabi. Needless to say, it was a highly unsatisfactory - not to mention, unhygienic - experience.

Several of my friends mentioned enjoying their oversized, uncut sushi rolls though, so I suppose I only have myself to blame for not heeding the advice of the general public.

​As Rolltation was temporarily not accepting any form of plastic payment due to system issues, we later headed over to Gyugyuya since my shopping partner had stated that she "didn't have cash and never will have cash" on her. She was also very unwillingly to go to a nearby bank for the withdrawal of such material, meaning that I'll probably never, ever retrieve the money she's already owed me for the past six months...

​Quite frankly, I've never stepped foot into the establishment since I found the yellow-ness of it to be all too overwhelming. From the walls to the menu to the table to the door leading to the excessively small basement washroom, it was too saffron to handle. Beef isn't my go-to choice of protein either, so I honestly never bothered to spend $12 for a plate of curry beef on rice here when there were numerous other eateries in the vicinity.

​Service was friendly though, and the tables were exceptionally clean considering the volume of night traffic in the area. We were first provided ice water in handle-less cups that adopted the appearance of Stainless steel (were they?), then sporks and napkins to make consumption easier.
Mind you - I was awfully amazed at the dual-usage utensil. (I mean, it was genius tool for multi-tasking!)

​Service was friendly though, and the tables were exceptionally clean considering the volume of night traffic in the area. We were first provided ice water in handle-less cups that adopted the appearance of Stainless steel (were they?), then sporks and napkins to make consumption easier.
Mind you - I was awfully amazed at the dual-usage utensil. (I mean, it was genius tool for multi-tasking!)

Though fragrant, Gyugyuya's Curry Beef on Rice with Cheese wasn't exactly my type of cuisine. Admittedly, it would be great comfort food for chilly, rainy days, but the dish seemed too easy to make to justify forking over such an amount.

Since Rolltation had left bitter bits of discontent in my mouth, I felt the need to reverse this by indulging in late-night Tsujiri. Since mylast visit, Daifuku and roll cakes have now joined the lineup. By 10 pm though, these items had long been sold out. I opted for a refreshing Yuzu Float with Matcha Soft Serve instead.

Once again, view the full album HERE!

Behold my UNIQLO purchases!

I've found Tsujiri's Houjicha items to emit consist of quite a spectacular flavour profile. Let's hope these individual satchets live up to expectations!