Murray Avenue Restaurant Challenge: Chaya Japanese Restaurant

Achievement: #2. Eat at every restaurant on Murray Ave

We’ve started almost a new standard of going out for a Murray Ave dinner each Saturday night. This week, it was time to hit up a delightful BYOB Japanese restaurant called Chaya.

We were very excited for this, because we’d never had wine with sushi before. Therefore, this called for some research on wine pairings (yes, we are total nerds who love this stuff). What we decided on was a Gewürztraminer-based white wine blend from Lot 30 Winery that we picked up on our trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. It was ideal!

The restaurant is tiny, unfortunately, so plan on a bit of a wait if you go on a weekend. But trust me, it is worth your time once your food arrives!

Chaya
We started with the yummy, salty miso soup. It had fluffy chunks of soft tofu in it.

Chaya
Here is Michael with his glass of white wine. They charge a ‘glass fee’ for each person, but you can bring in whichever wine you most prefer!

Chaya
After our soup, we had the tempura appetizer, which was shrimp but also tempura vegetables like zucchini, broccoli (obviously Michael ate that one) and sliced potato.

Chaya
Eagerly waiting for my sushi to arrive!

Chaya
Michael is so ready to dig into that tasty sushi!

Chaya
We got deep fried tuna rolls, the Squirrel Hill roll (shrimp, cucumber, and avocado), yellowtail and scallion, a toro roll (bluefin tuna), and Alaska roll (salmon, crab, and avocado). Oh was it yummy!

Mineo's Ice Cream
As we walked back down the hill, we decided to stop into Mineo’s ice cream shop for a dessert cone. This is Edy’s Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream. So. Freaking. Good.

Mineo's Ice Cream
If we weren’t full after the sushi, we definitely were after the ice cream. Perfect ending to the night!

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