After skating up and down the longest rink in the world, nothing hits the spot better than a BeaverTail and a hot apple cider. BeaverTails are highly addictive whole-wheat pastries. They’re shaped like, you guessed it, a beaver’s tail, and deep fried in a giant vat of canola oil until they float. They’re topped with confections like chocolate hazelnut spread, maple butter and my own personal favourite, cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice (called a Killaloe sunrise). These sweet treats have been quintessentially Canadian for about 30 years now, but the owners were so excited about Barack Obama’s inauguration that they created an ObamaTail in his honour. This latest addition to the BeaverTail family displays a sugary letter O in chocolate and whipped cream. It also has the stamp of approval of the discerning palates of our nation’s capital: many Ottawans taste-tested the ObamaTail on the Rideau Canal before it was served during the inauguration parade in Washington at the Canadian Embassy. You can buy BeaverTails on the canal from 4pm to 11pm on weekdays and from 10am to 10pm on weekends. There’s also a stand at the Byward Market. View Larger Map BeaverTails Byward Market 69 George St Ottawa, ON Asha Jhamandas is an Ottawa-based writer/editor and author of beFOODled . Bazaar's Restaurant posts are featured every Friday.

Ichibei is a small restaurant on Bank Street that serves the best Japanese food in Ottawa . This is where I discovered there’s much more to Japanese cuisine than sushi and tempura. It’s ironic, but my favourite dish at the restaurant is a free appetizer that comes with miso soup when you order a main course. It’s a wonderful harusame salad, a cold vermicelli concoction with bits of carrot and crab and Japanese mayonnaise and spices. I don’t know how they make it, despite having surreptiously tried to find out several times, but it’s delicious and tastes distinctly Japanese. A typical menu that my partner and I order at Ichibei consists of a medium bottle of sake, two appetizers, two sides of sushi, an extra harusame salad and miso soup, and one main that we share. The bill comes to about $90. For the appetizers, we often get the beef tataki, very thin slices of raw beef marinated in green onions and citrus, or agedashi dofu, cubes of lightly deep fried tofu served in a tasty broth. These are my litmus tests for Japanese restaurants and Ichibei passes with flying colours! The other appetizer I’ve recently developed a taste for is tuna and natto (fermented soy beans). At first I was reluctant to try a food that was half decomposed, but now I am addicted to the stuff. And I have since made a friend in Ottawa who feels the same way and even keeps a supply handy in his freezer! We often get two orders of sushi (one order is two pieces each). For the main, we usually order either a rice bowl with a topping, such as katsudon (breaded pork cutlet and egg), or sukiyaki, a fantastic hot pot of beef and vegetables served with rice and a raw egg for dipping. We also always ask for the tanuki sake bottle because it’s so cute. The tanuki is a raccoon dog that is an important figure in Japanese folklore and often depicted with a big belly (helpful for holding all that sake!). Ichibei is not that busy during the weeknights, but on Friday and Saturday nights it fills up quickly. It’s a clean and cozy restaurant, and the staff are extremely friendly. They have come to recognize us since we’re there about once every two months. My only complaint is that Ichibei does not have ramen (Japanese noodle soup) on the menu. Japanese food is so much more than sushi and Ichibei really has many traditional recipes to tempt the palate. I highly recommend it should you find yourself in our nation’s capital! View Larger Map Ichibei...