I'm Only Here for the Food!

Irashai Grill
1368 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC V6E

Irashai Grill was brought to my attention when shokutsu (of Eat.Sleep..Dream…Food) mentioned it on the commentary section of a post about Blowfish Sushi Lounge in Calgary, Alberta and omakase. While I am all up to give it a try, the thoughts of dropping $100 to “entrust” a chef whom you have no prior experience and give him/her complete control over your meal is not something I am comfortable with. So, I though “hey, they are open for lunch. Maybe I should give it a try to see how is the food before I go for omakase!” (Oh, I should mention I work a couple of blocks away from Irashai Grill).

I arrived just after 12:00 noon and after walking in I was… Confused? OK, look at the picture below:

Is this a tapas place? Is this a traditional Japanese restaurant? Their website would have indicated something more on the lines of tapas, yet they also serve more traditional dishes. Hmmmm…. OK, I shook those feelings aside and went in with open mind.

The decoration… Again, modern or traditional?

From my seat, I had a look at the kitchen area. If the bios listed in their website are correct, the chef to the right of the picture ought to be executive head chef. If that’s the case, quality control of the food should not be a problem, right?

On the table, a small plate with the napkin and chopstick.

Interesting (one serving) tea pot! But…

I ordered their “Sky Plate”, Grilled Chicken Breast with secret teri sauce, your choice Daily Fresh Sashimi, California Roll or Vege Roll and Tiger Prawn Tempura. I chose sashimi.

It took quite a while for the food to arrive. In fact, if the timing of the pictures are correct, It was easily over 20 minutes. At this point, I was starting to get worried I would be late for work…

Now, a close-up of the different “parts” of the order:

The almost always present miso soup…

Organic multi-grains (sic) rice.

Prawn tempura, 2 pieces plus a slice of sweet potato.

Sashimi, two pieces of tuna and two of salmon.

Seasonal vegetables and the grilled chicken breast.

The seasonal vegetables, literally two pieces (each) of asparagus, snap pea (?) and carrots.

Grilled chicken breast, sliced with “teri sauce”.

So, how was the lunch? For one, the food was barely warm, except the sashimi, of course. The multi-grain rice was interesting but I prefer brown rice. Not bad but nothing outstanding either. The tempura was… not crispy. Not sure how to describe it but, in the case of fried food, it is something that out to be eating soon after it has been taken out of the fryer. If you let it stand too long, the outside batter might start absorbing moisture, which causes it to lose the crispiness. The seasonal vegetables were… OK, nothing spectacular. Finally, the grilled chicken… Well, it was a bit bland, even with the “teri sauce”.

Overall, the food was a bit disappointing. On its own, it was not outstanding and it does not help the fact I went to Yoshi not long before to my visit. The bill was just over $16… It just happens that I “ordered” green tea and was charged $2 for it. Hmmmm… Odd…

At the end, one of the waiters (who seems to be from management) asked me how was the food. I really wanted to tell him it did not meet expectations; unfortunately, due to timing, I had to rush back to work and just told him it was “good”. If I had a bit more time, I would have told him everything above (for some odd reason, their website does not include an email address).

To question #2, would I come here for omakase? Well, since lunch was a miss, I don’t think at this point I am willing to shell out $100 here. If I were to spend that money, I would rather spend them in the kaiseki dinner at Yoshi (which I haven’t tried either).

I might come here again for some other fare (they have some other dishes in their lunch menu starting at $10 and not listed in their side), probably with a meal companion to make sure my opinion is not biased. But, otherwise, it will be a pass for me.