Oyama Sushi

Oyama Sushi
5152 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

(In Urbanspoon, it appears as Sushi Oyama. For consistency purposes, I will use Oyama Sushi).

If you are in Metro Vancouver and you feel like driving along Kingsway (depending on your final destination, not necessarily the best route), you can find almost about anything. Malls (Metropolis at Metrotown, anybody?), hospitals (Mount Saint Joseph Hospital), a park (Central Park), etc. etc. If you drive eastbound, once past Nelson Street, there is one building that would certainly catch your attention: the Glenedward. While most people won’t know it by name (I myself I have to search for it!), everybody knows about that house with granite fences surrounded by more modern condominiums (as a result of urban development). Nowadays, it is a restaurant, and the topic of today’s post, Oyama Sushi (the previous tenant also opened a restaurant). Some time ago, however, it was not something that would combine with food very well: it used to be a funerary home… Anyway, this post is not about funerary homes but food (assuming you still have the stomach to keep on reading!).

I will admit it felt really odd walking into this restaurant. No, it has nothing to do with its past, rather, it is as if you were walking to somebody’s house instead. Anyway, while I was walking up the stairs, one of the waitresses noticed me and asked where I wanted to be seated. Given the weather on the day I visited, I saw no reason not to seat outside.

The menu is similar to many sushi restaurants, with your share of rolls, nigiri sushi and sashimi and then some cooked dishes. But, in my case, I came here for sushi and unlike most people, that does not equate to rolls – to me it is either temaki or nigiri sushi (preference for the later). Anyway, I made my order and…

OK, I did NOT order this. This was given to me at the same time as my appetizer (in a moment, following picture below), as a courtesy. Of course, I am suspicious of this, specially considering that I was already snapping pictures. Hmmmmm…. Anyway, it was slightly above average but, other than that, oh, well….

Now this is something I did order: goma-ae. Had I did not mention it was goma-ae, would you have been able to “guess” it was spinach? In my opinion, it was over-dressed with the sesame sauce, which resulted in any spinach taste being obliterated. I am sure others would have preferred it this way, just not me.

This is the dish I ordered, the deluxe assorted sushi which has: “tuna 1/2 roll, salmon 1/2 roll, ebi, tuna, salmon, hamachi, ika, amaebi, hokigai, unagi, masago, tako and chopped scallop (1 pc each)“. Now, in the picture above, that would be (top row, left right): Masago (fish roe), chopped scallop, tuna roll, salmon roll, ika (squid), amaebi (sweet shrimp), hokkigai (surf clam); bottom row, unagi (eel), tako (octopus), hamachi (amberjack?), ebi (shrimp), tuna and salmon. But, just in case, a close-up:

I will have to say I have mixed feelings with the offerings. Some of them were average (salmon, tuna) and interesting (hokkigai, hamachi and scallop), I felt indifferent for others (octopus, the rolls, masago, ebi). The ones that I really wanted to like but disappointed me were the squid and amaebi. In both cases, there was a bit of wasabi overloaded which overpowered any taste. And, in the case of the squid, if felt a bit too slimy (I don’t mind “slimy”, just that it did not feel that good). The one that did not disappoint in any way was the unagi but considering it has some sweetness attached along from the cooking process, it is really difficult to mess it.

To answer that infamous question, I can’t tell if the cooks are Japanese; however, the waiters/waitresses are Korean. This resulted in a really odd disappointment: service. I know, I know. Service is not something I usually mentioned, unless they really mess up. In this case, after delivering the dishes, nobody was taking care of those of us dining outside! Now, I am not saying they asking “is everything OK?”; rather, after I finished my meal, I waited and waited. In the end, somebody from another table walked inside to fetch a waiter/waitress (they were served before me and they were already done).

But, putting that aside, the more important question, how was it? I would have to say that, despite some disappointments, it was better than expected, as I was branding this place as all-flare-but-food-lacking (mainly due to the location). If I have to compare it against Sushi Garden, I think this place can give a run for their money.

Tagged under: Burnaby • Japanese • Korean • Seafood • Sushi