Ebisu on Robson
827 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC
A couple of years ago, I remember there was a Hooters in Vancouver. I myself was not interested in going there because, well, since I did not drink back then, there was no particular reason for me to go [*]. (Will pass the “smiles”, thanks for asking). Years passed and that location closed down to open then Ebisu. For some reason, I haven’t been there. Period. Not that I was under the impression the food was good or bad; simply I did not feel like it. However, that changed when some colleagues suggested that place. And on that particular day? I did not have my camera with me. That meant going back a second time…
[*] Interestingly, almost a year to the date, I wrote about Hooters but it was under a somewhat stressing circumstance. Check my post here.
However, I have a somewhat odd “hunch” as to why I chose not to come here: ambiance. Now, I do not expect all these restaurants to be too formal or too informal. Rather, it was getting too close to that bar setting. OK, OK, that is mostly was an izakaya is supposed to be but, I think you might have a gist as to why… Anyway, I was there for the food…
Too bar-like setting, anybody?
I will have to admit they have quite interesting lunch options. In addition to your usual sushi/maki, they also have a somewhat long list of mix-and-match options for $4 each, or $11 for three. Fried items? Check. Teriyaki? Check. Salads? Check. Mini rice bowls? Check. Tapas style dishes/ Check. The list goes and on. If the $11 for three dishes was ordered, it comes with a drink, ice cream, cake or miso soup. On the whole the concept sounds good but there are times, specially with food, I have mixed feelings about this mix-and-match approach. Why? Because that means a bit too much variety and, as a result, a lot of dishes. More often than not, this results in items prepared ahead of time that might be sitting there for a long time until it is ordered. After all, you only have that much time for lunch, right? Anyway, we both went for th 3 for $11.
I started off with goma-ae. As seen above, it came rolled tight with a sesame and sesame sauce on top. While this is not the worst I have been offered, this comes close. It had absolutely no spinach taste to it and the sesame itself was lacking flavours. Not a good start…
PO, whom have tagged along for several lunches already – some of them which has been blogged, started off with saaba (?) sushi. While I did not have it myself, when I looked at the picture, I couldn’t help to say the rice was slightly lousy, thoughts that were confirmed after PO had a piece. To make it worst? I had some fishy taste to it.
PO also ordered beef tataki. In his opinion, this looked more like a piece of seared meat which quality was average at most (though dubious might be more accurate). The taste/texture was… Well, not much to talk about…
We both ordered the spicy chicken bowl. Now, this might be a case of lost in translation case but I was expecting a piece of grilled or pan seared chicken with some spicy sauce on it. Instead, it was a piece of battered and fried cutlet and then topped with a somewhat odd looking sauce – which was not spicy at all. The rice underneath was, well, just average rice. I hoped something on the lines of the rice used in Donburi-Ya…
For my third dish, I went for, once again, chicken! This time in the form of chicken karaage. Fried food again, eh? For the most part, it was OK. As mentioned above, since it wasn’t just fried (to a certain extent understandable), it wasn’t piping hot. However, when I bit into it, not much “juices” started spilling around nor it had more taste. I wished it had some more pepper or it was marinated in something before frying it! What seemed to be a chili/chipotle mayo… Well, it was there but did not add much to the overall dish.
Because we chose the 3 for $11, we chose to have dessert. In this case, that came in the form of ice cream. Top, we have green tea ice cream; below, mango ice cream. Mine was really bad. How about? Large ice crystals. See the white “band”/”crack” to the right of the scoop. That is ice. In fact, each “bite” I had some ice chunks (!) in it. I think I could have easily skipped it…
At the end, I asked PO for his thoughts on Ebisu and he thought it wasn’t that bad. While I don’t agree with him completely on this one, at least I understand the why of that sentiment. Specifically, I think it is the fact it wasn’t that bad for the buck. This one small detail is worth considering. As for myself, been there, done that, not necessarily in a hurry to go back.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
It amazes me at how many restaurants mess up the simplest of dishes. All it takes for the ‘goma’ (sesame) to release its aromatic flavours is for them to be quickly grinded (traditionally in a ‘suribachi’ with a ‘surikogi’). I can’t tell from the photo – but maybe they are attempting to use a tahini sauce instead?
But ‘saba’ (mackerel) will carry a slightly fishy taste – which is normal. I would suspect that this is a ‘shimesaba’ (brined/marinated mackerel) which by the look of it – didn’t have enough time in the brine.
otoro, it is possible they used tahini but it was a bit too thick to be tahini. But still, for sesame to be almost tasteless? Incredible… As for the saaba, that is based on PO’s thoughts. I double check with him about that fishy taste and, yup, he mentioned it was beyond the regular fishy-ness. I wished I could had a piece to corroborate but alas…
You should’ve tried the oysters…. instead of the fried food.
M, welcome! I thought about it but wasn’t in mood for oysters. May be next time?
aww too bad! The Goma-ae looks really good to me, sad to hear it wasn’t The scallops are pretty good there but also very oily. They serve it on this hot pot thing and the scllops come in a shell…they’re seared.
I like than mango roll too….3 for $11 that is cheap!
Mijune, does that mean I should go back to try other dishes? Too many places to visit in Downtown Vancouver! >.<
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