Kushi Box

Kushi Box
520 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Similar to my post yesterday on Ganache Patisserie, for today’s post, I visited a place I mentioned in my Vancouver 2010 – Where to Eat post: Kushi Box. The difference, however, is that I haven’t been there before, instead I provided a link to fellow blogger Gigi (of Ho Yummy) who visited it. Located in the 500 block of Robson Street, that block is becoming sort of a street full of ethnic eats. How so? In the same block, they are Gyu Don Ya (Japanese rice bowls, to be open as of Feb 23rd, 2010), Falafel Maison (Middle Eastern), Kushi Box (Japanese), Viet Sub (Vietnamese), Beard Pappa’s, Next Noodle Bar (mixed?), Junsei River (Japanese) and H-Mart, where Matoi Sushi (Japanese) and Wang Ga Ma (Korean). The interesting part was that Jenny (of My Secret Eden) also wrote about Kushi Box not long after and, in a way, her thoughts were quite different. I guess, I had to find out myself!

As mentioned by both Gigi and Jenny, this is sort of a mini version of Zakkushi, a izakaya that specializes in skewers. I have been in the past (prior to my days of blogging) and, while it was good to an extent, it has some annoying side effects – and I am not referring to those associated to the consumption of alcohol. Instead, it was the fact all the smoke of the grilling can stick to your cloths… And that same problem became evident here: since it is a small shop and they are grilling, the interior was full of smoke. As a result, it isn’t necessarily a bad idea they do not provide seats inside… Now, I guess they heard/read what Jenny had to say and now they have two small tables outside with eight mini stools. Then again, it can only accomodate that many customers… (Or, as an alternative, walk a couple of blocks either to the Vancouver Public Library or to Robson Square).

I was having a hard time deciding what to order and, in the end, I decided to go all-in and ordered their mega box – teriyaki chicken, tsukune, uzura maki on rice w/nori, mayo & half-boiled egg. I chose to make it a combo for an additional $3, which added 2 pieces of kushi and pop or miso soup. Now, notice that small cup in the back of the picture? Yup, that is the miso soup!

The cup originally had two small bags: one with miso paste, another with seaweed and dehydrated tofu. The idea is for you to prepare it yourself, as they provide hot water in store. That is sort of an interesting way to take it with you, specially if you are wary you might spill it (Donburiya, on the other hand, offers it prepared). You could, of course, ask for pop instead… Now, I can see arguments from boths sides, i.e., it cheapens the product a little bit but, at the same time, there is some level of convenience – an important point considering this is mostly a take-out shop. Regardless, I did not have high expectations for it and it fulfilled its role.

Since I the options for two kushi or skewers, I went for the P-toro and the uzura maki, aka, quail eggs. The toro was just a slab of pork and, interestingly, it was tender, yet it had some chewiness to it. I know that sounds like an oxymoron: at first, you have to chew it but, once you start, it slowly goes away without much effort. The interesting one was the uzura maki: wrapped in some bacon, these quail eggs provided some savouryness and fatty goodness to the overall meal. By itself, I think I might be interested in ordering it because… Well, it is bacon!

I know this might evoke a sense of WTFH?! OK, as seen originally, the food is served in an oyster pail. Given the circumstance, they had to fill the food somehow. In this case, it was rice at the bottom with teriyaki sauce, followed by pieces of teriyaki chicken, meatballs and the bacon wrapped quail eggs, topped with seaweed and mayo. Yes, those are the pieces I took out for demonstration purposes. The part that left me partially confused was the egg. It is not really half-boiled, obviously, it is more on the lifes of a really soft-poached egg. Once you break it, the yolk starts to ooze out. In my case, I removed the pieces of meat from the container and mixed everything in.

I will have to admit that, when I was growing up, I used to eat tuna salad (with lots of mayo) mixed with rice so the concept of eating rice with mayo isn’t that foreign to me. However, the adding the seaweed and teriyaki sauce on top of that make that a really odd experience. There was some creaminess from the mayo, savouryness from the seaweed and sweetness from the teriyaki sauce. However, the egg went partially MIA in the whole mix…. Also, removing the pieces of meat was a good idea as that allowed me to eat them piece by piece and savour the distinct characteristics of each. Having said that, the chicken wasn’t the fried variety, instead it had the texture of grilled. The meatball was the weakest link as it was just meatball (it really needed the sauces to be able to manifest itself). And the quail egg… Well, the same I wentioned above regarding the skewer applies here as well!

In the end, I will have to agree with both Jenny and Gigi. They provide something different and quite tasty; however, the hard part for me is to swallow the price. At $7.99 (+ $3.00 for the combo), it is not cheap and there are cheaper alternatives in the area. Since I am coming all the way from the west end, that includes Donburi Ya. And the main question is: how does it fare when Gyu Don Ya opens… But, having said all that, if I am interested just for the skewers and don’t want to go to Zakkushi, that might be an option.

Tagged under: Downtown • Japanese • Lunch • Vancouver