Octopus’ Garden
1995 Cornwall Ave
Vancouver, BC

Confession time: This post wasn’t supposed to happen. In fact, due to timing, my last post was supposed to be that of the Vancouver’s 1st Foodie Festival and then hang my camera and keyboard. However, in some sort of unfinished business type feeling, I knew I had to visit some places – one of them was Octopus’ Garden which is the topic of this post. Under normal conditions, I might have gone regardless but chosen not to blog. However, I was with good company and, despite knowing my intentions of stop blogging, gave me one final push and suggested I should blog it. So, as one of my last post, I might as well go out with a bang!

Octopus’ Garden is a small sushi restaurant in the Kitsilano area which could easily go unnoticed by pedestrian traffic. However, such are the places that I really like: low profile that can deliver good food. And, in Octopus’ Garden’s case, it also has some call to fame: the option for omakase, aka, “I entrust you”, aka, you leave it to the chef. From other people’s perspective, it can be considered a tasting menu of sorts but the commonality is that you don’t make any decision (aside from ordering it that is, though, alas, I wasn’t asked for preferences…). In fact, that is the call to fame of other places including Tojo’s (though, of course, Hidekazu Tojo himself will tell you he has other claims to fame as well). And now that I bring Tojo’s, there is a really important consideration: fellow blogger Sherman, thougt Octopus’ Garden can be considered better than Tojo’s because it does not have all the attitude from the later. So, given all things combined, there were high expectations for this meal.

After arriving, we were seated in a separate/secluded area of the restaurant. In fact, one thing that I considered odd was the layout. It allows some privacy at the expense of how many tables can be set up. If this is something the restaurant is willing to do, it means they really trust what they can crank out to keep customers coming. That’s all good but, for this meal, I was only worried about what would be served to me that night. And, yes, since I mentioned so many times “omakase”, not ordering it would be short of shooting myself on the foot. But wait! It wasn’t in the menu! It happens it is not listed in the menu at all: you just have to ask. For the price ranges, it starts at $60. Granted, Sherman went for the $100; however, my dining companion isn’t the heaviest eater in the world so we ended up going for the basic $60 version.

For drinks, we went for tea. I was given the option to choose from four different teas and I narrowed it down to pear green tea and a tea called Starlight – Green tea & Oolong tea naturally flavored with raspberry, currant and strawberry. In the end, I went for the later. Despite I didn’t know what was coming in terms of food, one thing I was sure: overstating the obvious, food would be savoury and it would be interesting to have something fruity to pair it against. And, for the most part, it worked! You could easily tell it had some berries hints to it, though, at the same time, for some odd reason that brought me some memories, as if I have had it previously. Hmmmmm…. That made me wonder, after the fact that is, how would have the pear green tea worked…?

And now, the food. We started off with octopus sunomono. Compared to sunomono served in other sushi spots, these had a really light hint of acidity. That is, it didn’t have an overpowering acidic taste, just enough to get you wanting to have more food. The slices of octopus were firm but by no means chewy. Not sure if good or bad but it didn’t have too much of a taste. Good way to start off but didn’t necessarily wow me based on expectations.

I didn’t get the complete description of dish #2, as, again, good company was keeping me busy and entertained. From what I recall, the yellow parts are fish + roe. The purple pieces were octopus wasabi. Extremely slimy but were also crunchy. The wasabi part of the name was a bit of a misnomer; you didn’t really get that “kick” we usually associate with wasabi. OK, exaggerating here. There was a bit of that feeling but not to the extent of having to include it as part of a dish name. The cured sausage was just that, nothing more, nothing less. But, they “key” here was the ankimo, aka, monkfish liver. That piece was creamy but, for some reason, it felt there was something missing, as the grated radish didn’t really do much for me. Hmmmmmmm…. Am I starting a trend? It was OK but not mind blowing…

Am I over using odd references a bit too much? If so, how about yet another one here: a miso-like soup with a really crispy lotus chip and a dumpling. It had a consistency of a thick soup, and quite savoury I must add. The dumpling was OK, nothing to write home about, it somehow felt like an Asian version of a matzo ball. However, what really made it was the lotus chip, as, despite it was submerged in the broth, it maintained its crispiness. I think that would have been something I could eat a bowlful of. But, in the end, there were that many chips (as in one) and too much broth for its own good.

At times, I have “complained” that restaurants make fancy dishes just for the sake of hype and/or to attract customers, not necessarily because they are good. Here is a case of such dish: uni shooter. Here, rice is added to a glass, some liquid, a sea urchin roe and quail egg. I was supposed to stir this and then drink it. While you couldn’t really “feel” any slimy texture, it was devoid of almost any taste. The only thing I was able to savour was the piece of mint at the top. Not even the “wasabi”. Sorry, didn’t like this one at all.

We weren’t served one but two different pieces of fish: black cod (?) and red snapper. The black cod (?) was a huge chunk and it felt borderline over cooked. A squeeze of the lemon did some favors to that piece of fish, though. Not much different from most large pieces of grilled fish so, as a result, not much to comment. However, that was not the case of the red snapper. First of all, they gave us one of the best pieces of the fish: the collar. Unlike a piece of fish filet, the meat in this area has a different texture and does not dry up so easily. A piece from the belly section was served along. So, in a way, fat on fat? Yup, the fish itself had a fatty texture to it, a bit slimy; but, I like it this way so it worked fine to me quite well, despite it needed a bit of hands-on to finish it.

It was almost impossible we didn’t have some form of sushi. In this case, we had sashimi, rather than actual sushi. The pieces included black cod, salmon, squid, octopus, flounder and tuna. One thing I will have to admit and that is their really good knife work. See that white piece below the slices of raw fish? Well, that’s not paper: that’s a thinly sliced piece of daikon radish used for decorating purposes. It was almost as thin as a sheet of paper… As for the sashimi itself, alas, I can’t say I enjoyed it. For some reason, it felt… Bland? Now, before anybody even think of bashing me about soy sauce or wasabi and what not, yes, I lightly dipped some before consuming each morsel. However, there was something strange with the fish itself. For example, in the case of the salmon, that unique salmon oily texture wasn’t there, no matter how hard I tried. In the case of the squid, the oba aka, Japanese mint, was the key element, same with the roe on top of slice of flounder. But, past those, I wasn’t sure what to make up from the remaining ones. It felt slightly disappointing…

I wished we were served nigiri sushi but, given we were sharing dishes already, I am sure they thought things might be easier. Here, their dragon roll which contains avocado, unagi and red pepper. I won’t deny it looks great visually, from construction perspective to knife work perspective. However, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the maki itself. Once again, it was OK. Probably slightly above average but not something I can’t live without. I will give them credit to the fact the creaminess of the avocado was there, the sweetness of the red pepper was there. What killed it was that unagi didn’t make an act of presence despite you could visually see it there. I wonder how this would have been had it been nigiri instead…

Finally, to close, Sada-san dropped by and asked us if we were read for dessert. At that point, we were getting full so, sure! And this is one of those instances I have to admit I had a really interesting dessert: deep fried brownie, topped with ice cream. You know how are brownies, you know about vanilla ice cream. Need to say more? In fact, personally I thought this was actually the highlight of the dinner. And, remember, this is coming from a person who is not that much into desserts! Of course, I had to be nitpicky and find a flaw of sorts: the batter used for the brownies was slightly chewy. Regardless of how you like your brownie, I thought that chewiness gave an odd contrast to the brownie. But, still that was a minor detail and, again, nitpicking.

Overall, I felt it was a bit of a contradiction. In a per dish perspective, I thought the dishes were OK… As an OK due to expectations. Had I got these dishes because somebody else ordered for me, it would be a bit of hit (the red snapper) and a bit of a miss (uni shoot). But, combined, it would be above average in the bigger perspective of things. However, I was somehow expecting more and, well, as served, didn’t work. Could it be that my recent visit to Kimura skewed things a little bit? Or could it be I should have gone for te $100 price point? Regardless of which one it is, I am still curious and would be willing to go again… And, who knows, this time, break the bank?

Kadoya
1063 Davie Street
202 – 1184 Denman Street (location visited)
Vancouver, BC

Sherman: “U working today?”
Me: “Yes, working today. Wait, do you know what that is??? ”
Sherman: “LOL, Rich Guy and I are going for lunch in Downtown, if u want to join us”
Me: “Where?”
Sherman: “Not sure, was gonna go to Toyama… Do you want to join us? I can pick u up to give u more time”
Me: “What time are you guys planning to go? PO might join us; however, he has a call until noon”

(Couple of minutes later)

Me: “How about Kadoya if not all-you-can-eat? English Bay”
Sherman: “Have u been there?”
Me: “No”
Sherman: “The one in Denman right?”
Me: “They opened a second location in English Bay, across Raincity Grill”
Sherman: “Rich guy says he can make it around 12:30 p.m. Is that too late? Do we need a reservation?”
Me: “12:30 p.m. is fine. So Tomoya or Kadoya? Given the party size and despite I don’t like it, Tomoya might be a better option”
Sherman: “No, Kadoya is fine. I’ll make a reservation for 5?”
Me: “Sure, English Bay location, right?”
Sherman: “Yah”

Once again, if you wonder how some of us food bloggers get together for a meal, more or less this is how it works. One day, Sherman, dropped me that text message and that’s what ended up in Kadoya’s location in English Bay. Next question?

Kadoya has been a well know place of sorts to “sushi” aficionados. However, I personally haven’t been there for one reason – the same reason why I have it in quotes: their specialties are the rolls, aka, maki sushi, not that much nigiri sushi. I have mentioned in the past that rolls is something almost anybody can make and it is a matter of tossing things together hoping it works. If the fish is not cut properly or it is somewhat fishy (no pun intended), it is covered somehow and most people won’t notice. But, the fact they have opened a second location would indicate people have been going there and, as a result, the restaurant felt a need to expand to accommodate the additional customers. So, it ends up being “majority rules”. So, despite my hesitation, of course, we had to give it a try so this could have been that opportunity.

If people look at the address, this place used to be occupied by Sakari Sushi. The fact they are no longer there means something. Anyway, went I arrived, I noticed they did make some minor arrangement in the layout so, if you have been in that restaurant, your ambiance experience might be different. Given I was first, I tried my best to do what Sherman would have done: take the best spot with natural light. Alas, that table was already occupied so I had to settle with the next best thing which was the table beside it. Hey, at least I didn’t take one of the booths (which was the table they were originally planning to give us!).

Now, to the food!

They have daily specials and, on the day we went, this was it: Spicy chopped salmon. Part of the interest on ordering this was related to the fact we wanted something non-roll and this fit the bill quite well. Having said that, this was actually quite good. Temperature was fine (i.e., no frozen texture), good texture, good sauce, which did not overpower the salmon. No complains at all and the fact it was $9 was icing.

Once again, another non-sushi dish: yakisoba, in this case, we chose beef as the meat. For what it is supposed to be a sushi restaurant, I will give them some credit as it was decent. Not necessarily the best but the fact that it didn’t suck. My only criticism was that it had a bit too much sauce, something that the noodles itself sucked by the end of the meal. Not my first option in the end but workable at least.

Yet another non-sushi dsh: chicken teriyaki – which arrived to the table sizzling. Similar to the yakisoba, I will have to give them some credit, plus the fact the chicken wasn’t fried and the sauce not extremely sweet as done in some places. Otherwise, there wasn’t anything extremely outstanding. Serviceable but that’s about it.

One interesting note about Kadoya is that they have a lunch and late night special. For $10, we had options for some appetizers (your usual suspects, including goma-ae, edamame, seaweed/wakame, etc.), nigiri sushi (3 pieces), rolls, sashimi and, more importantly, their specialty rolls (4 pieces) and, out of these options, we choose three. While we could have gone for sushi, the fact we were a party of 4 (PO couldn’t make it in the end) and I am sure people would give us hell for not trying their maki/rolls, meant we should give these specialty rolls a try. In the end, we made two order of these specials and they ended up being: Dragon, Kadoya, Volcano, Paradise, Canuck and King. Here is one problem: Tell all came at the same time and no description was given as to which one is which!

With all these specialty rolls, for kicks, we ordered a regular roll with a twist: their California Tempura roll, which is, basically, a deep fried California roll, with the drizzled sauce somewhat similar to catsup. Oddly, it wasn’t that bad but not something I would order again, as there wasn’t anything exciting about it.

Overall, some of my initial conceptions didn’t change: if their specialty are rolls, it didn’t necessarily wowed me. The cooked items were workable so I will leave that as neutral. The one that actually caught me off guard was spicy chopped salmon, which was indeed quite good. But, is that enough to make me come back? Well, given it is a dailiy special and not available on a daily basis, it is somewhat of mixed feelings. So, in the end, I will have to say it is not necessarily for me but might not necessarily be against to coming back – provided I have the option of ordering non-roll dishses.

Dajia
836 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Three weeks ago, I wrote about Taiko on Denman and made reference to the amount of sushi restaurants in the are, with an over-emphasis on the cheap/affordable side. While we can blame restaurant owners in this dog-eat-dog type situation, at the same time, that is driven by customer demand. One of such restaurants in the area is Momo Sushi where I mention I didn’t really like it; however, I know of co-workers who flock to this place for their large servings. Oh, well, if quantity serves as an incentive…

Also mentioned in my Taiko on Denman post, I made reference to the shifting look of Robson and Denman with shops coming and going. One of the places that “died” down was Denman Rooster’s, a place that I thought was a perennial fixture; however, it was replaced by Pomegranate Lounge which, I will have to admit, the food was quite decent. Alas, with the popularity of nearby izakaya, it didn’t last (for weeks, I noticed it was closed) and it has been replaced by, you can guess it, another Japanese restaurant. Don’t we have enough already in the area? Sure but, still, I need to give it a try before jumping into conclusions…

For this visit, I “recruited” my friend RC, whom I went with to visit Tony’s Beef Noodle some time ago. In his case, there were two criteria: Make it cheap (which suddenly sounds similar to Momo Sushi’s crowd) and make it under an hour as he had an appointment later. OK, I will take my chances…

After we walked in, one thing was noticeable: the layout and/or didn’t change much . I mean, I mean was the last time you were served tea in a Japanese restaurant in a mug? Well, personally, I don’t care, as long as it serves its purpose! But, moving to the food side, we were having a bit of a debate. See, I found out one unique situation with RC: He does not like fish. Now, I have gone several times with him for lunch but it wasn’t until now that I realized that fact. Was I overlooking the obvious? If that’s the case, how he agreed to come to this place??? Well, let’s just say he knows his ways and order this:

Now, to entice the lunch crow, Dajia has a combo special: three rolls/cones special plus miso soup for $8. Basically, it is a pick and choose several items from the list and that’s what you get. RC was a bit curious whether he could order the same one roll/cone which partially perplexed the waitress. I mean, don’t you want variety? In the end, RC ordered two rolls of Dynamite Roll plus a scallop cone. Well, it seems he is fine with shellfish but not with fish. Oh, well, his loss, I say. But, my loss was that I didn’t get to try the scallop roll; I traded a piece of the Dynamite Roll for a component of my dish – more of that in a moment. But, at least, from a visual perspective, I will have to admit it doesn’t look bad!

Just for kicks, we also a dish for share and, take a twist for the odd, we ordered yakitori – here, two chicken skewers. These were decent; however, it lacked some charring and the sauce didn’t add that much. I guess this is a case of adding a dish because of public demand. I won’t necessarily order it again but I can foresee people liking it.

Moving to my order, I went to a lunch box #3 which includes a tuna roll, tempura, salad and unagi on rice. For just under $10, I thought this wasn’t that bad of a deal. Granted, no soup as other places but, still, this was a lot of food.

The salad was OK, not much to comment about, except probably the amount of dressing. At least it didn’t feel oily so I will give them a pass. The tempura was a bit… Strange. Specifically, that spring roll. WTF?! Anyway, I didn’t have the spring roll as that’s what I used to trade for a piece of the Dynamite Roll. When RC had it, he made mention that it was pork based rather than only vegetables. If that’s the case, well, it is quite good. As for the rest of the tempura, it was serviceable.

Given the simplicity of the tuna, I will admit it was better than what I thought, specifically they didn’t make it larger by stuffing it more with rice; instead, it was a decent piece of tuna for such roll. The rice could have been more seasoned but, otherwise, it was quite good.

Finally, the eel/unagi… This was a bit mixed, though leaning to the “good” side. First, it had a bit too much sauce but, fortunately, there was the bed of rice below to soak most of it. Furthermore, the sauce wasn’t extremely sweet but, still, somewhat… Oily? The mix part came from the eel itself: I felt it needed a bit more grilled (assuming it was grilled) because the flesh was still soft. However, if that was the intent, then I must say I liked it. If you are used to the sweeter version found in a lot of restaurants, then you will be disappointed; however, if you look at it as not overly grilled fish, it actually hit the spot.

All in all, I can’t help but admit it was better than what I thought and would certainly come back if I am not aiming for high-end sushi (or even higher grade found at izakaya). As a middle of the road, it certainly hits the spot. As for RC, he confessed ever since our initial visit, he has been there at least once a week. Well, he seemed to like it so I will leave it at that…

Taiko on Denman
689 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

All you can eat. That one option that it is difficult to judge because it goes quantity over quality. Yet, still, human nature goes for the former. I myself have avoided going to many of these places for that same reason and, if I do, at times, I end up ordering a la carte – as I did in Saffron Indian Cuisine. A couple of weeks ago, some colleagues suggested Taiko; however, I was a bit skeptical. Oh, well, I had to give it a try just because so it was a matter of when. Fortunately, I was able to “convince” PO (who shares my notion about AYCE places) and to Taiko we went.

One thing you might notice about its location: It used to be the old Yoshi on Denman location. I guess with the influx of cheaper places (compared to Yoshi’s) and public demand, it would be a matter of flourish or perish. Needless to say, the fact they are no longer tells the full story. The question now would be, how will Taiko fare, considering it is not as transited as the other similar restaurants in the area, namely Robson Sushi in Robson and Tanpopo in Denman.

I am not sure about the circumstances which Yoshi transitioned to Taiko; however, one thing was quite obvious: Not much moola was spent in remodeling and what not. In fact, everything from layout down to plates and cutlery were about the same as the one from Yoshi. However, that is not something I care much about; instead, I was more concerned about one other thing, namely, food.

On that note, their lunch menu all-you-can-eat is for $14 and the selection was… Interesting. There was no fancy dishes, just the “standard” ones. We could have gone for the a la carte but, oh, well. There was one really strange note when we started to order: except for some really specific dishes, every single order meant exactly *one*. For example, if you were to order a roll, you don’t get a full roll but a piece of the roll. Likewise, if you order their wings, you get exactly *one* wing. The exceptions included the spicy tuna/salmon, as it is chopped. Anyway, here are the dishes we ordered (for the most part, we ordered two of each – one for PO and one for myself, except for one here and there).

Clear soup, in-lieu of the usual miso soup

Goma-ae

Salmon sashmi

Spicy tuna and salmon

Pumpkin karaage

Agedashi tofu

Deep fried smelt

House roll

Dynamite roll

Chopped scalloped roll

Chicken Karaage

Tuna sashimi

Vegetable tempura – yes, literally two pieces!

Tuna, salmon and tai sushi

Gyoza

Chicken teriyaki

Tomato Chicken Fried Rice

Ebi wonton

Spring roll

Beef teriyaki

Ika karaage

Pumpkin pudding

Red Bean Pudding

For the most part, most of the dishes would be what you expect from these establishments, though I will admit there were some highlights. For example, I particularly liked the chicken karaage, as it was well fried (hot, not oily) but, then again, so is most fried stuff! At least, I can say that almost almost none of them were an epic fail (granted, I didn’t try many rolls). As for the overall impression, it was decent for restaurants of this type; however, I myself am not in a hurry to go back.

Kimura Sushi & Japanese Cuisine
3883 Rupert Street
Vancouver, BC

Some time ago, when I went to Chong Lee’s Market (in 22nd Avenue) for some banh mi, I noticed Kimura, a Japanese restaurant “to be open soon”. Of course, having such a restaurant almost in the middle of nowhere would catch some attention. To quote my post on Chong Lee’s:

1. Open a restaurant in a weird location/setting.
2. Make it ethnic (bonus if Japanese).
3. ???
4. Profit!

(This of course was inspired by an episode of South Park called Gnomes)

I mentioned this to Sherman and, as usual, our grand plans to get some others to tag along and go on one day never materialized. Until, that is, Sherman drops me a note saying Vandelay and family, as well as Sherman, Viv and family will be going one night and checked if I wanted to tag along. Well, I might be the odd one out on this one (not the first instance either!) but that has never stopped me, specially not for food!

As for the restaurant itself, there is some sort of aura behind it: The restaurant chef happens to be Japanese and spent quite some time in different countries. However, story goes, he decided to settle down in one location and, rather, opening a big restaurant, he chose a small one. One other feature seems to be his love for jazz because that is what was playing the whole time during dinner! (I don’t mind jazz but can anybody imagine reggae?).

See baby bottles on the back? Signs there are kids nearby!

Sherman made “reservations” as early as possible but it just happens I arrived first… Before opening time, that is. Oh, well, eventually everybody arrived and, at that point, reservations weren’t necessary yet. As dinner went, it got busier and busier so, in the end, it was actually a good idea (or just to be safe!).

Now, moving to the food, there was one main criteria: some of the dishes have to kids/toddlers friendly. Sure, while kids don’t eat that much, at least I saw some effort in trying to give them something outside of the usual dishes (in the end, they mainly shared one main dish). So our meal started off with…

This wasn’t a stand alone order; rather it is part of the sushi combo (more details below). Here we have udon and, interestingly enough, the broth was a clam based. It was quite mild but, at least a good way to start off the meal. The noodles still had a slight bite (tried only one strand as I didn’t want to take away too much from the toddler’s “safe” food) but, unfortunately, it was not that hot. I guess they thought it would be for the kids so they didn’t make it too hot either.

Some of the dishes came with a salad and, rather than take several shots, how about a single one? I wasn’t that excited about the cabbage side (well, it is just plain cabbage with some dressing on top!) but I did like the potato salad. It isn’t your chunky pieces of potato with heavy mayo; instead, I would say it is borderline a mash potato-like salad! Unlike a mash, there wasn’t that much butter but, instead, it had mayo. If you can imagine that, it pretty much describes it.

Dipping our toes on the sushi side, we had to make a decision on how to handle it: given that nigiri sushi isn’t that shareable, we decided to order two platters sushi combo and let it go by luck of the draw as to what pieces each one would end up having. (It also comes with the udon shown above). It started above with the California roll and unagi sushi. OK, I have ranted enough about rolls and what not and, unfortunately, I felt that the itamae was somewhat forced to include it in the menu rather than he wanting to make it. To me those pieces look mundane. Furthermore, there was something strange with the rice: it felt somewhat too mushy to the point it couldn’t hold its shape (or it was poorly rolled up), which wasn’t really helped by the fact it tasted almost… Bland? As for the unagi, actually it was quite pleasant (yes, I grabbed one piece!), not overly sweet and the meat wasn’t too dry.

The rest of the sushi combo (according to their menu, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, octopus, squid, surf clam, mackerel, tuna, albacore, fresh water eel and a mysterious “something”. No kidding!). Again, given there were that many pieces, we randomly grabbed one. For the most part, I liked the texture of the fish, it didn’t have a cold/frozen taste/feeling to it. We didn’t really use any soy sauce either (or at least not me), as there was some spread on top. The rice issue showed up here as well; however, the itamae‘s intent might have been for us to eat it with our hands, not necessarily with chopsticks. If that had been the case, it would be my fault then. But, but… There was one thing that threw me off completely: there was something strange with the wasabi. Now, we know that most green coloured wasabi isn’t really made from the root; rather some chemical mix. Given the cost of the real thing, I guess it is something most of us are willing to accept, if it was good enough. The problem here is that, in some pieces, I thought the wasabi had an off taste that day (and not because there was too much). If it was me only, it might have been an isolated incident; however, Viv agreed with my statement. Yes, odd…

And here is their sashimi platter. Once again, we went for luck of the draw. Similar to my note on the nigiri sushi, it had a pleasant taste and feeling so, in a way, not much else to add! ^_^; The one detail I am not sure about is… Who took the oyster one? I guess we will have to wait if Sherman know.

Now moving out of the sushi field and to the more “daily” type food (alas, they didn’t have “macaroni au gratin” available that day), we order a plate of curry, in this case, beef curry. It was quite a generous portion and I will have to say it tasted quite good. Now, I won’t compare it to an Indian curry or a Thai curry; if you have had a Japanese curry, you will have a good idea of what to expect. However, unlike the Glico version found in supermarkets, the consistency of this one wasn’t as smooth, as if the roux used to prepare this one was a bit more rough. Regardless, if going by myself, I would certainly order this one.

Zaru soba, or cold soba served on a sieved bamboo “tray”, garnished with seaweed. This might have been for the kids but, we ended up having it ourselves! Well, it is just plain cold buckwheat noodles with a dipping sauce so there is only that much you can expect out of it! At least, the noodles weren’t really sticky and the touch of seaweed on top added some needed additional flavouring. Not something I would order by myself but, in a warm day, it could hit the spot as a meal.

Tempura. While we were having our meal, we noticed that other tables had a different “version” until we realized they order something differently. Oh, well. Still, I thought these were fried nicely, though the batter was slightly thick.

Tonkatsu. Yes, yet another something else wacky to share. In this case, these were nicely fried: crispy outside while the inside was still somewhat juicy. I know the last part might sound funny, i.e., “somewhat”? But, compared to other cutlets, this one was thicker, which means it should be cooked a bit longer. Still, it wasn’t overdone: the exterior was still crisp and not burned.

I must mention that, for the last couple of dishes, they weren’t served “plain”; some of them came with a miso soup and salad (like the one showed in an earlier picture). What I try to get at, is that, you can go by yourself and order them as a single meal. So, if you don’t want/like sushi, you can still go to Kimura and have a decent lunch/dinner.

Overall, I will have to say this is a good place to have a meal. From a price perspective, it won’t create a hole in your wallet and the food is still good (total bill post-tax, pre tips was ~$87). Furthermore, the fact there is that possibility of going by yourself and have a regular Japanese type meal serves as a further enticement for me to go back. However, that one odd experience with the sushi left me with some odd taste in the mouth (figuratively and literally) but I still want to give them a second chance.

Vandelay, Sherman, thanks for letting me join you for dinner!

Furusato Japanese Restaurant
10012 Northwest 82 Avenue
Edmonton, AB

When I first started food blogging, at first, there weren’t that many people reading my posts. Well, in a way, that is expected, given that I didn’t really put too much effort in meeting others. After meeting with other food bloggers, let’s just say things started to improve. For the most part, most people commenting were from here in BC. Except for one, whose “name” was “raidar”. Eventually, I found that Chris (raidar’s in-real-life name), who writes Eating is the Hard Part, was from Edmonton. So, not long after I made all the arrangements for this trip to Edmonton, I started to check with people in that province and Chris’ name popped almost right away. So, as with almost any meeting with food bloggers (and, in this case, it does not matter from what province or country, as it happened with Phyllis), what better place to meet than… A restaurant to break some bread! And given that Chris has written so many times about Furusato, and the endless comparison with Vancouver, I suggested we should give this place a try. And to Furusato we went!

Update: Chris’ post is here!

The day we went there was the same day I was in the Heritage Festival and, in the afternoon, I went to Whyte Avenue to look around. As a result, I was the first one to arrive with Trinh. Eventually, Chris and Sarah arrived and, finally, Bin, a friend of Chris. I will have to admit it was quite an odd meeting at first as, I mean, after all this time on-line, you finally meet somebody in real life…

One things I really appreciate Chris told me was the story of Furusato: While the restaurant is Chinese owned and operated, the current chef was trained by the former owner (who is Japanese). So, it goes back to one of the questions we have always asked: how important/relevant the chef is Japanese? If given the proper training, can he/she be able to do something good?

In the meantime, the other question was… What to order? Given that Chris has been here previously, I simply suggested “how about you do the ordering?”. However, given Chris didn’t have a complete idea of what my preferences would be, instead, I made some suggestions and, in the end, what ended up on the table was a bit of collaboration of ideas, starting off with…

Beef shashimi (sic) – Thin sliced beef served over chopped onions and ponzu sauce. There were some mixed feelings about this: on one side, there were thoughts the slices were unevenly cut but, then again, it ain’t carpaccio… Otherwise, it wasn’t that different from other similar forms of such dish.

Seaweed. Something simple and they didn’t disappoint. While some additional sesame would have worked, it was still refreshing and good to eat.

At this point, something “interesting” happen: out of the blue, we were served this plate. My “spider senses” were telling me: “is it possible that we were served this because we were taking pictures?”. Chris explained that that’s not the case; instead, they do give these to all customers (I will assume if the table is 2+). I am sure these were pieces of salmon, though Trinh thought these were chicken. Now, I am guiding myself mostly by texture but I could be wrong on that one (in which case, feel free to consider it an epic fail on my side!). As for these pieces, it was cooked through and, will have to admit, it wasn’t that bad.

Sashimi. Given that sushi is problematic to share, we ended up ordering a medium order of sashimi (18 pieces) and, who took what, was left to the luck of the draw. As for myself, I ended up going for a piece of salmon, scallop and mackerel. One good thing is that it didn’t have a frozen texture, though it didn’t either too much of that “sweet” seafood taste either. But, putting it into perspective, a lot of offerings here in Vancouver are worst than what was offered, so I won’t necessarily “complain” about it. One really odd thing was the size of some of the cuts. For example, I thought the salmon was cut thicker than what it should have been…

A whole BBQ squid. It was nicely cooked (not chewy) and had some smokiness in it. For this type of squid (i.e., large, rather than small version), I found this was quite well executed. While it had a slightly dryness on the skin, I didn’t think any sauce was needed. It worked well as is.

Tempura, in this case, we got a mix of shrimp and vegetable. While the batter was crisp, I also though it was slightly thick. It didn’t really get into the way but, still, something noticeable. However, what was really different was the vegetables itself used: it included pieces of broccoli as well as green peppers! Now, that is odd for a change (then again, while in Two Koi, I had onion tempura!). Overall, I would say average, though, slightly tipping towards above-average.

Finally, to close, we felt we should order sushi but, given there were five of us, we ended up ordering a roll; in this case, a caterpillar roll. From the visuals perspective, I will have to given them kudos. I mean, it looks “cute” in its own ways! However, unfortunately, while the looks were good, the execution left a bit to be desired: for the most part, there was only eel (unagi) as a filling but there was too much rice and the unagi didn’t really come out.

At that point, Chris once again provided us with some of the insight of why the roll might have been a bit of a fail: similar to what have happened in Vancouver, nearby sushi spots have opened but rather than emphasizing on sushi or sashimi, it has gone to the way of the rolls. I have openly mentioned that, while rolls are good for sharing, for other times, nigiri sushi or sashimi are the way to go. I mean, you can throw almost anything inside a roll and you can’t tell, not to mention anybody can do a roll. Just jazzing it up with some decoration outside does not cut it in terms of what is been delivered… In other words, for nigiri sushi and/or sashimi, you need more skills as well as good products, things that can be masked by the rolls. Alas, because people have been going to these other places and finding the rolls are cheaper than nigiri sushi, they have partially “demanded” it to be served in Furusato as well (originally, it wasn’t part of the menu; in fact, the rolls are in a sheet separate from the “regular” menu).

Overall, while there were things that went partially sideways, for the most part, it was good in its own ways. Now, a comparison against Vancouver might be unfair; however, as I told Chris, just because we have more offerings, it does not necessarily mean our offerings are better. Rather, it is sort of self canibalizing bussiness, where, to try to out-do others, they try to make it cheaper (or offer larger servings than their competition), which results in a vicious cycle. So, while we have places like Miku (despite I thought it was overrated) or Tojo’s which would certainly be superior to Furusato, on its own, it is way better than a lot of other ones. So, if this is one of the best offerings in Edmonton, I think it is certainly a good place to go.

One final note… Chris, next time you are in Vancouver, let me know. I have to make up for this dinner!

Two Koi Japanese Cuisine
1552 Commerce Street – Suite 100
Tacoma, WA

As you have noticed already, a lot of times, when I go on business trips, I end up going to a sushi restaurant in a sort of personal quest: that of find whether that claim that Vancouver’s sushi offerings in general are THAT good. In a way, it was disproved when I went to Shiro’s in Seattle, as it was really good (compared to the mid-range offerings in Vancouver). So, on my trip to Tacoma, I did something similar: I went to Two Koi, such restaurant type near the hotel I was staying, for yet another comparison…

When I arrived on a weekday, there was something quite… Interesting. Despite it was middle of the week, there was a lot of customers (about a half or so dozen tables, plus some customers at the sushi bar). Not bad considering school was out (given it is nearby the University of Washington). Since I was myself, I had different options as to where to seat. Unfortunately, since pretty much all the tables next to the windows were taken, I chose then to sit at the bar as a result.

Before I continue, I will make a wild guess: given the full name of the head chef – Jackie Young Koh – I will make the assumption he is not necessarily Japanese born, which brings the usual question: Can non-Japanese do justice to their food? And talking about food, my usual problem: What to order? Not wanting to think too much, I chose the easy way out by ordering their Supreme Bento, which starts off with…

A green salad. While it should be quite simple, it didn’t work too well for me. For some reason, there was a bitterness in it. I kept wondering for a while if it is due to the dressing used or something else but, as a result of that particular bitterness, I chose not to finish it.

Miso soup. The interesting note was that they apologized it was taking a while as they were making a new batch. Furthermore, while not that noticeable, they had some fried tofu strips rather than chunks of tofu. I will admit it was quite different from the ones I have had previously in the sense it didn’t feel extremely salty. In the end, it partially balanced out with the partial fail of the salad.

Chef’s choice of sushi (4pcs). The construction was OK; however, that was about it. There wasn’t too much vinegar I could taste so, from that perspective, it wasn’t that good. At least the texture of the rice wasn’t that bad, i.e., it wasn’t hard or dry. So, compared to Vancouver’s offerings, I would say it barely makes par.

Chef’s choice of sashimi (3kinds). I will have to call this being a misnomer. I mean, there were three slices from the same type. The texture was actually OK (i.e., not frozen); however, as you can see in the second picture, the knife work was a bit strange. I mean, I do understand the chance the meat would “tear” near the connecting sections; however, in this case… Well, it seemed a bit jagged. I couldn’t help wonder what happened, as, while I was waiting for my dinner, I saw some interesting knife-work (like “peeling” a cucumber around its axis). So, how does it compare to Vancouver’s offerings? Well, past that knife-work issue aside, the slices of fish was decent.

Two “appetizers”, sunomono and seaweed. The sunomono had the same issue as the garden salad: it had a bitter taste in it. At that point, I was starting to think there was something “wrong” with the vinegar… >_< The seaweed, though, was quite good as it was crunchy and had an interesting sesame hint.

Yup, that’s not all! Here, prawn tempura + vegetable tempura. For the most part, they were still crunchy, which was good but fell itself a bit short because they weren’t piping hot. For this one, I won’t blame them, as it took me a while to get to that part. The odd ball, though, was the onion ring. I just wasn’t expecting a piece of onion…

Yup, still more! Here, fried mackerel. Unlike the tempura, this one was a bit odd. It was crispy, OK; however, there was something odd in the fish itself. There was some of the expected fishiness but the texture of the cooked morsel was on the lines of overcooked. I guess some people like it this way.

Finally, salmon teriyaki (I had the option of chicken, beef, salmon or tofu). The doneness was similar to that of the mackerel, i.e., slightly overcooked but, again, I think it is a preference issue. As for the teriyaki sauce, well, it surprised me a little bit as it wasn’t that extremely sweet or salty. However, still it was the western version of teriyaki, i.e., cooked meat plus some form of sweet sauce on top. But, still, it was a decent piece so I won’t complain much about it.

If I were to add everything, I will have to say it wasn’t that bad, though that might be influenced by the amount of the food, not necessarily by how good it was. As a whole package, for $31, I will have to say it is barely average if I were to compare it with Vancouver. But, it is not Vancouver and, if I were to compare it to Shiro’s, it will be way below. But, then again, it is not Seattle either (unless you want to drive ~30 minutes) so that goes back to where it is: Tacoma. And, since you only have that many options… I guess you can help to like it. As for me, I personally would drive to Seattle but that’s me.

Shiro’s Sushi
2401 2nd Ave
Seattle, WA

If you were to go to a sushi restaurant, how much are you willing to spend? I am sure that most people won’t be willing to fork more than $30. At that price point, some say something on the lines of “I might as well go to an all-you-can-eat”. To those who plan to bash me for saying that, I will admit, I used to belong to that group. Used to is, of course, the key phrase. I have learned that food that you can’t prepare yourself and have some level of enticement will lead big $$. Of course, like most of you, I have a budget and going to a restaurant that will require me to go for a filet-o-fish afterwards isn’t something I would consider either.

But, going back to the sushi restaurant question. I have observed that, for most people, sushi equals to makizushi or rolls. For the most part, I won’t argue with you if you like it that way; however, it takes away the skill of the chef. After all, if you throw in a jagged/below average cut of fish in a roll, chances are you won’t notice it (unlike, say, sashimi or nigiri sushi). However, I will give them some points due to the fact it can be more “shareable” compared to nigiri sushi, which I usually end up getting, as I usually go out by myself.

That brings then the issue of economics. Between $3 to $10 a roll, most people will be satisfied to a certain extent. Satisfied their sushi craving and ready to move on. But, given the commonality of such dish in Vancouver (are there more Starbucks or sushi restaurants in Vancouver, anyway?), one way to entice customers is to lower their price at the expense of quality. But, when the majority of customers accept that compromise, at times, there is nothing preventing these restaurants to go even lower (usually by lowering quality) to satisfy the customer’s demands. At one point, if people see a piece of nigiri sushi for $4, they might say you will be nuts to pay for that single morsel…

Finally, summarizing all this, it brings me back to the sushi restaurants I have visited: for the most part, these are Chinese or Korean owned, which follows the consumer demand/quality trend mentioned above (some more towards one side than the other). Of course, I have been to Japanese owned and operated, as well (Shima-Ya). However, I also believe I should try something “better” (short of travelling to Japan, like ET and Christina of Doesn’t TaZte Like Chicken did). And, in a fortunate turn of events, I was in Seattle with a meal budget and decided to visit a Japanese owned and operated – Shiro’s Sushi.

Actually, I had two places in mind, Shiro’s and Kisaku; however, the later was a bit farther from where I was staying plus timing was a bit complicated. In the end, after reading the thoughts of o-toro (of Foodosophy), I decided to jump in and go to Shiro’s instead.

The restaurant is “divided” in the bar section and the table section. Since I was by myself and one seat just opened in the bar, I was given that seat. I will admit, it was fun on my side as well; however, I wasn’t seated on the side were Shiro himself was working on. Don’t get me wrong, the itamae on my side did all he could to entertain us (more below) but he couldn’t top the interaction with Shiro-san… Now, to the food!

I started off with a large plate of sashimi (15 pieces), in this case three different types. You couldn’t notice any coldness or icy taste/texture in the meat; it is as if they were just cut out of the fish themselves. No fishy taste; in fact, some pieces had some sweetness in it. I don’t think I have had anything similar in Vancouver (but, then again, how many sushi places of this caliber I have visited???). However, despite it was all good, I must also regret ordering this… OK, let me elaborate. It was worth all the $24 this plate costs; however, after seeing the nigiri sushi they were cranking out, I thought I would have been able to try different versions than restricting myself to this. After finishing my order of sashimi, the itamae took his time to present my next piece of sushi. Yes, it wasn’t served all at once (like those served on the tables) but one piece at a time. My first piece was…

Uni. I wasn’t sure why I chose this one, as I wasn’t sure they would use fresh uni. But, regardless I don’t regret ordering this. It had a creamy, almost custardy texture but, of course, with a savoury, slightly salty taste. Unlike some other places where they added some shiso leave, probably to hide some characteristics, the one here didn’t have that additional component. Was it was worth $4? Yes, it was…

The next one was spot prawn. Given it is spot prawn season and how close is Seattle from Vancouver, I would certainly expect this to be in the menu as well. The “good” thing is that there was a bit of show in the form of the itamae “presenting” the live prawn first. He then takes it back, wraps the prawn in a towel and, after saying sayonara (as a departing message), it cracks the head. After doing further prep, I was served the serving shown above.

It was sweet; however, I think there was a bit too much wasabi as it obliterated that initial sweetness hint I got. However, it is a case of you leaving it to the hands of the itamae, rather than how you believe is better or what is up to your liking. Would I order it again? Before I answer that, let me put part two of this order…

Yup, similar to a lot of restaurants here, they fry the head crisp. And, yes, the head innards taste was there but not as strong as if they would have been steamed. And, given it was crispy to the point of it being crumbly, I ate this one almost in a single bite (I didn’t as I was careful of not piercing myself). Again, it was all worth it for $4…

My third piece ended up being geoduck. Probably with the exception of sea cucumber, if there is some form of seafood where you can make dirty jokes about, would be this. I will spare you of those details, though… (and probably leave them to Sherman?). Anyway, here is another part on how different is the service here. “No soy sauce!” warned me. I just grabbed that piece and popped it into my mouth. There was some sea salt on top which enhanced the sweetness of the geoduck. Furthermore, its crunchy texture contrasted the rice, which, up to that point, I will admit I didn’t pay as much attention. That was because, in all instances, the topping took the main role and made me forget the shari was even there! Once again, for $4, it was well worth it…

At that point, I had to do a quick math on how much I had spent so far and rather than keep on going, I had to stop, mainly because, by the time I hit taxes and tips, I would be really close to my allocated budget. Again, the reason of my comment behind the sashimi order. If I had continued, I think I could have easily ordered at least three more pieces.

In itself, it is really an experience. One of the customers seated beside me was also quite enthusiastic. She liked the salmon piece so much she ordered a second piece later in the meal. However, rather than serving the exact same iteration, that second piece was prepared in a slightly different way. Guess it pays to know when you are interacting with one of the chefs directly…

Was price an issue overall? As mentioned, every single piece was worth its price but, given it is not cheap, I don’t think it is something I would be doing so on a constant basis. Rather, now that I am back in Vancouver, I would rather save the $$$ and go to a more decent place. Which brings the next big question… Where? That’s the topic of another post I guess. As for Shiro’s, yes, definitely, if I am in Seattle (regardless if I am in a business meal budget or not), I believe this is a really good option for sushi. The other question is whether I want to now try Kisaku as well for comparison purposes…

Ebisu on Broadway
601 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

I have mentioned previously that a “perk” of blogging is that you get to meet people. In this instance, I got to meet DVP (sorry, won’t mention her name unless she chooses to; instead, I will use a placeholder name, OK?), whom have been a frequent reader in some of the local blogs. Of course, it wasn’t solely for the food; in DVP’s case, she also had some questions about me, not to mention about my other “hobby”, namely photography. But, you know what? At times, no excuses are need to check with me for a meal!

Now, DVP had a particular request: a sushi restaurant. I found out the reason real behind afterwards but, in a way, I was up to the challenge. Unfortunately, it was the Victoria’s Day long weekend and, suddenly, all the places I had originally suggested were closed! In the end, while driving almost endlessly, I thought… Ebisu! So, in the end, to Ebisu we went.

There is reason why I remembered Ebisu: a couple of months ago, I met Erin of My Life on the E List for lunch and, on that day, option #1 was Ebisu but they were closed! So, this time, it would be attempt #2 (oh, on that note, had it failed again, the fall back place was Shiro, which, when driving to Ebisu, we found out it was open that night).

After been seated, it was the usual question… What to order? DVP had interest for some particular dishes and, as for myself, I think I went overboard and ordered way too much food… ^_^;;; Anyway, here is what we got on the table.

Three pieces of tuna sashimi, three pieces of salmon sashimi and three pieces of unagi sushi. Similar to lunch, where they have specials (as per my post here), they also have similar dinner specials, i.e., you can mix and match between different options for a flat price. In chose these base on DVP’s feedback and, for the most part, they were quite nice. The only issue was the size of sashimi: it was a bit thick but, again, otherwise, it was good in its own ways.

Remember back in February I visited Miku Restaurant and where one of their claims to fame was their aburi sushi, aka, seared sushi? Specifically that they have it trademarked and what not. Well, Ebisu has it as well, though with some obvious differences. For one, there are only two options, toro and mackerel. The other main difference is that there is no sauce on top. While the lightly seared fish develop some interesting fatty torched taste, the rice was a bit hard/chewy and the shiso leave sandwiched in between didn’t really work for me. In a way, the shiso leaf won’t have been much of an issue as it could be easily removed but I couldn’t let pass the rice. Otherwise, I prefer this one over the one in Miku mainly because I could taste the seared fish, compared to it being masked as in the case of Miku.

I ordered this one mostly out of curiosity – their sakura roll (?). On one side, the plating is quite interesting. And, despite the ingredients weren’t that exotic – tuna, salmon and avocado, at least, it combined quite well. And some of the seaweed helped by providing a crunchy taste.

Shrimp tempura. This was a bit of a fail for one reason: too thick of a batter. Not sure if, because of that, the shrimp ended up slightly overcooked. I wished I had ordered something else instead of this. >_<

Agedashi tofu. It was hot and crispy but, alas, the broth at the bottom made it somewhat too mushy by the time we got to those pieces. I wonder, can’t these be served separately? Also, some extra bonito shavings would have helped…

One dish I ordered as a token vegetable was goma-ae. Boiled spinach with some sesame paste and sesame seeds, it is a simple dish but, when it is good, it is good. Here, the twist they gave was in the form of having the spinach wrapping some enoki mushroom. Alas, I think I would have liked it more if it was served at the beginning of the meal, rather than at the end: I had to ask them if it was coming. Hmmmmm… But, back to the spinach itself, I thought there was a bit too much sauce but, since I was able to “push” them aside, it didn’t detract from the overall dish.

Overall, I thought the food was quite decent (specially if I compare it to what I had in its Robson location) and, for the most part, service was good, as plates were cleared and tea cups were filled constantly. The one “issue” with service was that they suddenly seem they have disappeared when I needed the bill. Odd as it might sound… But, past that, it provides what people expect and worked for me. So, for that reason, I see myself coming back.

Akira Sushi
1069 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

We have had this eternal debate of whether authenticity matters. In my case, I have started to move to the camp of “as long as it follows the principle of the cuisine and, most importantly, tastes good”. While I try to keep that in mind, there are times where old habits die hard. That’s part of the reason I have walked by hundreds of times by two sushi restaurants in Denman Street which are almost facing each other but haven’t gone back – because I knew they weren’t Japanese operated. However, after reading an article by Mia Stainsby, who writes the Word of Mouth for the Vancouver Sun, about one of these two restaurants serving “black sushi”, I thought, hey, why not! So, for lunch one day, I went to Akira Sushi.

Being such a sunny day that day, I chose sit outside. Well, excellent lightning for sure (though, of course, it was quite harsh bright light); however, not so necessarily for me. It was a too scorching hot for my liking… (To those who ask, how the hell I survived Panama and the tropical weather the answer is that, unlike people in North America, where people tend to bask under the sun like an iguana, we seek shelter under the shadow).

Looking through the menu, it had your usual suspects, from lunch combos, to some fried items and, of course, sushi. Under normal conditions, I would have gone for a nigiri sushi type combination but, this time, since I wanted specific items in the menu, I ordered regular a la carte. And here is my order…

Dynamite roll, one piece of salmon sushi, toro sushi and saba sushi. As mentioned above, I wanted to try their “black sushi” so, for an additional $0.75, I made the dynamite roll “black”. OK, that might be a misnomer, it wasn’t black at all; instead, as you can see above, it was purple.

The pieces of sushi were actually quite decent. Not necessarily the best but these pieces were better than some places I have been (won’t say which ones to protect the innocent or guilty!). One thing that really surprised me was the texture: it didn’t have that frozen texture some places (again!) are guilty of and, while not necessarily “melt in your mouth” there wasn’t that much need to chew the fish itself.

As for the dynamite roll, it was falling a bit more on the miss side, though not due to the rice. The rice itself wasn’t that different compared to regular rice, except it had some odd sweet hint. I think I will stick with the regular rice, though I am willing to try brown rice if available. Now the reason it was a miss was that it was bland: there wasn’t that much of crispiness texture nor shrimp or avocado taste. Instead, the predominant taste was the asparagus. Was that a good thing? If you like asparagus, that would be fine (and it is something I won’t mind); just that I want… Well, it does not fit the concept of dynamite roll…

Overall, I would have to say it is acceptable. Whether I will be back will depend somewhat on the budget and visiting the remaining nearby options, including, as mentioned initially the one across the street. As for the black sushi, well, it sounds just like a gimmick…