For Valentines Day, M took me to Masayoshi sushi bar to indulge in their Omakase set for $120 per person. Usually its $100, so not sure why it was a bite more expensive than normal. Even on their regular menu, it states $100. Perhaps it was because it was Valentines Day. Either way, we were excited to give it a try since it’s been on my ‘to-eat list’ for a while now.
When we made the reservations, we had no idea what would be in the set. Even when we arrived at the restaurant, the whole meal was a mystery. It was ok for us, but it seemed to bother the table beside us as they were not very keen on raw seafood…and it made me wonder why they would dine here for the omakase.
The restaurant is pretty small and seats around 20 people, perhaps a bit less. When making reservations, make sure to request to sit at the bar. We didn’t so we sat further away watching the chef do his magic.
The other tables still have the view of the chef but it’s definitely not as engaging.
Orion Beer ($12) is a larger 633 ml beer and its imported so that why its more expensive than the other beers on the menu. Nice, light, and goes well with Japanese food.
Green Tea ($3) comes in a small pot and they pour a bit of it at your table, they come by when its empty. I thought it was pretty inefficient as I am a tea guzzler, so after a while we asked them to place the pot at our table so we could pour it ourselves. Usually tea is complimentary at other restaurants, but it kinda sucks that they charge for it here and don’t say anything about it.
Skewers of avocado, tuna and mangoes came in wine glasses on a bed of shredded radish. Very simple and refreshing dish to start off the meal. I like how you can taste the freshness of each item without transforming it too much.
Shooter of baby eels and quails eggs is a mind boggling item to process as the eyes stare back at you. The way the instruct you to eat it is to just shoot it. I was excited to try it because I am a pretty adventurous eater. M looked at it for a while and shot it down with no problem. It tasted ok and it was a slimey mixture of ingredients inside.
Our neighbouring table just couldn’t eat it.
Next item is the seafood chawanmushi with a prawn, uni, eel, clam, fish, and other things. Very delicious! So much flavour in this warm egg custard.
Smoked Salmon Salad is filled with a nose tingling smoke, so when the bowl is lifted, you get a pleasant smell and a slight smoke show.
On the plate, there is papaya, apple, shio herbs, and nuts. The items didn’t seem very cohesive on the plate, but there were varying types of texture but fell a bit flat in taste.
Torched Gindara stuffed with mushroom was one of my favourite items here. It really cooked well and infused with a lot of flavour. Plus, the presentation was nice.
The most entertaining dish was the clear soup boiled in a coffee siphon machine. You have the water in the bottom chamber and the shitake, kelp, bonito and sardines in the top chamber.
As you wait for the water to boil, it slowly pushes the water up.
Once they take the fire away, the clear broth comes down. When the soup cools down a bit, they pour it into your bowls.
After waiting a few minutes, we dug in. Definitely a clean clear broth, but pretty basic.
Red rockfish nigiri, scallop nigiri, o-toro bluefin tuna nigiri and isaki nigiri was the next plate.
Of these 4, I liked the scallop and o-toro nigiri.
Tamago, needle fish nigiri, sardine nigiri, and eel nigiri. These were ok. The tamago was an interesting texture, slightly sweet and with a spongey texture. I thought there would be more layers to it.
To end the meal, matcha jelly with creme fraiche, gooseberry, blueberry and strawberry. Simple dessert to end the night.
Overall, having the omakase was a good way to taste a variety of items on the menu. They were able to create some fun unique items on their menu, but it is a bit pricey for what you get. I definitely understand they use quality ingredients and the chef has 10+ years experience coming from Tojo’s. I found they try to keep the dishes simple but some execution and flavour combinations didn’t work. It was nice to come here for the first time, but there wasn’t anything else that would draw me to come back over and over again. For the 2 of us, after tax and tip, we spent just over $300, which really hurt our wallets, but on the plus side it lasted 3 hours.
We Rate Masayoshi Sushi Bar: 
Address:
4376 Fraser Street, Vancouver
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/masayoshisushi
