Japanese Archives - Page 3 of 20

In Japanese

Yuu Japanese Tapas: Volcano Ramen and Miriku Collection in Richmond

December 27, 2018

Yuu Japanese Tapas is located in Richmond, BC and they serve up contemporary Japanese cuisine. They have a wide menu from appetizers, individualized hot pots, ramen and other items. Earlier in the year, The Original beer Ramen made headlines around the world for their ramen that looks like a huge mug of beer, which was made of cold bonito broth ramen.

For the Winter, they have launched a few new items – Volcano Ramen and miriku collection. We came here to check it out.

Interior

There are a lot of tables for small to large groups inside.

Menu (new items)

Volcano Ramen

Their volcano ramen comes in 2 types -AAA Beef Volcano Ramen and Jumbo Clam and Prawn Volcano Ramen starting at $19.50.

What is great about Yuu Japanese Tapas is the experience and fun they provide the customers before the meal begins. When the ramen arrived, the server pours the ramen broth into the sizzling hot stone bowl and covers it with a volcano lid, so it steams up like a volcano.

AAA Beef Volcano Ramen

This has AAA Beef slices, Enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts, green onion, and a tonkatsu broth. You can add egg, butter, cheese, kimchi and more ramen noodles for an additional charge.

We had the choice of having it mild or spicy, so we chose mild. The tonkatsu broth is rich with a lot of beefy umami flavour. The noodles has a thickness to them too. We added cheese to the dish and it made the ramen consistency more thick and less soupy.

Jumbo Clam and Prawn Volcano Ramen

There are seasonal clams, prawns, bean sprouts, onions, and their rich tonkatsu broth. You can add egg, butter, cheese, kimchi and more ramen noodles for an additional charge.

We ordered mild, but it still had a kick to the broth and made it hard to taste the deep beef flavour. This was ok but we felt the AAA Beef Volcano Ramen was a bit better.

Strawberry Milk

You can get this hot or cold, but we went with cold. It tastes like milk with strawberry puree and you can’t go wrong with that. It tastes pretty good. The glass is a bit small for the price.

Melon Milk

We decided to switch things up and get this hot. It was served in the same container and served very hot to the touch. It has a strong melon taste and it felt more artificial tasting. Imagine those Korean melona bars.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the experience at Yuu Japanese Tapas was good as the dishes were unique looking, but when it came down to flavour, it missed the mark and the prices are a bit higher than normal Japanese ramen shops, nonetheless, they really make sure the experience, fun and interactivity of the dishes are their.

Address:
3779 Sexsmith Rd #1118, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.yuutapas.com/

In Downtown

Black Rice Izakaya: 2018 New Winter Menu

December 20, 2018

Black Rice Izakaya continues to offer seasonal items on top of their regular menu.They are located near the Vancouver Public Library and BC Place. A very convenient location serving up Japanese izakaya, fresh specialty seafood, sushi rolls, sake and cocktails.

We were invited back again to check out these new items.

Interior

They have bar seating with a few high tops at the front of the restaurant and then larger tables in the back that can seat more people.

Regular Menu

Menchi Katsu

This has a minced Prime Angus beef patty with mozzarella and deep fried in Panko. Perfect for the winter as it’s very comforting and delicious. The panko makes for a crisp exterior with the beef and cheese hiding inside.

Angus Tenderloin Steak

This hot stone grill is topped with sous vide prime angus tenderloin, shiitake mushroom, asparagus, and house-made black truffle butter.

A fun dish and the truffle butter just amplified the flavour of the angus tenderloin.

Spicy Grilled Chicken

This is sous vide spicy marinated chicken thigh and its then finished on a charcoal grill. It’s the chef’s favourite dish and would go really well with rice to balance out the spice and salt.

Salmon Candy

This has beet cured salmon with pickled pearl onion and feta cheese. Then served with an herb avocado puree. A refreshing dish and interesting to see feta as a combination but it worked.

Beef Tongue Carpaccio

This has sliced sous vide beef tongue with fried onion, ponzu and mushroom puree. It was buttery, tender and delicious.

Aburi Hakozushi platter

This stunning platter has their signature Aburi salmon, Aburi Saba, Aburi negitoro, and Aburi scallop. A good way to try their different Aburi offerings at Black Rice Izakaya.

Aburi Platter for 2

This new Aburi Platter on the winter menu is composed of

6 pieces of spicy salmon halo
8 pieces of black mentaiko roll
4 pieces of chef’s choice aburi nigiri

Vegan Hakozushi

They have a small vegan menu, but one of those items are their vegan hakozushi that comes in two kinds. One had a heavy taste of guacamole and heavy lemon taste and the other had more avocado with a thin green veggie layer on top.

Sashimi Seafood Platter

This sashimi platter is incredible looking and great for a few people to share, this included:

Whole Horse Mackerel
Uni – Sea Urchin (Fave)
Button Shrimp
Golden Eye Sea Bream
Red Sea Bream
Halibut
Yellow Tale Amberjack
Greater Amberjack
Seared Sockeye Salmon

It’s stunning, tasted fresh and will really impress your guests.

Final Thoughts

The new items on the menu are a great addition to their regular menu like the Mentaiko Udon, Beef and Enoki Stone Bowl, and Black Angus Nigiri.

Address:
782 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.blackrice.ca/

In Japanese

Horin Ramen + Sake: Now Open on Robson Street in Vancouver

November 8, 2018

Horin Ramen + Sake finally open their doors on Robson and Bute in Downtown Vancouver. They specialize in Fukuoka Ramen with their own spicy twist. Back in 1966, Mr. Sadayuki Nakahara and his wife Keiko were the originators of adding spicy chili peppers into a pork-based Tonkotsu broth. They have taken this secret recipe and opened a bunch of ramen shops in Japan and now around the word.

Interior

The interior is very narrow with half the restaurant for seating and the other half is their kitchen. Since it just opened, it’s not very busy at all. Plus, they have very limited hours as they are still in their soft opening phase.

They also make their noodles in-house, so you can watch them turn dough into ramen noodles.

Chashu Ramen with Soft Boiled Egg

You have the base of tonkotsu broth and 3 times more slices of braised pork belly for a total of 6 pieces. There is also green onions and their house made chili blend.

You can customize your ramen with noodle firmness (soft, standard, firm), Dashi (less salty, standard, extra salty), House Chili Blend (less spicy, standard, extra spicy), and lard (less fat, standard, or extra fat).

M thought it was ok, but didn’t stand out compared to some other ramen shops in Vancouver. He didn’t like the saltiness of the broth even though he got it standard and the chashu slices were very thin. He didn’t feel like the chili blend was that special as other ramen shops do that in town too.

Ajitama Ramen

You get their soft-boiled egg marinated in their tare-seasoning. There are 2 slices of chashu, chili sauce, and green onions.

You can customize this ramen too and I got it mostly with the standard options, but with firm noodles.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a solid bowl of ramen for this section of Robson Street, but they have stiff competition as there are more ramen shops a few blocks away. It all comes down to personal preference.

The prices are also very fair. When it comes to their sake selection, there are only 4 options and it’s pretty pricey for a whole bottle. They don’t have options for just a cup.

Address:
1226 Robson St, Vancouver, BC

In Japanese

Ramen Gaoh: New Ramen Shop in North Burnaby

November 3, 2018

Ramen Gaoh is a new ramen shop in North Burnaby on Hastings and Willingdon. They are the newest concept from the Menya Kouji Group, which also has Ramen Gojiro and The Ramen Butcher.

What is unique about Ramen Gaoh is that they specialize in miso ramen. Since they have been open for a few days, there have been large line ups due to a great $6 special, but that is now over. As menu prices are back to normal, there was still a line up during peak hours on weekends. Hopefully this dies down as weeks pass by.

Interior

The space isn’t too large but fits groups of 2s and 4s well. Any larger and it’ll be hard to fit.

There is indoor seating as well as heated patio seats.

Green Tea

They give everyone cold water, but I wanted some green tea, so they change for hot green tea. Pretty standard green tea and nothing exciting. You can always ask them to refill it with hot water.

Karaage

We got the original karaage and it came with 4 large pieces and a wedge of lemon. They have other versions with tartar sauce or teriyaki sauce too.

The exterior was crunchy, moist inside, and full of flavour. Highly recommended and great for sharing.

Okonomiyaki Gyoza

Each comes with 5 pieces with okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, bonito flakes and green onions. They use their original pork gyoza made in-house.

They have different gyoza topping like miso mayo, spicy and trufffle too.

Shiro Miso

This uses white soy bean paste. Generally, it is more mellow and sweet for a lighter miso flavour in the broth. My friend added an ajitama egg and butter to her ramen.

Scorpion Ramen

This is their signature spicy ramen and the broth is made from chicken and pork with their secret miso blend. You can get it in 3 levels of spiciness as well as numbing. At level 2 spiciness and level 1 numbing, it still packs a punch.

Misotarian Ramen

This is the miso ramen for vegetarians. It has a creamy miso and soy milk broth topped with assorted vegetables and a portobello mushroom. I added the spicy garlic sauce as well as some chashu. Not so vegetarian anymore.

It was decent if you like miso-based broths. I wished there was more of the spicy garlic sauce since it didn’t seem as fragrant. The portobello was a big size and gave the dish a nice meaty texture without the meat.

Final Thoughts

Ramen Gaoh is a great addition to the neighbourhood giving people a taste of miso based ramen. Is it my favourite ramen joint? Definitely not, but that’s only because I’m not a big fan of miso ramen. If you are, then this might be the place for you.

Address:
4518 E Hastings St, Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.ramengaoh.com/

In Downtown

Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba: Japanese Noodles in Downtown Vancouver

October 28, 2018

Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba opened up in Downtown Vancouver right under BCIT Downtown Campus on Seymour Street. Japanese Chef Takuma Ishikawa created KOKORO mazesoba in Tokyo Japan in 2013 and soon expanded quickly around Japan. Ever since they opened in Vancouver, its sent the city in a frenzy over their mazesoba.

Mazesoba is literally translated as mixed noodle – a soupless ramen.

Interior

There are a good amount of seats, but I usually avoid the rush. If you want to get a seat around lunch, come at 12 or before then. For dinner, early is best around 5:30pm.

If you just want ice cream to go, you can order it at the counter and bypass the lineup. This would be great for the Summer.

Nika Mazesoba

This is their best seller mazesoba on the menu. It has slow-brased chashu, spicy minced park, raw egg yolk, minced garlic, green onion, seaweed flakes, saba fish, chives, and their multi-grain noodles which is made in house.

Zenbu Mazesoba

Zenbu Mazesoba is their chef’s special and it has a bit of everything. It has slow-braised pork chashu, spicy minced pork, raw egg yolk, seaweed, soft boiled egg, bamboo shoot, seaweed flakes, chives, green onion, minced garlic, saba fish, and their multi-grain noodles.

Don’t forget to get the free scoop of rice afterwards to soak up all the extra sauce.

Mentaiko Cream Mazesoba

There is mentaiko, slow-braised pork chashu, raw egg yolk, seaweed flakes, spinach, green onion, minced garlic, Japanese cream sauce, saba fish, and the multi-grain noodles. It was very delicious and there is plenty of sauce on the noodles and you’ll want the extra ball of rice to soak it all up.

Chicken Karaage

The pork gyozas are crisp and have a nice subtle ginger taste. A good side dish to go with your meal.

Pork Gyoza

The pork gyozas are crisp on the bottom. Very delicious and has a good mixture of pork and veggie.

Kokoro Yogurt Refresher

You can get this in passionfruit or peach flavours, but it is a very sweet drink.

Tokyo Iced Milk Tea

They also have milk tea which is brewed with 100% organic black tea.

Hokkaido Creme Cone

This sells in limited quantities as they can only make so many cones per day. It is made with organic milk soft serve ice cream made by their Japanese Nissei machine. It is delicious and the cookie cone is addictive. The only problem with it is that it melts fast and will start leaking out the bottom, so be careful when eating.

Fuji Cheese Cup Cake

The spoons are so cute as it’s shaped like a shovel. There is cheesecake, which is rich and delicious. On the bottom, there is a chocolate cookie crumb on the bottom to break up the taste.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the hype is real and their mazesoba is the start of the show. Drinks are mediocre, but the desserts and side dishes are good accompaniments. I didn’t have the ramen this time, but since Mazesoba is their specialty, you’ll want to go get that.

Address:
551 Seymour St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://menyakokoro.com/

In Downtown

Wasabi Robson: Aburi, Sushi Rolls and Bento Boxes

October 12, 2018

Wasabi Robson is the newest sushi restaurant to open up in Downtown Vancouver at the Vancouver Public Library. I saw them on Instagram and wanted to make a visit as they make a few aburi-style sushi items on the menu as well as more affordable items like bento box sets, curry and udon. They seem to cater those who want a quick meal and those who want a bit more of an indulgence like aburi at lower prices.

Interior

They take reservations after 3pm, so I made one for my group of friends. The restaurant is half seating and half kitchen. The traffic fluctuated through the night but if you are in a larger group, reservations are best.

They are fairly new and have some kinks to work out. Service was very mediocre, so we were rarely given tea until we asked and also they didn’t clear the dishes or give us the bill. Also the abundance of fruit flies were very bothersome.

Crown Tart

The Crown Tart is made with scallop, wild salmon, tuna, avocado, sushi rice, and aburi sauce. Then topped with lemon slices and shrimp. It’s a good size and very delicious. You can have it by yourself or share with the table.

Wild Salmon Aburi Oshi

This comes with 6 pieces per order and it has flame-seared wild salmon sushi with their signature aburi sauce on top with a piece of jalapeño.

Saba Aburi Oshi

This has flame-seared mackerel sushi with their signature sauce on top. The saba is a salty mackerel that is always very delicious in aburi form. The sauce on top is different than the other aburi items.

Ebi Aburi Oshi

This has flame-seared shrimp sushi with their signature sauce on top. Another delicious item.

Gyoza

It comes with 5 pieces but we asked them to make it 6 pieces and added a dollar extra so it would be easier for the table to split as we were a party of 6. It was good but it would have been nice is there was some sauce or dip to go along with it like ponzu sauce.

Salmon Avocado Roll

This uses wild salmon and avocado rolled up in sushi rice. Perfectly ripe avocados and good quality wild salmon.

Final Thoughts

If you want a good inexpensive simple meal, the bento boxes are the way to go as they are just over $10. Good for a quick cheap lunch. For this visit, I went more the aburi items and they were good for the price. The only things that bothered me were the service and cleanliness. Those are the two things they should really work on.

Their hours are limited as they aren’t open weekends and close early into the evenings on weekdays.

Address:
202-345 Robson St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.wasabirobson.com/

In Japanese

Matsuzushi: $25 Omakase in Port Moody

October 8, 2018

Matsuzushi is a hidden gem in Port Moody serving up $25 Omakase, which is a Japanese term meaning “I’ll leave it up to you”. I was intrigued by a lot of people posting up pictures of this great deal, so I decided to take a few of my friends to check out Matsuzushi. There is lots of parking outside on the street and around the corner.

Interior

There are about 5 tables inside and bar seating as well. It is best to make reservations just in case they are busy for that particular day. The best experience is by the bar where you can see the meal being prepped right in front of you and also you get more attentive service.

The restaurant is a 2 person operation, so service does suffer because of it. It literally is a mom and pop shop. I don’t mind inattentive service as long as there is good value for what you pay for. Others can get bothered by the service.

$25 Omakase

For $25 per person, you get 11 nigiri, 1 temaki cone and a miso soup. As there were 4 of us, they put all the items in a box to share. As we were not sitting by the bar, we were not told which nigiri was which. We had to rely on our fish detection skills to figure out what was what. Good thing all of us are sushi lovers, so it wasn’t a problem at all.

Our favourite of the night (not because we could identify them) were, toro, uni, tuna, salmon, and Tai.

Final Thoughts

Overall, solid omakase for only $25 and most people who come here order this set. We were all full by the end of the meal and didn’t have to order anything else.

Address:
130 Saint Johns Street, Port Moody, BC

In Japanese

Mensho Tokyo SF: Long Lines, Expensive, and Rich in Flavour

September 2, 2018

Mensho Tokyo is a popular ramen shop in Japan and this is their first location outside of Japan. Luckily, it’s located in San Francisco in the Tenderloin. When I was visiting for a week, a lot of my Instagram followers suggested I go to Mensho Tokyo SF. We were warned that there would be a long line up and should go right when they open, but we didn’t make it until around 7pm.

Since we didn’t have evening plans, we decided to just wait. If so many people were also waiting, it must be good right? It’s also Michelin recommended.

Interior

The space is small, so I can see why there isn’t that many seats, so I can see why there was such a long line up. We counted about 28 seats in here.

Enoki Mushroom Chips

Since we waited for so long, we wanted to make sure we ordered as much as we could to make it worth it. The enoki mushroom chips were more like enoki tempura. A good pairing if you have beer.

Oyster in Shoyu Dare Oil

There were a good amount of oysters submerged in the oil. It was good to snack on them as it was better than the canned smoked oysters.

Tori Paitan Ramen

This is their most popular ramen and it has a rich and creamy chicken broth, pork chashu, duck chashu, menma, kale, burdock, and katsuobushi sauce. We added an ajitama egg to it.

The duck was delicious and we think its been sous vide to get that nice colour and texture.

Tori Paitan Ramen (Double Chashu)

If you want some extra charshu, this option might be for you.

Spicy Tori Paitan Ramen

I went the spicy route and it was more of a medium spice level. It is made with a base of their rich and creamy chicken soup, pork chashu, menma, spicy jalapeno miso, cabbage, burdock, green onion and nuts. I also added the ajitama egg.

The egg was perfectly cooked so it looks like the golden sun inside. I found my bowl to be quite rich and salty. It was very difficult to drink all the broth without feeling for my waistline.

Final Thoughts

The ramen is good and unique for those who enjoy rich chicken broth. I personally found the broth to be way too rich for my personal preferences. Their chashu, duck and ajitama egg are done very well and love these.

I wouldn’t line up again for their ramen as there are other shops that appeal more to my tastes as well as being cheaper. With each bowl being close to $20 with auto gratuity, it was pricey.

Address:
672 Geary St, San Francisco

Website:
http://mensho.tokyo/

In Burnaby Central

Uncle Tetsu’s Japanese Cheesecake at Metropolis at Metrotown

August 12, 2018

Uncle Tetsu is best known around the world for their famous Japanese Cheesecakes. They opened up at Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby, BC and there are always long line ups even though it has been open for a few months. Be prepared for a line up from anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.

This is their 6th location in Canada but first in British Columbia. The rest are in Ontario.

As you get closer in line, you can see the workers putting together all the cakes and confections. The demand is very high that they can’t pump out the cheesecakes fast enough, but that’s ok since that means it will be very fresh. I went to another location in Honolulu that wasn’t busy and the quality wasn’t good at all.

Uncle Tetsu’s Cheesecake

These 7 inch cheesecakes are a must and made by hand every day. Because of the long line, these are always fresh, so it comes very warm. Even when we got home, it was still nice and warm.

I was a bit skeptical about Uncle Tetsu, but upon having a slice, I would see the allure of the soft and fluffy cheesecake. It’s flavourful and you must have more than one slice.

Honey Madeleine

Honey Madelines are another item that they sell at this location. It is a moist and buttery cupcake with a subtle sweet honey taste. They recommend you pop it into the microwave for 15 seconds to warm it up.

Final Thoughts

The Cheesecakes and Honey Madelines are delicious, but the only thing that throw me off are the wait times. It is slowly decreasing, but waiting around 1 hour is too much for me. Thankfully my mom was nice enough to share with me her bounty from Uncle Tetsu. If you can get your hands on the cheesecakes, it is very delicious.

Address:
4700 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://uncletetsu-ca.com/

In Fusion

Kosoo Restaurant: $30 Lunch Set for Two in Vancouver

August 8, 2018

Kosoo Resaurant is serving up their Kosoo Set Course for $15 per person. There’s not a lot of options where you can get such a diverse amount of dishes for just $15. We were excited to give this set course a try to see if it’s worth the price.

Interior

There are a good amount of tables inside for small to large groups. If you’re in a large group, it’s best to make a reservation in advance for big groups.

Kosoo Set Menu

The best deal on their menu is their lunch course set for minimum 2 people. It’s a lot of food, but for $15 per person, it’s very good. It comes with:

Tuna Tataki
Mushroom salad
Ball trio
Kosoo Taco
Japchae
Dduk Galbi
24 hour pork belly, miso marinated pork belly with salad and pickle
Mackerel
Korean Miso Soup
Kimchi
Matcha Creme Brûlée

11 dishes for $30 isn’t bad at all. You get to try a variety of food with a diverse taste profile. Some items on the menu may change based on availability and seasonality.

Kimchi

Kimchi is a staple in Korean cuisines and you usually find it on the dining table. It is a spicy fermented cabbage that tastes sour and spicy.

24 hour Pork Belly and Dduk Galbi

On the left is the miso marinated pork belly with corn, jalapeno and pickle on top. Very tasty but would have been better it if was more tender.

On the right is the Dduk Galbi, which is traditional Korean oven roasted sweet ground beef with a house dressing, pickled onion and jalapeños. This tasted good but was a bit sweet.

Tuna Tataki and Ball Trio

Lightly seared tuna is paired with a sesame dressing and green onions. The ball trio were nicely fried, with a nice kick of spice to it.

Japchae

Japchae is a classic Korean dish made with stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables. It was delicious.

Korean Miso Soup

Korean Miso Soup is made with soybean paste, with mixed veggies, tofu, and beef. It had a good comforting depth of flavour but was borderline salty.

Mushroom salad

The mushroom salad is made of a bed of greens, cherry tomatoes, 3 kinds of mushrooms, feta cheese and a balsamic dressing. A refreshing dish to go with the rest of the meal and it was good.

Kosoo Taco

This has beef with a sweet & spicy sauce, lettuce, and onion on a French crêpe as the soft taco shell. Oddly enough, this was good and kinda tasted like a Big Mac.

Grilled Mackerel

The mackerel is salted and then grilled. Not too fishy and has a good amount of fish fat to it.

Matcha Creme Brûlée

The meal ends with a Matcha Creme Brûlée served in a ceramic dish with a cute spoon.

Final Thoughts

Overall the set was worth it for $15 per person and some dishes were a hit and miss, but mostly still very positive. If you’re looking for a lunch set like this, we recommend making your way down here to Kosoo to get a taste of their Korean and French fusion dishes.

Address:
832 Cardero Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.kosoorestaurant.ca/

In Cafe

Nana’s Green Tea: Matcha Drinks and Soft Serve in Waikiki

August 6, 2018

Inside Yokocho Gourmet Alley in Waikiki is Nana’s Green Tea, a Japanese Tea House that specializes in tea-based drinks and desserts. Vancouver has one opening up very soon, but when we were in Waikiki, we had to come for a treat and enjoy the air conditioning inside the building.

At first the shop was a bit hard to find, but we eventually found it in the centre with the fake cherry blossoms.

Iced Uji Cha

This green tea is iced and isn’t sweet, which is great because it was refreshing and went well with the sweet soft serve. I highly recommend it if you want something to cool down from the hot Waikiki weather.

Hojicha Soft Serve with Warabimochi

My friend ordered the hojicha soft serve in a cone and you can eat it with a spoon. Great depth of tea flavour in the soft serve and that warabimochi went so well with it.

Matcha Soft Serve Sundae

This has the matcha soft serve with red bean, rice flour dumplings and warabimochi. Great combinations of flavours and textures that don’t overshadow the matcha soft serve.

Final Thoughts

I really liked Nana’s in Waikiki and happy now that it’s open in Vancouver as well. You really can’t go wrong with Japanese soft serve ice cream. It’s great for the Summer and Winter. hahaha. If you’re ever in Waikiki, make sure to stop by for a taste of Japan.

Address:
2250 Kalakaua Ave, Honolulu, HI

Website:
http://www.nanasgreentea.com/

In Hot Pot

Mr. Black Restaurant 黑桑: Meal Sets, Hot Pots, and Drinks in Richmond

July 24, 2018

Mr Black is a newer restaurant located in Aberdeen Centre Mall serving up Japanese and Taiwanese inspired tapas and meal sets. Mr Black is a little hard to find but it’s right above H Mart on the 2nd floor of the mall. They occupy the previous space of Guu Richmond.

We were invited to give a few of their dishes a try.

Interior

The interior is mostly black and concrete, so it has an industrial look to it. There is enough seating for small to large groups. If you want to see where all the action is at, the bar seats look directly into the open kitchen.

Strawberry Sparkling Water

This is made with sparkling water and real strawberry puree. You can even see the seeds and pieces of strawberry flesh on the bottom of the cup. Very refreshing for the summer.

Calpis

Their version of Calpis isn’t as sweet as the ones you find in stores. Pretty good.

Fried Diced Blackened Wagyu Beef

What is unique about Mr Black is that some menu items are black to play off the name of the restaurant. This wagyu beef is coated in their secret coating and what makes it so black is charcoal. It is served with shredded cabbage. This dish reminded me of lumps of coal but a delicious kind. It is topped off with come chili peppers to balance out the taste.

Fried Chicken

This fried chicken was really good! The chicken is moist on the inside and the skin and batter were so flavourful. Highly recommended.

Salmon and Mentaiko Korokke

These balls are a pretty good size. It has a potato and salmon mixture surrounding the mentaiko inside. When we were eating it, the salmon felt a bit lost as well as the mentaiko. We did like it overall with the wasabi mayo. The exterior was crisp and the middle was predominantly tasting of fluffy potatoes.

Hokkaido Milk Chicken Hot Pot

This was one of my favourite dishes, it has chicken, imitation crab, mushrooms, tofu, egg, and cabbage in the milky broth. It was very comforting an comes with a bowl of rice and slice of grapefruit. Highly recommended.

Halibut

The deep fried halibut is covered in a bread crumb crust and served with shredded cabbage, soup, rice and salad. A pretty well rounded meal.

Cheesy Mapo Curry Pork

This new items is one of their specials. It has rice, mapo curry sauce, deep fried pork cutlet filled with cheese in the centre and also some picked veggies. The dish also comes with soup and pieces of grapefruit.

As they cut up the pork katsu ahead of time, the cheese already oozes out, so there really isn’t that much inside as you can see.

Wagyu Beef

You get about 100g of wagyu beef that has been deep fried but still pink in the centre. There is also a hot black stone that you can continue grilling your wagyu beef. It is served with rice, soup and salad.

This dish was ok but I didn’t feel like the quality of the wagyu could really shine through.

Earl Grey Creme Brulee

This creme brulee is hiding under all this fruit. Great to showcase what fruits are in season. I really enjoyed it and it had a good amount of earl grey flavour.

Fried Banana

There were 4 pieces of fried banana with chocolate inside too. It was really crisp on the outside like a crisp wonton wrapper. It is also paired with a bunch of seasonal fruit too.

Duo Layer Mousse of Coconut and Soy Milk

This is served up in a skinny bottle and when you look inside, you can see the two different layers of coconut and soy milk mousse. The flavours were good and went well together, but the container was hard to eat from.

Final Thoughts

Overall, some dishes were hits and some misses. The ones I really enjoyed was the Hokkaido Milk Chicken Hot Pot, Fried Chicken, and Halibut. Those a good items to have for either lunch or dinner.

Address:
2790-4151 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC

Website:
https://www.mrblackrestaurant.com/

In Cafe

Tsujiri Edmonton: Japanese Matcha Desserts in Downtwon

July 8, 2018

Tsujiri is a Japanese-chain for tea-based desserts with over 155 years of history. Primarily focusing on matcha – ground up green tea with many health benefits as it is rich in vitamins and antioxidants. They have matcha parfaits, floats, and other treats.

When I was in Edmonton for 3.5 days, I came to Tsujiri 3 times as I had an obsession to try as many things as possible before they open in Vancouver.

Vanilla Mix Soft Serve

The Tsujiri Soft Cream is delicious. It comes in either matcha or vanilla mix. With vanilla mix, you get both matcha and vanilla swirled into the waffle cone. They fill it up very well, so you get your moneys worth. Plus, it looks and tastes great.

Shiratama Parfait

It has matcha soft serve, sweet red beans, shiratama balls like mochi, and a sprinkling on kinako (soybean flour). It’s a lovely dessert but I felt that the red beans were way too sweet and overpowered all the items in this parfait.

Houjicha Float with Vanilla Mix

Houjicha is roasted green tea, thus the dark brown colour. It is mixed with ice and blended into a slushy. Then I got it topped with the vanilla mix. The slushy was a bit thick, so you need to wait a little bit for it for it to melt.

Matcha Cream Puff

The cream puff is dusted with matcha powder and icing sugar. It was sitting in the display case for some time, so the puff wasn’t as crisp, but it was stuffed with a lot of matcha mousse.

Iced Sencha

This drink was very refreshing on a hot day. It’s just iced sencha and not sweet. Just straight up tea. Highly recommended if you love tea.

Matcha Roll Cake

There is a good ratio of cake to matcha cream and not too sweet. A great balance of bitter and sweet. I really enjoyed it.

Final Thoughts

After coming here 3 times to try a bunch of items, my favourite items are the ones that are simple like the soft serve in a cone, iced sencha, and roll cake. The red bean was too sweet and floats were too stiff.

Address:
10173 109 St NW, Edmonton

Website:
http://tsujiri-global.com/

In Izakaya

Izakaya Gon’s on Denman Street

June 27, 2018

Izakaya Gon’s is a new Japanese restaurant that opened up in the West End of Downtown Vancouver. I was quite curious to see how this would compare to the other options in the area. I came after work with my friend to see they stack up. On the menu, you will find traditional izakaya dishes.

Interior

There are a lot of seats inside and it wasn’t too busy as they recently opened. It can fit small to large parties. They also take reservations too.

Iced Green Tea

We both got iced green tea to go with our meals for an extra $2.50. It was unsweetened, but was refreshing to go with the items we ordered.

Fried Squid Legs Kara-age

It is beautifully battered and crisp. It is served with a lemon wedge and a sprig of dill. This was my favourite dish of the evening.

Aburi Unagi Oshi Sushi

This comes in 5 pieces of pressed unagi on rice with eel sauce. This was executed poorly as it was pretty expensive for what you get. The rice was very warm and didn’t have time to cool down before turning it into this sushi.

Tempura Curry Udon

This huge bowl of udon has prawn and veggies assorted tempura, udon noodles and their curry broth. We shared this big bowl and was tasty, but we did notice is was quite oily and rich.

Gon’s Special Matcha Green Tea Tiramisu

There are layers of cream, matcha and sponge cake. It is served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, berries, and whipped cream. The dessert looks beautiful but the taste fell short as it was rather bitter.

Match Green Tea Cake Roll

We did not like this dish at all. The matcha green tea cake roll was dry and dense.

Final Thoughts

The food here was mostly miss with the only dish that we would get again would be the Fried Squid Legs Kara-age, which isn’t saying much. I really wanted to like this place, but a lot of their dishes need more refinement. The desserts also need more thought too as it felt like they cut corners.

Address:
854 Denman St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://izakaya-gons.com/denman/

In Downtown

Ramen Taka: Ramen Challenge in Vancouver

June 3, 2018

Ramen Taka aka Ramen Takanotsume is launching their Giga Ramen Challenge on June 1st and it’s not for the faint of heart. I came to watch my friend Maggie attempt this challenge and wow…it’s not easy. In 30 minutes, you must finish the whole bowl unassisted. There is the equivalent of 5 bowls of ramen in there. If you fail, you pay the price of 4 bowls. For example, if you got the Shoyu, that is $11.95 x 4, which is $47.80. If you are victorious, it’s free.

She loves a challenge, so she was drawn to it right away. Make sure you reserve ahead of time to ensure they have time to put it together.

Giga Ramen Challenge

The big bowl of ramen start off with their delicious broth that is topped with their delicious seasoned Hokkaido lard. You can choose shoyu, shio or miso as your broth. Their broth os made with a mixture of pork bones, veggies, and seafood simmered for many hours to be able to get a deep flavour in the broth.

Maggie went with the Dragon’s Dewdrop Shoyu Ramen for the challenge as it’s lightest of the flavours and she felt like she had a better chance of finishing it.

As they built the Giga Ramen, it kept getting bigger and bigger. It’s crazy how much goes into this.

Even the staff were curious about their first competitor and wondered if she could do it all.

Regular Sized Ramen

This is the regular size, so it’s a good portion for those who aren’t up for the challenge. I got the Dragon’s Dewdrop Shoyu Ramen too as it was recommended for first timers. The piece of chashu and seaweed were huge as it sits on the side of the bowl, and the egg, black fugus, green onions and bamboo shoots accompany the delicious noodles and broth. I was surprised by the broth and how good it tasted for a shoyu based broth. I do like my broths more fatty, so it’s definitely not for everyone. It is also piping hot as, so you need to wait a bit before digging in.

BEGIN THE GIGA RAMEN CHALLENGE

This in comparison to the regular bowl is colossal as it is 5 times larger. I won’t spoil the outcomes if Maggie finished it or not, but you can read her blog here. She also has a video, so you can watch every detail of sweat.

Are you ready for the Giga Ramen Challenge?

Faceboook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/ramentaka.ca/

Address:
841 Bidwell St, Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

[Sneak Peek] Nana’s Green Tea in Vancouver BC

May 26, 2018

Nana’s Green Tea is opening in Vancouver, BC on June 6th, 2018. Nana’s opened in Tokyo 10 years ago and is a Japanese cafe specializing in all things matcha. Matcha is powdered green tea popularly used in drinks and desserts. All the green tea leaves at nana’s are sourced from Kyoto, a production centre of high quality matcha. I personally love it and I first had Nana’s in Honolulu and damn, it was good.

There are 79 other locations around the world and they are aiming for 100 by 2019. Hopefully that means more locations in Vancouver and the rest of Canada.

Interior

The space is very narrow and deep. There is more seating in the back if you want to spend some time here enjoying your meal.

The design of the space is mostly wood and stainless steel with black and white walls. I like the art work on the walls as it reminds you of tea leaves with the variations of green colour.

Matcha Chocolate Latte

This is a smaller version of what would be served normally. You can get this iced or hot. It is made with the base of a matcha latte with whipped cream and chocolate.

Hoji-cha Shiratama Float

This was our favourite of the 3 we tried. The rice flour dumplings add a nice chewy texture.The hoji-cha ice cream and latte have such good deep tea flavours. Highly recommended.

Azuki Strawberry Latte

If you are a red bean fan, this might be for you. There is some strawberry syrup in the bottom with red beans. As the red beans are at the bottom, you suck them up in your straw like bubble tea. Unfortunately, this was my least favourite since I personally don’t like red bean.

Fresh Tuna with Curry Tartar Sauce Donburi

If you want something savoury, they have donburi bowls. This was amazing. The rice was very soft, the tuna was fresh and lightly marinated. There is also some veggies and then topped with curry tartar sauce. Man, if they put the curry tartar sauce between two pieces of bread, I would eat it all the time. It is also served with miso soup too. There is lots of seaweed in it too, which is nice.

Matcha Shiratama Parfait

One of the most popular and photogenic dessert is their matcha shiratama parfait. This is made of layers of matcha syrup, matcha pudding, vanilla soft serve, corn flakes, rice flour dumplings, azuki paste, matcha ice cream, whipped cream and more matcha syrup. This is the ultimate matcha dessert to share with friends.

Matcha Roll Cake

The matcha roll cake has a matcha sponge cake, then rolled in whipped cream and an intense centre of more matcha with a strong bitter taste. Watch out if you’re eating this as there is so much matcha that it may stain your lips.

Matcha Gateau Chocolat

This cake was surprisingly really good. It doesn’t look like much but it has a good balance of matcha and sweetness.

Final Thoughts

Nana’s Green Tea is a great addition to the Kerrisdale neighbourhood and I was pleasantly happy with the quality of their sweet and savoury dishes. They open on June 6th, 2018, so I can foresee line ups for the first week of opening.

Address: 2135 W 41st Ave, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.nanasgreentea.com/en/

In Downtown

Kurumucho: Japanese Taco Shop in Vancouver

May 25, 2018

Kurumucho is a Japanese Taco Shop in Vancouver. M and I wanted to grab a bite before seeing a movie, so we decided to come here for some of their unique tacos. The menu looks very healthy, so it is one of the better options in the area.

Interior

The shop is small and very narrow. There are many seats but its suited for groups of 2 or 4.

Spider Sushi Taco

There is a whole soft shell crab in this tempura seaweed taco shell. There is also multigrain sushi rice, avocado, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts and their aurora sauce. It was pretty good with different textures and not heavy at all.

Soy Garlic Salmon Sushi Taco

In this tempura seaweed taco shell is wild sockeye salmon, multigrain sushi rice, avocado, cucumber, spring salad mix, soy garlic sauce, sesame seeds and nori on top. The quality of the salmon was really good and the taco overall had clean flavours. I enjoyed it.

Pork Brisket Kakuni Taco

This taco is a bit different as it’s on a tortilla wrap. There is pork brisket, spring lettuce mix, avocado, cayenne pepper, cilantro, Jalapeño, tomato, onion, pickled ginger, and a mustard garlic sauce. They highly recommended their taco and it was good.

Chicken Breast Karaage

We shared this dish and it was also delicious. It has the deep fried chicken breast with tonkatsu mayo. On the bottom of the bowl is spring lettuce mix. The chicken was surprisingly moist for chicken breast.

Beets Marble Ice Cream

This ice cream caught our eye and we had to get it. It has coconut milk, soy milk, cane sugar, beets, coconut oil, salt, guar gum, vanilla powder, vanilla extract and lemon juice. It is organic, vegan and gluten-free. We were pleasantly surprised.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food at Kurumucho was delicious. I like how there are a lot of items on the menu that cater to those who are vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free. The sushi tacos are unique and they do a good job creating those tempura seaweed shells.

We Rate Kurumucho:

Address:
985 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC

Website: https://www.kurumucho.com/

In Chinatown

Blazing Sushi: Food Court Aburi-style Sushi in Vancouver

May 22, 2018

Blazing Sushi recently opened up in the International Village Food Court by Stadium Skytrain in Vancouver. My friend told me about them serving up food court aburi-style sushi and that got me very curious how it can compare to the other places in town. Aburi-style is flame seared sushi, which was popularized by Miku and Minami.

Making the Sushi

They lay out the sushi and add special mayo-based sauces on top in a zig-zag pattern until it is fully covered.

Then they take the blow-torch and make it sizzle and pop. Then they finish it off with some chili flakes.

Blow-torched Sushi and Salad

8 pieces of the torched sushi and salad for $8.80 is not bad at all. There is a lot of romaine salad with potato and crab salad with 2 pieces of egg.

On the left is the shrimp and on the right is the salmon. It is made up of a block of sushi rice and a layer of shrimp or salmon with torched sauce.

Shrimp

The shrimp version is interesting as it seems to remind me of a pizza with oregano or basil seasoning.

Salmon

The salmon was better and I liked the addition of the chilli flakes for added spice. I preferred the sauce on this one.

Final Thoughts

It’s interesting to see this style of sushi in a food court, but will do. It’s a stripped down version of what you’re used to.

We Rate Blazing Sushi:

Address:
88 W Pender St, Vancouver

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/blazingsushi.canada/