Coquitlam

Hanamori Sushi: Aburi Sushi in Coquitlam

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hanamori-outer

Hanamori Sushi, located beside the Foggy Dew in Coquitlam has been around for years but recently has gone under new management/owners. I’m not exactly sure how this has impacted their menu, but it seems like it’s still similar.

hanamori-inner

The interior has a sushi bar and a few booths. There is limited seating but we didn’t have too much trouble getting a seat on the weekend. Most people did take out.

hanamori-chicken

Chicken Karaage ($4.95) is battered with panko crumbs. The price was good for the portion, but was like eating dry chicken strips. The chicken wasn’t very moist.

KoreanGirl and I heard a lot about their aburi sushi, so we ordered 2 of each. We are suckers for aburi, so we wanted to see how this place compared.

hanamori-salmon-torched

Torched Wild Salmon ($2.95 each) has rice in the centre wrapped in torched wild salmon, and scallops. Then it is topped with tobiko, green onions, teriyaki sauce and hot sauce. I looked unique but I found that the wild salmon was torched for so long that it was fully cooked. The teriyaki sauce and hot sauce didn’t complement the delicate flavours of the seafood.

hanamori-torched-tuna

Torched Tuna Tataki ($1.75 each) was torched till it was cooked. The light sauce on top did not do much for the sushi.

hanamori-torched-ebi

Torched Ebi ($1.75 each) was similar to the others where they were overly torched and made it rubbery. The sauce on top didn’t pair well either.

hanamori-torched-scallop

Torched Scallop ($2.25 each) was not as torched as the other aburi, but the sauce combinations were not good. You can tell there is a Korean-twist to these with the added hot sauce.

hanamori-torched-toro

 Torched Toro ($2.25 each) was what I have been looking forward to. Toro is highly fatty, so it should fall apart in your mouth when you are eating it. Sadly, it was yet again over torched and tasted bland.

I really wanted to like the aburi sushi, but every single piece was torched too much that you miss the delicate flavours of the raw seafood. Plus, the sauce choices that accompany the aburi did not go well with each other.

hanamori-sashimi

As all the seafood was overdone, we needed a taste of something raw, so we got the Salmon and Tuna Sashimi (Half order – $6). The quality of the cuts were ok.

Overall, I was not impressed with the aburi at all. Maybe I have been spoiled by Miku, Minami, and Sushi K. I’ve eaten a lot of aburi over the past few years and Hanamori Sushi definitely misses the mark on what makes an aburi so damn good. KoreanGirl thought it was not good at all and wouldn’t return.

As we didn’t try any of their rolls, we only focused on what we ordered.

We Rate Hanamori Sushi

Address:
#102 511 Rochester Ave
Coquitlam, BC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/hanamorisushi

Hanamori Sushi on Urbanspoon

Diana started Foodology in 2010 because she just eats out everyday! She started a food blog to share her love of food with the world! She lives in Vancouver, BC and adores the diversity of food around her. She will go crazy for churros and lattes.

4 Comments

  1. MissVancouverPiggy Reply

    Lol the sushi chef I had was way better than yours! My alburi toro had lots of pepper when comparing the photos. Give me your stamp card 😛

  2. Sushibanker Reply

    This review could not be more wrong.

    The chicken karaage & karaage roll are amazing.

    The torched aburi’s are comparable to minami, the rolls and sushi at miku.

    I have sushi in Vancouver for work lunches and dinner over 10x most months and this place because of the torched aburi’s and sauces and unique fusions of the rolls keeps me excited every time.

    Management is very nice, the chef is also very humble and nice and they could double their prices and I’d still pay it.

    Give it a try, it’s easily top 4 in Vancouver in my opinion.

  3. I went to this restaurant a long time ago and thought it was up to the standards of most other sushi restaurants around the Vancouver area – so not particularly amazing but not bad either. I remembered they had great pricing, however, and decided to check them out again a couple months ago. The restaurant had taken a complete 180 and I also noticed the owner had changed again. It is now honestly one of the best (if not the best) sushi restaurants in Vancouver. The new chef’s food is amazing (I’m pretty sure he’s the owner) and the atmosphere is very cozy. I highly recommend you go check it out again. I completely changed my mind and have been coming back on a monthly basis.

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