Rajio is located near UBC and are owned by the same people who have brought us Suika Izakaya and Kingyo Izakaya. Rajio is Japanese for Radio, so you will notice their logo is a radio at the front of the restaurant.
The team at Vaneats.ca are currently offering up a $20 ‘Turn on the Rajio‘ dining package, which includes 4 items:
- Kushikatsu – 4 bite size skeweres
- Banga Cauda – fresh veggies and dip
- Sashimi Salad
- Heavenly Ebi Ramen
I came here on a weekday with 3 of my good friend to enjoy some yummy Japanese food. We used the package, as well as ordering a few items off them menu.
The interior is quite nice and really connects you back to Japan.
Complimentary cabbage with a light acidic dressing. Yummy!
Bagna Cauda has fresh veggies with a dipping sauce made from garlic, anchovy, olive oil and sweet Japanese white miso. This was a really strange dish to see at a restaurant especially if it’s served in a pyrex cup. Funny to see all the vegetables, but it actually pairs well with the sauce. The sauce blew us away.
VANEATS Sashimi Salad has their Chef’s omakase sashimi with crisp romaine lettuce tossed in kalamata olive soya dressing topped with tobiko. Very good sashimi salad.
Kushikatsu is what Rajio is known for! It has the Chef’s recommendation of 4 deep fried, panko breaded, bite sized skewers with their dipping sauce. Just make sure you only take on dip. I was scared to use the sauce because what if someone double dipped by accident.
Heavenly Ebi Ramen is a new item and has tender ramen in deep-golden shrimp broth, embellished with slices of cha-shu pork and shrimp infused garlic oil. Its a bit disappoint to see there isn’t any who ebi shrimp in the dish. It tasted ok but I felt like it was still lacking something.
Overall, the Vaneats Turn on the Rajio package is a good start to dive into their menu, but you will need to order a few more dishes to round out the whole experience.
Let keep exploring some dishes outside of the dining package.
Smashing Hit Punch ($13) looks pretty awesome. It is punch with watermelon, orange, grapefruit, vodka, rum, white wine and all served in a watermelon. It’s a small watermelon and not those regular large ones. It looked really cool, but M thought the beverage could have been colder to enhance the flavours.
Chicken Knees is actually chicken cartilage with some meat. Some people may think this dish is weird, but it’s just like chicken karaage but with the added cartilage.
Tontoro Yaki is their grilled pork jowl with shredded onions and yuzu kosho – a citrus dressing.
The KFC ($7.80) has boneless chicken karaage coated with their secret spices.
We also ordered more Kushikatsu.
Chicken Kushikatsu, mochi Kushikatsu, and bacon wrapped tomato Kushikatsu.
Sausage Kushikatsu and Camembert Cheese
Tako Wasabi ($3.80) has raw chopped octopus with pickles marinated in a wasabi sauce. You take the mixture and scoop them onto the seaweed and eat it together. I like this dish because you get the nice kick of wasabi.
Overall, my friends and I had a great time! We casually chatted over beer and food. The ambiance was great because they actually played some good music. Discovered a few songs that I wanted to put on a few on my playlists.
We Rate Rajio:
Address:
3763 W. 10th Ave.
Vancouver, BC
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RajioJapanesePublicHouse
