Japanese Archives - Page 6 of 20

In Four Beakers

Kilala: Japanese Restaurant in Burnaby

September 25, 2016

Kilala has been in the North Burnaby neighbourhood for about 10 years now. After all that time, I finally came here for a visit with M. It is a small sushi bar, so it can get pretty busy around dinner time. The outside of the shop may not look like much but their sushi is delicious.

They started us off with some tea and even gave us a whole pot of it so we could refill it ourselves.

We started off with some nigiri to see how it compares to other places.

Tamago was nothing like other restaurants. I loved the layers of the egg and how it towered over the ball of sushi rice. M loved it and i think its so far his favourite tamago.

Hokkaido Scallop Nigiri was really fresh and the pieces of scallop were very plump.

Next was the Unagi Battera with eel on top of pressed sushi rice. I love the car on the unagi and its so flavourful. It’s a pricey item to order, but its so good.

Look at that. So So good!

Toro Sashimi comes with 7 pieces and it is nice and fatty. The chef really knows his stuff.

Assorted Nigiri comes with 14 pieces of sushi – 1/2 tekka maki, 1/2 kappa maki, and 8 nigiri selections from the chef. There is a little wasabi hidden under the sashimi, so watch out.

All of the nigiri were pretty delicious. My favourite were the tamago and saba. All the others were pretty standard.

Overall, it’s a nice hidden gem in North Burnaby for good Japanese sushi. The prices can be high for some items, but the quality is here. You won’t find too wide a selection for cooked food. It is mostly sushi rolls and raw items.

We Rate Kilala:

Address:
4749 Hastings Street, Burnaby

In Gastown

Kozakura: Japanese Cuisine in Gastown

September 24, 2016

Kozakura is a new Japanese Izakaya located near Gastown. They specialize in Kappo-style Japanese food and the menu is seasonal, fresh and local.

Foodgressing, Food Wench, Maggi, Nosh & Nibble, Picky Diner and I came here for dinner as we were so curious about what they served.

Interior

The interior is pretty small and narrow. Best to make reservations to make sure you have a seat. The restaurant is also dim and has a cozy atmosphere. We came here early in the evening, so it wasn’t very busy. They seat about 25 people in total.

Drinks

Sapporo was my drink of choice at Japanese restaurants. Gotta have Japanese beer to go with Japanese food. It’s a light and fruity beer that pairs well with the flavours.

A few of the others ordered Sake and it comes in such a cute rounded bottom decanter. They have a wide selection of sake, which goes well with the dishes they create.

Food

Osentamago Ohitashi has a poached onsen egg, snap peas, and dashi soy. Definitely not a dish to share. The flavours are very delicate and the egg is just so delicious.

Aigamo Sumiso has sweet soy cooked duck breast, sumiso, and flowering chives. It comes with 4 pieces to an order. The duck was tender and went well with the sauce.

Honjitsu no Osashimi is their daily selection of sashimi. Since we were in a group of six, we payed a bit more to make sure there were 6 pieces each so everyone could get a bit. They used some good cuts of sashimi.

Tako no Yawarakani has sous vide octopus, smoked ponzu, and mizuna. The octopus was tender but still had a bite to it.

Sake Kasu Salmon was moist and flaky inside. You can definitely tell they spent their time marinating the salmon.

Madai Sakamushi has steamed seabream with seared skin, bok choy, and a thick soy dashi. Better presentation compared with the other dishes. Light and delicate taste.

Sanshou Steak is made with ribeye, sanshou peppercorns, and shungiku. The peppercorns were an interesting touch and is tongue numbing. I like the way the cooked it so it is at a medium rare.

Sunomono was served with crab, mozuku, sliced cucumber, and tosazu vinegar. It was pretty good, served cold, and had a clean taste.

Yuzu Miso Buta Niku is sous vide pork loin, yuzu miso paste, and a apricot glaze. That paste was so spicy, but I loved how it cleared your sinuses.

Anago Dashi Chazuke has slow cooked eel, steamed rice, dashi, and mitsuba. Of all the dishes, this was more filling than the others. I could of definitely had the whole thing to myself.

Overall, the food tasted good and has a good clean feeling at the end of the meal. For a large group to come here, it was hard to figure out the best way to order, so we got 2 of every dish on the menu. It seemed like it would be enough but the size of the dishes were pretty small. There is also auto gratuity of 18% when dining with 6 or more people.

We finished our meal and decided to go to another place to fill up a little bit more.

We Rate Kozakura:

Address:
280 Carrall Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.kozakuragastown.ca/

In Izakaya

Kuma Izakaya: Drinks and Asian Fusion in Yaletown

August 15, 2016

Kuma Izakaya is located in Yaletown close to the Skytrain. They serve up Japanese and Korean dishes with a hint of French influence. At first it can seem confusing how all 3 types of cuisines would come together.

We were invited to try out their signature dishes and learn more about the restaurant and their chef/owner – Hyun Woo Kim.

Chef Kim has worked at various restaurants around the world like The French Laundry in Napa Valley, the prestigious 3 Michelin star restaurant. You can see this influence penetrate the menu with French, Japanese and Korean.

The interior is pretty nice and cozy with a dark feel. They also have a patio so you can eat outside during the nice Summers. I can see this place bring very popular during that late evenings as they have a good range of Korean liquors.

Drinks

They have soju imported from South Korea, which is awesome since it’s hard to find the flavoured soju bottles.

Their flavours include:

Original
Citron
Apple
Peach
Grapefruit

My friends and I love finding restaurants in downtown with flavoured soju, its pretty hard to find because it gets sold out quite easily. I know I’ll definitely be back for these flavoured sojus.

They also have peach makgeolli, which is a flavoured rice wine. Also really good. It makes it super easy to drink.

Food

Kuma Salad with Tomatoes was piled up high and presented nicely. A good use of different textures in this salad.

Kuma Signature Salad has fresh greens topped with sliced avocado, sliced tomato, pickles, house-made ricotta cheese, and crispy yam. It is drizzled with balsamic and house dressing.

Mango Ebimayo comes with 5 pieces of the deep-fried prawns with mango sauce. The mango added a bit of sweetness to it. You should eat it right away as it loses its crunch quite quickly due to the sauce.

Crispy Chicken has crispy deep-fried boneless chicken with pan-fried veggies and a Korean-style sauce. A good dish for sharing among friends. With all the sauce in this dish, the skin wasn’t as crisp when it arrived on the table.

Osso Buco uses premium AAA beef ribs simmered in house made soy sauce. It is also served with rice.

They also have it as in a spicy version. The beef was super flavourful and tender.

Kuma Chirashi Tartare has balsamic spicy aburi tuna, assorted sashimi served on sushi rice, avocado dressing and garnished with tenkatsu and yam flakes. Taking the first few bites, I didn’t wow me like how Miku’s chirashi tart. The heaviness from the spicy tuna sauce over powered the rest of the layers underneath.

Assorted sashimi was served in an ice cold bowl. Chef Kim chose an assortment from like ika, tuna, hamachi, and sockeye salmon. Very cool presentation and the sashimi tasted great.

Kuma Seafood Champon has noodles in hearty tomato seafood soup. Simmered with assorted pan-fried vegetables, chilli oils, and chilli powder. A good amount of seafood inside and the broth was very good and flavourful. Not too spicy. It’s a pretty big portion, so it can be sharable.

Assorted Aburi Nigiri has Hamachi and Amaebi. The assortment was all presented on one plate.

The aburi amaebi is seared with some sauce on the top. A good sear

The deep fried shrimp heads were ok

The aburi hamachi was pretty good, but could have used a but more char to it.

Overall, a very diverse menu, but still their aburi doesn’t hit the mark as Miku does. Kuma does make it their own style and doesn’t compare. The dishes I thought were pretty outstanding are the dishes with more of a Korean flavour profile like the Kuma Seafood Champon and the Osso Buco.

We Rate Kuma Izakaya:

Address:
233 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.izakayakuma.com/

In Hot Pot

Nabebugyo Hot Pot: Individual Hot Pot in Vancouver

August 14, 2016

Nabebugyo is a Japanese-style hot pot restaurant where you will get your own individual hot pot instead of sharing a big hot pot. My friends and I decided to come here after work to just give it a try.

Interior

There is a large bar looking seating, but its hard sitting there as a group. They have a few tables on the side, so we opted to sit there. Each seat, there are the individual stoves for you to cook your meal.

Individual Hot Pot

All hot pot orders come with rice, seaweed salad and ice cream for dinner. If you are here for lunch, you just won’t get the ice cream.

The seaweed salad arrived first and it was a nice start to the meal. It is cold and has bits of sesame seeds in it.

I went with the Soy Milk broth. It comes with sliced pork, assorted veggies, shimeji mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, tofu, cup of soy milk and udon. The pot first comes with the kombu broth.

They have other flavours of hot pots, but I didn’t feel like anything too salty, so the soy milk was a good option.

I had the choice of beef or pork, but I went with pork. Look at all that delicious pork.

First, we waited for the pot to come to a boil before putting some of the veggies inside.

They told me to put in some veggies and meat in first or else the soy milk will boil over.

Once you pour in the soy milk, it becomes the delicious milky broth.

After it cooked, I left it on a simmer so I could enjoy it with my rice. The broth was very delicious.

You can add more ingredients on the side if it’s not enough. I found that what we received was a good portion. It hit the right spot, but I can see that some people may want more.

You can choose from vanilla, strawberry, banana fudge or green tea ice cream. Of course I gravitated towards green tea ice cream. How would I say no? It was a nice cold treat to end the hot pot meal.

Tipping isn’t required here as per Japanese customs, but since they were so nice, we decided to tip them.

Overall, the food was good and I liked their version of individual hot pot. The taste was clean the ingredients they use are pretty good. They also have a kids hot pot, so its good if you are with kids.

We rate Nabebugyo Hot Pot:

Address:
3190 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://nabebugyo.com/

In Four Beakers

Hachibei: Authentic Japanese Food near South Cambie

August 12, 2016

Hachibei is a little hidden Japanese restaurant in South Cambie. I’ve been craving to try new places in town and I stumbled upon Hachibei. It was highly recommended by a few friends and I am a sucker for small authentic Japanese restaurants.

The space isn’t very large, but make reservations if you have a large group. Since it was only myself and 2 others, we took a chance.

Cold Sake comes in really cute glassware. The jug has a hold in the centre for putting ice in there so it stays nice and cold. The sake cups were very nice and seemed quite fragile.

Salmon Sashimi comes with 8 pieces and they use wild sockeye salmon. That colour is just beautiful and had a nice taste.

Ebi Sunomono was a good size with 2 pieces of shrimp. It came in a small bowl but it wasn’t too small. Nice flavour and served cold. Refreshing for a hot summers day.

Steamed clam with sake was their special for the day and ti comes with a delicious broth and 6 pieces of clams. Very delicious broth and nice big clams.

Chicken Karaage was crisp on the outside and flavourful. It came out a bit hot, so you want to cool it down before eating.

Deep-Fried Shishamo is smelt served with a creamy mayo sauce. Crisp on the outside and pretty delicious.

Battera is pickled mackerel sushi pressed into a rectangular shape. It seemed like there was ginger on top of the pickled mackerel too.

Chopped Scallop Roll had large chunks of scallops and tobiko inside. Very fresh and delicious.

Deep fried Oyster comes with salad and mashed potatoes on the plate. The 5 pieces of oysters were crisp on the outside and creamy in the centre. Very delicious and a good size.

It is also served with miso soup, rice, and pickled vegetables.A good wholesome meal for 1 person or can be shared among the group.

A nice accompaniment with the meal to balance out the deep-fried oysteres.

Overall, the food was great and was at a good price. The food was fresh and very delicious. I would come here again.

We Rate Hachibei:

Address:
778 West 16th Avenue, Vancouver

In Japanese

Sushi UOmo: Sushi in North Burnaby

August 11, 2016

Sushi UOmo is located in North Burnaby in the Heights. M and I were looking for a new sushi place to eat dinner at. I’m trying to find more restaurants that I haven’t eaten at in the area and Sushi UOmo was a place I’ve never tried yet.

This place was busy on a Tuesday and they are open till 10am everyday. Normally a lot of restaurants close on Tuesday since it is one of the least busiest days of the week. It seems to be working that this place is open.

Miso soup came at the start of the meal. A pretty standard miso soup, but it was a nice touch.

Hamachi Sashimi is a yellowtail tuna. It has a buttery and rich flavour. It has a higher fat content than regular tuna.

Tonkatasu is served with salad and rice. A big piece of deep-fried pork. Great as an individual dish or to share.

Aburi Don was a very interesting dish. It had the rice underneath with the torched tuna on top with an creamy sauce. There is a bit of salad on the side. The sear on top could have been a bit better with more char.

Shrimp Tempura comes in either 4 pieces or 7. M and I chose the 4 pieces so we could have 2 pieces each. Crunchy exterior with lots of batter around the shrimp.

Overall, Sushi UOmo was ok. The price of their dishes are affordable and you get a good amount of value.

We Rate Sushi UOmo:

Address:
4280 Hastings Street, Burnaby, BC

In Japanese

Koyuki Sapporo Ramen: New Ramen Shop near Robson

July 29, 2016

Koyuki Sapporo Ramen is the newest ramen joint to appear near Robson Street. With so many other ramen shops in the area, I was curious how it would compare.

I came here with Dee from Gastrofork to see if it would tickle our tastebuds.

We came during dinner time and they provided us with their lunch time menu. Apparently, the only difference is that the portion is larger. They didn’t have a dinner menu printed out, which I thought was strange.

Interior

The interior hasn’t changed too much as it still had the same structure of the previous restaurant that was here. There are lots of seats but it was very dead when we were here.

Ramen

Tonkotsu Ramen has a rich and creamy broth made from pork bones. it is topped with bean sprouts, cha-shu, green onion, seaweed, black garlic, and an aitsuke egg.

The egg was over cooked and didn’t have that gooey consistency like the other places in town. There was a lot of noodles, but it was chewy and bland. The cha-shu was really good.

Miso Ramen is their Sapporo style with miso flavour, bamboo shoots, green onions, bean sprouts, seaweed and cha-shu.

Gyoza

Gyozas come in 5 pieces and were pretty bad too. Even though it was pan fried, it was limp.

Overall, there wasn’t anything about this place that stood out except their cha-shu, but then again you can’t really go wrong with cha-shu. I didn’t like the texture of the noodles as it was chewy and soggy. The egg wasn’t done right. The service was also pretty awful too.

I’ve never been to Sapporo to have authentic Sapporo style ramen, but all I know is that Koyuki’s ramen was pretty meh.

They have a lot to improve on.

We Rate Koyuki Ramen:

Address:
795 Jervis Street, Vancouver

In Four Beakers

Maruyama: Handmade Udon in Vancouver

July 28, 2016

My coworkers and I are obsessed with Maruyama and their delicious Japanese food. A week after coming to have the omakase, we decided to come back to try some cheaper items off them menu since we can’t have another omakase. We would be broke.

Homemade Udon has assorted mushroom, wakame seaweed, and their delicious dashi broth. There is also pea shoots, green onions and tempura bits. It was a good size and I loved the handmade udon. The quality is definitely there.

Jumbo Prawn Tempura was an extra item. Very large and plump. It also comes with a tiny green bean tempura, which was interesting. Perhaps it was there to add a bit of colour.

Salmon nigiri was added just so I can a be a little bit more full. He automatically adds wasabi to this, so if you don’t like wasabi, make sure to let the server know. I totally forgot about it and the wasabi really punched me in the face.

Overall, a good 2nd visit and trying more of their cooked items.

We Rate Maruyama:

Address:
3883 Rupert Street, Vancouver

In Four Beakers

Maruyama: Omakase Nigiri Tasting

July 3, 2016

Maruyama has taken over the old Kimura location on Rupert Street. Chef Yoshiya Maruyama was the previous raw bar chef at Blue Water Cafe and has finally opened his own restaurant in East Vancouver.

When my friend told me about it, I got super excited because I love sushi. A few of us went to try their omakase nigiri tasting.

Interior

The space isn’t very large, there are 4 seats at the bar and a few tables on either side of the restaurant. Always best to make reservations.

Omakase Nigiri Tasting

We made reservations to sit at the bar so we could get a full experience and have a chat with the Chef.

They have 2 options for omakase nigiri tasting – $25 and $60 option. After consulting with the Chef, we decided to take the plunge and order the $60 tasting as it has more premium fish used in the set.

When the tasting begins, they ask you if you want wasabi on it or not. Half of the group went with wasabi and the other half went without. The omakase tasting isn’t for everyone as it only has a minimum of 7 pieces. Those with a large stomach might not get full.

Sanma is very soft and has lots of fat. It is brushed with a bit of sauce and covered in a shiso leaf.

This nigiri, I have no idea what it was. In my notes I wrote down “asa”, but I couldn’t find this type of fish online. Either way, it tasted really good.

Akaji was what I wrote down, but I think I miss heard so I have no idea what this is. It is encrusted in the chef’s secret kombu topping, which is kelp.

Isaki nigiri has a slightly chewy taste. Isaki is a grunt fish.

Tobiuo is a flying fish with a soft texture perfect for nigiri.

Tai also has a slight chewy texture but it is rich in flavour.

Scallop Nigiri has a few drop of yuzu and then sprinkled with a bit of sea salt.

Chutoro is a delicious tuna with higher fat content. Very delicious too.

Otoro is the most expensive cut of tuna taken from the lowest part of the belly next to the head. It’s high in fat and super flavourful.

Other Nigiri on the menu

Hokkaido Uni is an additional menu item and when the chef was telling us about it, we didn’t realize it was $19 each. He did warn us that it was expensive and no normal customer would order this and he makes little to no profit off this item.

He adds a speck of wasabi to the top and its ready to eat. The flavour of the uni was amazing, but it was really expensive. It’s an expensive ingredient, so it’s not for all.

Anago is sea eel and he torches it before it gets served. For $5.50, this nigiri was more easy on the wallet compared to the uni.

The flavour and look is unlike what you would find at most Japanese restaurants. It’s fresh and has an amazing taste. He uses his own secret sauce to add on top.

Matcha ice cream with red bean is how we ended out meal. This was part of the omakase, I think because we weren’t charged for it. or maybe it was because we spent so much.

Overall, it was a pretty expensive meal, but its nice to splurge once in a while. I find that the nigiri are his works of art and should really be enjoyed. You need a high level of appreciation for sushi to fully enjoy this experience.

We Rate Maruyama:

Address:
3883 Rupert Street, Vancouver

In Japanese

Ramen Koika: Ramen on Davie Street

June 28, 2016

Ramen Koika is located on Davie Street opened by Caleb Lee. He traveled to Japan to learn how to make ramen in Chiba, Tokyo and Osaka. Did you know he also was a banker before getting into the restaurant industry? Vancouver Sun has a pretty good article talking about it how they began their journey into creating Ramen Koika.

We were invited to try a few items off their menu. I was pretty excited since I haven’t been here yet.

The restaurant is a good size for small and large groups. You can see right into the kitchen to see the staff cooking up a storm.

Snacks

Tako Wasabi is fresh octopus marinated in wasabi. The portion size was very good and had a nice subtle kick of wasabi.

Chashu Wrap is grilled in a panini press before serving. A nice snack if you are coming here and want something small.

Gyoza comes with 5 pieces in either veggie or pork. Nice crisp bottom and savoury filling.

Chashu panini has cream cheese, cajun honey chashu, lettuce, and wasabi mayo. Not a usual item you would find in a ramen shop, but the option is there.

Kakuni is pork belly stewed in a secret Koika soy sauce and topped with a marsala wine sauce. Delicious!

Tornado Potato Stick starts out as a potato that is sliced in a spiral shape and then deep fried. It wasn’t as crispy as other places that have it in town. It might be because of the potatoes they chose to use.

Ramen

Sapporo Miso Ramen has bamboo shoots, ground pork, bean sprouts, green onion and corn. It had a goo balance of flavours and if you usually like miso, you’ll enjoy this.

Kara Miso Ramen is the spicy version of the Sapporo Miso Ramen and it has the same toppings inside like bamboo shoots, ground pork, bean sprouts, green onion and corn. It has a decent amount of spice but it isn’t too spicy.

Chiba Black Ramen has bamboo shoots, roasted seaweed, soft boiled egg, chashu, black tree fungus, green onion, garlic chip, black garlic oil. You can choose the chashu to be lean or fatty.

The egg was cooked perfectly. Look at that egg. Yum. The ramen tasted good and a lot of people enjoyed this dish, but I always find it comes down to personal preference. I still prefer the Black Garlic Ramen from Jinya.

Kings Ramen uses their Wok Smoky Cuisine-Chicken Broth and can be mild or spicy. It also has carrot, cabbage, mushroom, green onion, bean sprouts, shredded pork, seaweed, bamboo shoot, and the soft boiled ramen egg. There’s definitely a lot of flavours going on in this dish.

Okinawa Umi Ramen has fresh mussels, garlic, green pepper, red pepper, green ramen and ramen in the veggie and seafood broth. A very unique ramen dish but the amount of pepper inside was quite strong.

Kimchi Ramen has shredded pork, kimchi, mushroom, spring onion, onion, cabbage, and green onions. There was a good amount of kimchi taste with subtle sour notes.

Nagasaki Champon Ramen is topped with Black tree fungus, bok choy, onion, cabbage, red pepper, green pepper, Thai chili, prawns, scallop, mussel, squid, and bean sprouts. There’s so many ingredients in there that took away from the noodles and the broth.

They also serve beer here, which is great if you want a drink with your ramen.

I find that with some of the ramen, it has a lot of toppings that didn’t add too much flavour to the ramen. Perhaps it’s just a style that wasn’t what I liked at Ramen Koika. My personal preference for ramen is very rich and fatty with less amount of toppings.

It’s good that they offer more options than just ramen, so if you are with friends that don’t want ramen, they can find other types of items on their menu.

We rate Ramen Koika:

Address:
1231 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.ramenkoika.com/

In Brewery

Beer Selection in Epcot Japan Pavilion

June 15, 2016

Right in the centre of the Japan Pavilion in Epcot World Showcase, you can get some Japanese beer on tap, also the infamous Frozen Kirin Beer. I’ve had this before in Vancouver, but I really didn’t enjoy frozen beer. Anything ice cold on draft was good enough for me.

Their 2 choices were Sapporo and Kirin Ichiban. They also have other drinks on the menu, but I just wanted a nice cold beer.

Sapporo on draft and it golden in colour. It is light and crisp without a hoppy aftertaste. For a hot summers day, I definitely prefer light beers.

We grabbed our beers and listened to the taiko drumming performance – Matsuriza that happens a few times daily.

Location:
Japan, Epcot World Showcase

In Epcot

Teppan Edo: Japanese Teppanyaki in Epcot

June 7, 2016

Right after we got out of the airport and checked into the Disney Resort, we made our way to Epcot to catch our dinner reservations at Teppan Edo. We had a little time to kill, so we walked around Japan Town to check out their large souvenir store. Their store has pretty cool stuff from Sailormoon to Dragon Ball Z figurines.

Teppan Edo and Tokyo Dining are both located in this large building. Teppan Edo on the left and Tokyo Dining on the right.

Teppan Edo is known for an interactive dining experience where an Teppanyaki chef comes out and cooks on a hot grill right in front of your table.

We made reservations weeks ago in advance via our travel agent.

With reservations, I found that you get seated promptly at your reservation time. All the staff were nice and friendly.

Ichigo is a non-alcoholic cocktail with strawberries, pineapple juice, and lemon juice. Nice and refreshing for a hot Summer in Orlando.

Shochu cocktail with fresh grape fruit. It comes with half a grapefruit, which you need to squeeze out all the pulp and juices.

Then you pour it into your glass. M did enjoy it.

Seating is communal and you are all seated at the same time. Each table sites 8 people. We sat with people from California, Florida and Brazil, which was pretty cool.

We both ordered entrees and it is served with a garden salad, udon noodles, vegetables, and sukiyaki beef rice. We were on the Disney Dining Plan, so we knew to order the 2 most expensive items on the menu to make it worth it.

First the garden salad arrives with a tomato, cucumber, greens and a lot of sauce. It’s basically drowning in all that sauce buried below.

The chef then does a few tricks on the grill to get the show started. The person that we got wasn’t very good, he accidentally tossed a spatula towards a guest and dropped his utensils. It kinda started the dinner off on a bad note as no one really looked too impressed. The other chef at the table across from us had no issues at all.

At least he made us a volcano with steam before he began mixing the veggies with udon.

The udon has a pretty good portion for each person. It was very salty. I think he added too much soy sauce to it. We did finish it, but we were in dire need of more water.

We got the Filet Mignon ($34) and Julienne Beef ($32). Both nice cuts of beef. Expensive, but with the dining plan, it was worth it.

We got the Filet Mignon cooked to medium rare. You really can’t go wrong with a filet mignon as it is already so tender.

Julienne beef was good too but I felt it was a bit heavy handed on the salt.

To go with the beef, the sukiyaki rice bowl arrives. It was ok as well.

Vanilla-Green Tea Swirl Soft Serve Ice Cream ($4.95) came in a good sized bowl, but we were so full that it was very hard to finish.

Green Tea Mousse Cake has layers of green tea sponge cake with green tea mousse and whipped cream. Was light in green tea flavour, but it was sweet to balance out the natural bitterness of the tea.

Overall, the food was quite salty from the soy sauce and excessive salt. The Japanese food here is definitely Americanized and isn’t very authentic. For one dining credit, we got our value out of it, but I wouldn’t return. The experience is definitely dependent on the chef you get. Ours was pretty bad, so the magic fizzled out quite early on in the meal when our chef kept dropping his utensils.

Of all the restaurants we’ve been to at Disney World, Teppan Edo was one of our least favourites.

We Rate Teppan Edo:

Address:
1780 Ave of the Stars, Orlando, FL
Japan Town, Epcot

Website:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/epcot/teppan-edo/menus/dinner/

In Japanese

Jean Talon: Japanese Style Poutine in Vancouver

May 19, 2016

Jean Talon Poutinerie is a Japanese-style Poutine Bar located in Vancouver. They are the sister restaurant of Cafe de L’Orangerie near Marine Drive, which serves awesome Japanese-style pasta.

Since I love Cafe de L’Orangerie, I wanted to go to Jean Talon for the longest time. It wasn’t until Sherman and I were looking for a restaurant that we both haven’t been to so I suggested going to Jean Talon. We’ve been to several thousand restaurants since we started blogging, but there are still so many restaurants to check out in the city.

The decor is simple and they have a bunch of draft beers and wines to go with their food. Great for a late night snack since they close at 10/11pm depending on the day of the week. They are closed on Tuesday.

Poutine with beef stew sauce had some super crispy fries topped with their beef stew. The fries were so crispy that it didn’t go limp until the next day. Even with the hot beef stew on top, the fries stayed crisp. This is great since I hate when fries go limp and mushy.

I loved the texture of the fries since it added a nice crunch to it.

Katsu Sandwich with a side of poutine. A good item to order if you want to try more than just poutine.

The pork inside was a bit dry as you can see. The taste of it was fine, but the bun was a bit too bready.

We got the classic poutine sauce and it has onions, mushrooms and curds. I did enjoy it. The curds were squeaky when it rubs against your molars.

Japanese Curry with Hamburger had a good amount of curry that coats every grain of rice on that plate. The sauce was nice, but I didn’t enjoy the hamburger, which was a beef/pork combo as it had a lot of onions in it. Seemed a bit overpowering.

Overall, the style is different than other poutineries, but if you love Japanese food, you might like this place. I would come back for a poutine and beer late at night.

We Rate Jean Talon:

Address:
670 East Broadway, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://jeantalon.cafedelorangerie.ca/

In Japanese

Green Leaf Sushi: Aburi Sushi and Sashimi

April 23, 2016

Green Leaf Sushi in Kitsilano has been generating quite a buzz lately for their Aburi Sushi Platter. They have their version of Miku’s Salmon Oshi Sushi, which is driving people crazy on instagram.

We came here for dinner with the family and waited about an hour and a bit for their large table that fits 8 people. We tried making a reservation in the morning, but they need at least 24 hours notice, so we went a bit early to put our name down since we knew it would be a wait. Even for groups for 4 or 5, they also seem to wait a while.

Always best to make reservations to avoid any waiting.

Complimentary tea arrives on the table or you can ask for water. They weren’t as diligent filling up the tea, but since the restaurant was so busy, it was ok. You just need to flag down a server.

Kabocha Korokke comes with 3 pieces. There is a quail egg inside covered in winter squash. It was pretty good, but we wished there were even pieces instead of just 3 pieces.

Prawn Tempura comes with 6 pieces. Crispy golden and light batter that surrounds the prawn. You’ll need to dunk it in the sauce or else it feels a bit heavy and oily.

For the family, we shared the Aburi Sushi Platter that comes with 6 pieces of each aburi and the roll that has 8. 6 different varieties with 38 pieces in total. it takes about 30 minutes to prepare, so make sure you order this right away when you sit down.

Salmon Oshi Sushi
Basil Ebi oshi sushi
Yukke Tuna Oshi Sushi
Sime Saba Oshi Sushi
Hotate Oshi Sushi
Aburi Tobibo roll

All the rolls were really good. Fresh ingredients and lots of favour. It’s a great item to share with the table, but it is about $60 something dollars.

Salmon Sashimi uses wild salmon, so the quality is really good.

Tuna sashimi was stellar! Some pieces were basically toro. Melt in your mouth!

Saba Miso Yaki is grilled mackerel with miso sauce on top. It also have grilled onions and a side of rice.

Tuna tataki salad was good and lightly dressed with lots of greens on top.

The udon that my dad got was ok, but it reminded us of kimchi stew.

Kimchi bacon Ishiyaki was so poorly put together, whoever made it does not know how to cook rice. The rice was so mushy that you know they added too much water to the rice. Since there was so much moisture, it could barely crisp up in the hot bowl.

Chopped scallop roll, House Roll and Negitoro roll were all well put together, fresh ingredients and super tasty.

Overall, the sushi and the sashimi were very good and fresh. The quality was great, but we didn’t like the cooked items like their udon and their rice bowl. Stick with the aburi sushi and some of their rolls and you’ll have a good time.

We Rate Green Leaf Sushi:

Address:
3416 West Broadway, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/GreenLeafSushi/

In Japanese

Carp: Sushi and Bento Boxes

April 18, 2016

Carp Sushi and Bento is a little Japanese take out restaurant located near Kingsgate Mall. A friend of ours highly recommended this place for their sashimi and rolls.

M and I decided to come here after work for a quick dinner, it would have been quicker, but I ended up wanting to try so many items off the menu. Sometimes I can be such a pig.

Once you walk inside this small space, you will see a few things for take out in the fridge, a counter, and 3 tables.

I think they can fit about 10 people in here. Maybe less?

We put in our order at the counter, paid and found a seat. They also have a kids combo too.

You can find other items on their chalk board.

They gave us hot tea as we waited for our meal to be prepared.

I couldn’t stop staring at this moo-cow creamer as their soy sauce dispenser. Super cute.

Salmon and Tuna Sashimi were very good quality. That tuna was so fatty, that it might as well just be toro. 10 pieces of $12 isn’t bad considering the quality of it.

Moo-cow creamer in action with the soy sauce coming out of its nose.

Tuna Tataki Salad has the tuna tataki on the bottom topped with greens and a light dressing.

Truffled Mashed Potato was surprisingly good. The truffle is subtle, but it works well together as a side item to your meal. It is served cold.

Mini Japanese Curry comes in a small bowl, think of it as a little taster.

Sea Eel Candied Salmon Roll comes with 8 pieces. avocado, cucumber and candied salmon on the inside topped with the eel.

OMG Roll has 8 pieces as well. It is topped with spicy salmon and these crunchy ball bits. Good rolls as well.

Inari is a tofu pocket with rice, seasoning and these tiny crunchy balls. Good and simple.

Cone trio comes with California cone, crunchy prawn cone and a spicy tuna cone. All three were tasty and put together well.

Sesame Ice Cream and Green Tea Ice Cream was a nice sweet treat to end the meal.

Overall, all the items were really good. If you want to try a bit of everything and not want to spend too much, the bento boxes are a great option for under $10.

I would come here again. Awesome hidden gem.

We Rate Carp Sushi +Bento:

Address:
2516 Prince Edward st
Vancouver, BC

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

In Fairview

Pepper Lunch Canada: Vancouver Location Open

April 9, 2016

Pepper Lunch has their newest location in Vancouver on Cambie Street a block away from City Hall. I’ve been a fan of this place since they first opening up their Richmond location. This Japanese ‘fast-steak’ casual restaurant is popular all over Asia. I went to one in a Hong Kong food court, but I found that it wasn’t as good as these 2 Canadian location. This is most likely due to the sourcing of their ingredients.

I was invited for a sneak peek of the Cambie location.

The restaurant has 2 levels, but only the bottom floor is open. The owners said they would open up the 2nd level for private parties and special events. Their kitchen is open concept, so you can see right into the kitchen and observe how your meal is put together.

Here is the view from the other side. There’s not too many seats, so I would assume during peak times, there may be a bit of a wait. They can fit about 40 people on the main floor.

The menu has the same items as Richmond, so they have:

Pepper Rice
Premium Steak dishes
Pepper Pasta
Chicken and Salmon steak dishes
Combos
Kids Meals
Dessert
Drinks

They also have brown rice options for their dishes!

Genmai Cha is brown rice green tea with matcha. It comes in a prepackaged pouch.

You’ll need to do a bit of work, but thats ok since the tea is good. Since I’m a tea guzzler, I had to ask them a few times to refill my cup with hot water.

Beef pepper rice with added cheese and egg.

The dish is their best seller and you can’t go wrong with the added egg and cheese. When you mix it all together, it’s the perfect combination. We got this with the brown rice option.

Mix it all up so all the ingredients are well incorporated. Since the pan is piping hot, leave it in there to crispy up.

Kobe Burger with Egg was so good. Well spiced and had a good amount of cracked pepper.

Spread that brown butter on top and it’s ready to eat. It’s mostly cooked when it gets to the table, so you don’t have to cook it for a long time unless you want it really well done.

Scallop and Prawn Pepper Pasta was an item I haven’t tried yet. The pasta is topped with pepper, cheese, mushrooms and the seafood. The cream sauce is separate, so you have all the fun of pouring it into the skillet.

Look at that cream sizzle up when it hits the plate. Stir it up so the cream sauce coats all your noodles.

I found this dish ok, but I felt like it could have been more creamy or the noodles weren’t cook long enough.

Rib Eye Steak is 100% Canadian Certified Angus Beef, so you are getting the good stuff. We also got egg, corn and mashed potatoes added on. You will want to spread the butter on top and then cook both sides of the steak until its medium rare.

Once you are finished a bit of the dish, add the rice on the skillet to soak up the delicious sauce.

Steak is always best served medium rare. Or at least, that’s my preference.

Mushroom and Tofu Pepper Rice is the vegetarian option. You would mix up this dish as well just like the other ones. Since I’ve had the other pepper rice options, those who get this are really missing out on the beef, pork, chicken and salmon. It’s just not as good.

Salmon Pepper Rice is actually my favourite dish. The salmon they use is sashimi-grade, so you’ll be able to taste the difference. The corn is awesome too.

Make sure you don’t let the salmon overcook. We mixed it up quite quickly after it arrived on the table.

Mmmm Mmmmmm so good! I’ll always order this item.

I never realized they have Mochi Ice Cream for desserts. This was a surprise.

The flavours they have are:

Vanilla
Green Tea
Black Sesame
Mango
Strawberry
Red Bean
Chocolate

We tried all but the chocolate flavour. I enjoyed the vanilla and black sesame ice cream mochi. The fruity flavours felt a bit artificial. Green tea was a bit mute. The skin of the mochi was thin and not too thick. The ice cream that lies inside was really a nice treat to end the meal. Great item for those who just need a small bite of something sweet after a meal.

Overall, its great to finally have a Vancouver location so close to Downtown. For those who haven’t been here before, you must try the Beef Pepper Rice or the Kobe Style Burger. Don’t forget to add an egg. The addition of the egg really pulls the dishes together.

We Rate Pepper Lunch:

Address:
2323 Cambie St. Vancouver

Website:
http://www.pepperlunchcanada.com/

In Downtown

Ramen Gojiro: Gatsuri-Style Ramen in Vancouver

March 20, 2016

Ramen Gojiro is a new ramen shop in Downtown Vancouver and it is part of the Menya Kouji group that also owns Ramen Butcher and Taishoken.

They specialize in jiro-style/gatsuri-style ramen that has lots of noodles and toppings. They are trying something new that differentiates themselves from the other ramen shops.

It was a rainy day in Vancouver, no surprise right? My friend and I came here before heading off to work.

They are still very new, so there were grand opening flowers out front.

We came at 12:30pm on a Sunday, but there wasn’t a line up until about 1pm. We were pretty lucky to get a table as I’ve only heard people lining up outside during peak hours.

The interior is nice and simple with wood and cement textures. There’s even a painting of Godzilla.

The staff in the kitchen were wearing t-shirts from Ramen Butcher.

The menu is simple and you have the choice between 2 size, 2 toppings and 2 broths.

Beer, fried rice and tsukemen aren’t available just yet, but at some point, it will be.

After putting in our order, the server asked if we wanted an apron. Seemed like a good idea at the time. The paper napkin helps prevent any noodle slurping splatter from hitting your clothes or bags. As we put on our aprons, we realized NO ONE else in the restaurant had one on. We didn’t hear them offering these to other tables.

Regardless of how ugly it was, we kept it on and it really did help with the splatter.

Basic Chashu has their signature broth with pork and chicken. Noodles are made in-house.

The thickness of the noodles were in between udon and ramen. There is also lots of bean sprouts. My friend said the chashu was fatty and delicious, but the broth was meh.

Basic Bakamori with karaage is a mountain of food. It has the same broth but with more topping, more noodles, and more meat. If you are a big eater, you will want this option.

I wasn’t thrilled with the broth either. It was rich but lacked much depth to it and it was salty.

The chicken karaage was crispy and full of flavour, but I didn’t like the noodles. The option garlic on top was pungent as well.

Ramen Gojiro has its high points and low points, but I don’t think I would return. It’s just didn’t appeal to my tastebuds.

We Rate Ramen Gojiro:

Address:
501 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://ramengojiro.com/

In Japanese

Sushi By Yuji: Nigiri and Gukan Sushi

March 7, 2016

Sushi By Yuji is on Kingsway is best known for their fresh nigri and gunkan types of sushi. After seeing lots of people commenting about my last post about Masayoshi, people told me to check out Sushi by Yuji.

The space is small and it’s best to make reservations here to guarantee a spot. On the night that we went, they had no more spots for walk ins.

Surprisingly, the menu is pretty vast with a lot of nigiris, rolls, sashimi, and a few hot items. For their freshest items, look at their board of specials.

Tea was complimentary. The server was really nice and filled it up often.

The first set of Gunkan sushi arrived. Eggs on eggs! It’s beautiful not to get.

Ikura with Quail egg was an explosive sensation in your mouth. Once you start chewing the saltiness of the ikura blends well with the quail egg.

Tokibo with quail egg was similar but with the flying fish roe. Equally as good but some people don’t like the raw quail eggs. M and I both enjoyed it.

Chopped Scallop was fresh and delicious.

Next plate arrived full of negitoro. The plain Negitoro Gunkan was good. Chopped of toro with green onions.

Because everything looks better with a quail egg, we got the negitoro with quail egg. Delicious as well.

Salmon toro nigiri was one of the special fresh items. They use wild sockeye salmon, so you will notice the warm red colours rather than the orange stripes at regular Japanese restaurants.

Salmon Carpaccio gunkan was an interesting item to see. It has green onion, salt and pepper on top. It would have been nice if there was a sauce to go with it.

Very clean flavours and different than most places.

Yuji Roll has tuna, prawn and salmon with cucumber. It has the rice wrapped on the outside. It was a good roll with fresh ingredients. The flavours didn’t stand out too much.

Tuna Toro Nigiri was cut thin and was fatty.

Overall, the quality is there but it can get a bit expensive if you are a big eater. The taste is very clean and doesn’t have any additional sauces to them.