Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Episode #68: Mega Sushi

Steveston, Richmond, $$$ (Higher Priced)
www.toktokvan.com/megasushi

Sushi restaurants in the quaint Steveston village are notoriously expensive, but tend to serve some of the freshest sashimi in the Lower Mainland since the village has its own Fisherman's Wharf. The two most well-known sushi restaurants in Steveston are Ichiro Japanese Restaurant and Mega Sushi. Mega Sushi, unlike Ichiro (which is Japanese-operated), is Korean-operated and serves a wide selection of Japanese dishes with more affordable prices. They were unbelievably packed for a Tuesday evening, and even a party of one was subject to a 20-minute wait (which was a first for me). Make sure you have a reservation!


The atmosphere inside was quite boisterous due to the number of patrons but the seating was clean comfortable. The restaurant is moderately sized and the decor has a modern feel to it. In my opinion, the restaurant is not very well named, as it is not the type of restaurant that serves jumbo-sized portions with low prices.

Ebi Sunomono - B+

In my quest to try every category of Japanese food, I got the Mega Bento, and the first item to arrive from it was the Ebi Sunomono. It was nice that they brought me a bit of the bento before the whole bento was ready. The Ebi Sunomono was quite cold with a modest amount of vinegar that didn't overwhelm the other ingredients. I found the ebi to be slightly tough, possibly due to the colder temperature that the sunomono was served at.

Miso Soup - A-

The Miso Soup (part of the Mega Bento) was served hot and had a good balance of miso paste and dashi broth without being too salty. I also liked the neat container that the Miso Soup came in.

Godzilla Bite - A

The Godzilla Bite contained deep-fried seaweed and rice, torched tuna, salmon, and chopped scallop, and alfalfa. This was a highly inventive roll (or is it even a roll?) that was very well executed. The deep-fried seaweed and rice formed little soft, crispy pillows on the bottom for the torched tuna, salmon and chopped scallop, which had decent smooth textures. The good balance of sweetness and mild spiciness was highly enjoyable. There is also a small container of crispy rice in the center that was lit up to produce a small flame!

Tuna Sashimi - C+
Sockeye Salmon Sashimi - A

The Appetizer Sashimi came with three pieces of tuna sashimi, two pieces of sockeye salmon sashimi, and a piece of celery as a decoration on top. Unfortunately, the Tuna Sashimi was not fully thawed, though it wasn't very far off either. To fix the problem, I came up with the brilliant idea of holding the Tuna Sashimi over the small flame from the Godzilla Bite above. The resulting tuna tataki tasted excellent! As for the Salmon Sashimi, it was very fresh with a smooth sheen, as expected from a Japanese restaurant in Steveston!


Next, the rest of the Mega Bento arrived. There was Chicken Teriyaki, an Alaska Roll, a Salad, Appetizer Tempura, and Gyoza. Once again, I ordered way too much food to fit on my table!

Chicken Teriyaki - C+

The Chicken Teriyaki had good flavour from the sesame seeds and was tender with a smooth texture. The only issue I had with it was that the skin was really mushy and too reminiscent of mashed potatoes.

Alaska Roll - B-

The Alaska Roll consisted of cream cheese, cucumber, avocado, imitation crab and smoked salmon. The smoked salmon was of high quality and the avocado was fresh, but there was an overdose of cream cheese. I think the cream cheese had a larger volume than the cucumber, avocado, and imitation crab combined.

Salad - B+

The Salad consisted mainly of arugula leaves dressed in the appropriate amount of vinaigrette. It was quite refreshing even though I had already had a larger salad from the Godzilla Bite.

 Prawn Tempura - A
Sweet Potato Tempura - B+
Kabocha Tempura - B

The batter on the tempura was particularly well made and had an excellent soft but crispy texture. The Prawn Tempura was by far the best of the bunch and was nearly as good as Ichiro's A+ Prawn Tempura. The vegetable tempura (sweet potato and kabocha) paled in comparison, but still retained the good qualities of the batter.

Gyoza - B-

I wasn't a big fan of the Gyoza as the filling was weak in flavour and the wrapper was a bit dry. However, there was sufficient juiciness inside the Gyoza.

The servers were quite busy throughout my entire visit due to the especially high demand, but they tried their best and maintained a pleasant attitude. Although not every dish was exactly stellar, the restaurant does have its fair share of must-trys, such as the Godzilla Bite. I wanted to try the Mega Tower too as it looked very delicious when others ordered it, but then, I would end up with three salads and so much food on the table that I would have to start putting items on the floor. Oh, the terrible dilemmas I face during my sushi adventures!

Mega Sushi Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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