Sunday, October 18, 2015

Episode #126: Red Tuna

Vancouver (Southwest), $$$ (Higher Priced)
www.redtuna.ca

One month into the semester is when university students typically start to experience sleep deprivation. Math is one of my strong subjects, but after being unable to follow along in my math lecture because I kept writing 5 × 0 = 5 on my piece of paper, I decided to catch some sleep on my favourite type of mattress: the bus. I slept all the way into the Dunbar area, whose sushi I had never tried before. I had no idea which of the sushi restaurants in the area would be the best, so I just picked one that served seared sushi.


The restaurant is slightly larger inside than it appears from the outside. Since I arrived at 4:30 p.m., there were very few people inside, but they turned the volume up on the Korean pop music playing in the background to make the restaurant seem more busy. More or less, that worked. Also, doesn't food seem to taste slightly better when the restaurant isn't overly quiet?

Miso Soup - B+


To start things off, I received a hot bowl of Miso Soup that came with my Bento Box D. It had a rich flavour and contained tofu and green onion. It was moderately salty and pretty standard fare overall.


Next, the rest of the Bento Box D arrived, and the presentation was on point as everything was placed neatly. 

Salad - B

Like the Miso Soup, the Salad was also quite standard. It came with mixed greens dressed with the standard tangy and somewhat sweet Japanese salad dressing. There was also a small essence of lemon juice in the salad.

Chicken Teriyaki - B+

The Chicken Teriyaki was savoury, and its flavour was further enhanced by the sesame seeds and green onion. The steamed rice was above average, while the chicken was just a tad overdone.

Chicken Kara-age - A-

The highlight of the bento box was the Chicken Kara-age, which was savoury and quite juicy. It was coated with ample mayonnaise, and I also liked how it was slightly crispy on the outside. They also threw in a small helping of yam fries underneath as a bonus.

Salmon Sashimi - C
Tuna Sashimi - B

The Salmon Sashimi came in huge slices and was very tough and stringy, but at least this meant that I could have my teeth flossed while I was eating it. Who needs floss when you can use stringy Salmon Sashimi instead? The Tuna Sashimi also came with large cuts, but it was quite soft and not stringy at all. However, it tasted slightly fishy to me.

Tempura - A-

The Tempura came with one prawn and one piece each of zucchini, sweet potato, yam, and kabocha. The prawn, albeit a bit skinny, was savoury and had a good snap. The yam and the sweet potato were both cut to just the right thickness, while the zucchini was deliciously juicy. The kabocha, being a bit less spectacular, exhibited a strange discolouration and tasted a bit dry. Overall, the tempura was slightly on the greasier side, but the flavours of the ingredients inside were preserved and brought out well.

Red Dragon Roll - B-

After the Bento Box D, I decided to try one of their special rolls, namely the Red Dragon Roll, which came with avocado, salmon, eel, and cream cheese. Since I typically dislike cream cheese in my rolls, I told the waitress about this, so she suggested yellow cheese instead. I was hoping for some tasty melted grilled cheese, but I guess I was expecting too much. Nope, the yellow cheese was just plopped inside the roll. The roll was served very cold, but I liked how the flavour of the salmon was enhanced by the teriyaki sauce. Unfortunately, there was so little unagi that it was basically undetectable, and the roll was slightly rice-heavy. With only five pieces, I did not think this roll was worth the $10.95.

Seared Tuna Nigiri - B
Seared Salmon Nigiri - B+

At last, I ordered what I came here for - the seared sushi! The Seared Tuna Nigiri was a little over-seared, but they got it right with the Seared Salmon Nigiri. I also liked how the salmon had a touch of mayonnaise on top. The rice formation in both pieces was good as the rice was not packed too tightly.

Overall, I found the service during my visit to be quite friendly. The food was average, and there was a fair share of both hits and misses. I suppose there is only so much that louder Korean pop music can do!

Red Tuna Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

2 comments:

Selina said...

"at least this meant that I could have my teeth flossed while I was eating"

Oh dear LOL!!
At least the chicken kaarage was good!! Might try this place out since it's pretty close to ubc!! :D

Raymond Zeng said...

If you do try it, let me know how it goes! Hopefully, you won't experience the salmon-flossing incident I did (or anything similar)!

Post a Comment