Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Episode #130: Kin Sushi

West Vancouver, $$ (Moderately Priced)

West Vancouver is one of the most beautiful places in Greater Vancouver, but on evenings where dusk falls early, the streets become dark and eerily quiet. It's as if everyone left the town so that they could join the exciting traffic jam at the Lions Gate Bridge. Not wanting to sit on the bus with nothing to do except twiddle my thumbs and ponder about which questions I might have bombed on my midterms, I decided to have dinner at Kin Sushi, a small Korean-operated sushi restaurant in Ambleside.


Even though I didn't see anyone having Tonkatsu (pork cutlet), the restaurant had a prominent scent of Worcestershire sauce. The restaurant was surprisingly busy when I walked in, and I was provided with tea, chopsticks, and everything else, but no menu. If only I had psychic abilities... However, the service was very friendly, and the waitress apologized sincerely when I asked for the menu.

Miso Soup - B+

Due to my addiction to special rolls, I ordered the $12.95 special roll combo, which came with a special roll, an appetizer, a salad, and a miso soup. The Miso Soup came with dark miso paste, tofu, green onion, and seaweed. It was a bit watery, but because dark miso is richer, the soup had sufficient flavour.

Salad - B+

Next came the salad, which was rather large and contained mostly lettuce dressed with a creamy, tangy Japanese salad dressing. It was nicely presented with bite-sized pieces. 

Salmon Sashimi - A-
Tuna Sashimi - A

For my appetizer, I opted for the Appetizer Sashimi, which came with Tuna Sashimi and Salmon Sashimi. The cuts were on the smaller side, but both types of fish were fresh with no stringiness. The salmon had a smooth sheen, and the tuna was deliciously melty with a soft texture.

Red Dragon Roll - A-

For obvious reasons, I picked the most expensive roll, the Red Dragon Roll, which contained prawn tempura, crab meat, avocado, cucumber, and sockeye salmon. Some of the pieces of sockeye salmon tasted like smoked salmon, while the prawn tempura inside was quite savoury. Overall, the roll was neatly constructed, and there was a very good harmony of flavours among the ingredients.

Chicken Karaage - C+

After finishing the combo, I went for the Chicken Karaage, and the whole restaurant smelled like KFC for a minute. There was a generous amount of karaage, but unfortunately, most of the karaage was just batter. I wish I could say it was finger lickin' good, but the small amount of chicken was also dry. The only part of the chicken I enjoyed was its aroma.

Toro Nigiri - B-
Unagi Nigiri - B+

Still not full, I ordered the Toro Nigiri and the Unagi Nigiri. The Toro Nigiri was slightly dry and not the softest, but the unagi was really soft, melty, and dressed with sweet teriyaki sauce that brought out the flavour of the BBQ eel well.

The service remained very friendly and polite throughout the course of my dinner, and the few mishaps that occurred were handled well. The food was surprisingly inexpensive, especially considering that the restaurant is located in West Vancouver, an area known for its high prices. Most of the items were prepared well, and I could see why the restaurant was one of the very few places in West Vancouver that actually had people that evening.

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

2 comments:

Selina said...

"Ponder about which questions I might have bombed on my midterms."

I can relate. So much. LOL!!
Well I'm sure sushi got your mind off of that! ;)

Raymond Zeng said...

LOL that's part of what my sushi adventures are for!

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