Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Episode #181: Carp Sushi + Bento

Vancouver (Northeast), $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.carpsushibento.wix.com/carp

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a Canon G7x Mark II camera at London Drugs (because they had a promotion on it), and it finally arrived at London Drugs' warehouse! This will be the last adventure that I'll have to use my phone camera (which has been slowly becoming unreliable). The G7x is a compact point-and-shoot that is capable of producing a bokeh effect (the blurred background effect) like a DSLR. I think I lost sleep thinking about all the magnificent pictures I'll be able to take of sushi. I may have also gone a little hyper and daydreamed more than usual.


Carp Sushi is a small authentic takeout place located next to Kingsgate Mall. You pay at the front counter before you receive your food, and there are about three tables for customers who would like to dine in. The menu is quite limited, with only five types of nigiri (poor me), but there are a couple of unique items in the mix.


My sushi was presented on a very interesting yellow dish...

Tuna Tataki Roll - B

First up, the Tuna Tataki Roll consisted of tuna tataki, cucumber, avocado, and daikon. The seasoning on top gave the roll a nice savoury flavour, but I felt like there was a little too much of it. On the plus side, the creamy avocado inside was delicious, and the small dab of what tasted like cranberry sauce gave the roll a unique zing.

Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - B+
Tuna Nigiri - A
Sea Eel (Anago) Nigiri - A-

Out of the five available choices, they surprisingly had Anago Nigiri, which is among my favourite types of nigiri. Also to my delight was the fact that the sushi rice here was good. The sockeye salmon could have a smoother texture, but the tuna melted in my mouth wonderfully and was fatty enough to be considered toro. The sea eel featured a rich, grilled flavour, although I'm not sure why the chef decided to put wasabi in this piece of nigiri.

Candied Salmon - B+

I was a little surprised when the chef served me the Candied Salmon by grabbing it straight from the display cooler. As you can see, I couldn't exactly give them a good score for presentation. However, it was decent flavour-wise. The marinade gave the grilled salmon a sweet flavour. The Candied Salmon reminded me of beef jerky, but with salmon instead of beef. Salmon jerky, anyone?

Mini Tuna Poke Bowl - A

If there is anything that could define the phrase "packs a punch," this would be it. This was literally "da bomb." The really soft, melty tuna was combined with marinade to produce a rich, savoury flavour with a strong essence of sesame oil. The avocado's smooth texture made it delicious and refreshing. Also included in the bowl were some spicy wasabi-flavoured crunchy bits, which added a defiant kick to the bowl. Eating this bowl made me think of a very attractive girl with the smoothest skin and a magnificent, flowing outfit who is playing hard to get, which makes you want her more. Uhh, yeah... what have I become...

The sushi chef also happened to be the cashier as well as the person who brought me my food, and he was very friendly. I enjoyed the quality ingredients in the food, especially the excellent, melty tuna. I believe I will never forget this restaurant due to the impact of that last dish. And just to make it clear, I don't support playing hard to get in real life. If I tried to do that, many unfortunate things will happen. It only works for food!

Carp Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

6 comments:

Selina said...

Aww this place is so cute!
Omg, I can't wait to see the food pictures you take with your new camera, the quality's going to be amazing!! :D

LMAOO your description of the poke bowl...most epic description ever!! Are you speaking from past experience Raymond? XD

Raymond Zeng said...

The quality is much, much better, although I didn't exactly have the optimal lighting for Episode 182. We'll see. =)

LOL not exactly... I don't believe in playing hard to get. The poke bowl was powerful enough to make me change my thinking for a few seconds, but I still prefer just being straightforward. XD

LotusRapper said...

For the longest time this place was simply called "Takeout Sushi" (I wonder how long it took them to come up with that name ?). Quality was below-par, one older Chinese or Japanese woman ran the place. There's a few pre-packaged rolls and nigiris on the shelf, otherwise other items are a la cart (and very cheap). I never saw her make the a la cart items since she did them in the back kitchen, nor saw any of the fish she used to make them with. Despite their cheap cheap prices, I was leery of quality and freshness so after eating there two times I stopped. Also the place was always stuffy and smelled of grease :-/

https://www.google.com/maps/@49.262361,-123.0960256,3a,75y,98.59h,78.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQMqpLe3xAyx1-NTQi7b-nw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Raymond Zeng said...

Oh wow, that does not sound very appetizing at all. "Takeout Sushi" is the most... uhh... fascinating name! The place is now run by a Japanese man and is certainly not cheap (but not expensive either). They did a good job of getting rid of the smell of grease, and there are almost no fried items on the menu. A viewer actually recommended this place to me (which is how I found out about this place), and perhaps you can try it too sometime and let me know what you think. =)

LotusRapper said...

A recent review of Carp:

http://scoutmagazine.ca/2016/08/18/never-heard-of-it-capable-comfortable-and-cool-carp-bento-box-in-mount-pleasant/

Raymond Zeng said...

Looks like we pretty much agree on our opinions of Carp! =)

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