Episode #239: Sushi Bar 5517

Sechelt, $$$ (Higher Priced)

It turns out that going to Sunshine Coast is not a sure-fire way to evade Metro Vancouver's heat waves. After a short uphill hike from the coast to Sunnycrest Mall, I felt like a penguin dying of dehydration in a hot desert. Maybe I'm just not as fit as I should be. Either way, I ended up engaging in the one sport you can keep doing without getting hot—swimming—in order to burn off some of the calories from lunch.

Located in the core of Sechelt, Sushi Bar 5517 is a Korean-operated sushi restaurant peculiarly named after its street number. Whereas Sushi Bar Nagomi has an attractive interior, Sushi Bar 5517 has an attractive exterior and looks like it would fit perfectly in a ski resort. The menu is a modern one with creative appetizers and an abundance of special rolls that have spicy mayonnaise in them.

Tuna Goma-ae - A

Having had an excellent tuna poke dish at Sushi Bar Nagomi, I decided to order something similar at Sushi Bar 5517—the Tuna Goma-ae. The fact that sake was listed as one of the ingredients made it all the more attractive to me. Although the sake was only very faintly noticeable, this goma-ae did not disappoint. The tuna was very fresh, and the soy sauce dressing had a slight but appealing tanginess.

Toro Nigiri - B+

Unagi Nigiri - B+

Amaebi Nigiri - B+

The rice in the nigiri was packed a little too tightly, but overall, the nigiri was still decent. The toro was moderately soft and had a nice creamy flavour. The unagi (eel) was soft and smoky and came in a generous cut. The Amaebi Nigiri (spot prawn) was a little weak in flavour due to an overage of rice, but the prawn had an enjoyable light chew.

Lollipop Scallop - B

One appetizer that looked particularly interesting on the menu was the Lollipop Scallop, which consisted of deep-fried scallop wrapped in zucchini and eggplant with spicy mayonnaise. The very juicy vegetables were the best part of this dish. However, the dish needed a bit more teriyaki sauce, and the scallops were overdone. If they replaced the scallop with more zucchini, this might have been an excellent Lollipop Zucchini dish.

Tornado Roll - A-

The Tornado Roll came with 2 tempura prawns, avocado, cucumber, tuna, salmon, sweet spicy mayonnaise, and BBQ sauce. This was a small but neatly constructed roll. Excellent soft tuna and pleasantly sweet sockeye salmon complemented the crispy tempura prawns inside. The sauces were a bit on the sweeter side, but the conservative drizzle of spicy mayonnaise did not overwhelm any of the flavours.

Overall, the food was enjoyable, and the prices were reasonable given the food quality and the location of the restaurant. However, the service was rather poor. My tea was not refilled at any point during my visit, and when I got up to pay the bill and leave, the waitress just looked at me without saying anything. I felt unwanted and unwelcome at the restaurant. It is too bad that the service ruined what would otherwise have been a solid experience at Sushi Bar 5517.

Episode #235: Yukiya Sushi

Harrison Hot Springs, $$$$ (Luxury)

What do I do on a fine, sunny day with no commitments? Bussing to faraway places has always been one of my favourite pastimes, so I took the opportunity to research the farthest eastward I can bus and still make it back home on the same day. It turns out that I can bus all the way to Harrison Hot Springs. 4.5 hours of travel time to get there? No problem. Well, except for the fact that I used my phone so much along the way that I ended up at Harrison Hot Springs with 5% left on the battery... whoops.

Harrison Hot Springs is home to two sushi restaurants: Yukiya Sushi and Kitami Japanese Restaurant. Yukiya is the more casual of the two, with basic wooden tables and a mix of folding and non-folding chairs. I heard both Chinese and Korean spoken among the staff.

Fortunately, the staff were very friendly, and they made every effort to replenish my phone battery. With that, I no longer had to worry about relying on my camera for the time and the sun for the direction. I enjoyed the gorgeous view of the mountains behind Harrison Lake as I waited for my food to arrive.

Dragon Roll - B-

First to come was the Dragon Roll, which featured prawn tempura, imitation crab meat, BBQ eel, and avocado. At $19, this was quite expensive by Vancouver standards, but in Harrison Hot Springs, your choices for sushi are limited. The prawn tempura was pleasantly crispy, and the imitation crab meat had a nice sweetness to it. However, the avocado was not sufficiently ripe, and the unagi was not as smoky and soft as it should've been. The vinegar on the sushi rice was slightly heavy.

Chicken Teriyaki & Sashimi Bento

I did not expect the Chicken Teriyaki & Sashimi Bento ($19) to be particularly filling, and nothing could've prepared me for how the sashimi was presented. Never would I have expected an overflowing salad stuffed with what looked like a million different pieces of sashimi. This might have been more aptly named the Chicken Teriyaki & Giant Sashimi Salad Bento.

Salad - C+

The Salad was a cabbage-based salad with a few slices of carrot inside. It was dressed with a sweet and tangy apple vinaigrette. Better flavour pairings were possible, as the acidity of the vinaigrette made it taste like something had gone bad.

Chicken Teriyaki - B+

The Chicken Teriyaki was spiced and tender, and the black pepper sprinkled on the rice made it more flavourful. The chicken tasted like it came out of a western restaurant rather than a Japanese one, but it was decently prepared nonetheless.

Gyoza - B-

The two pieces of Gyoza were served at an appropriately hot temperature and primarily filled with cabbage and pork. The interior was very juicy but a tad mushy. Meanwhile, the exterior had sufficient crispiness, but parts of it tasted floury. 

Scallop Sashimi - B+

Tai Sashimi - A-

Hokkigai Sashimi - B-

Tuna Sashimi - B

Salmon Sashimi - A-

Ebi Sashimi - C

The Sashimi was assorted in terms of both variety and levels of freshness. At the top of the freshness scale was the tai (snapper), which was surprisingly soft with a delicious sweet flavour, and the salmon, which was vibrantly fresh and buttery. At the bottom was the ebi, which was rather dry and flavourless.

Overall, my experience was not far from what I had expected. The food quality was not great, but I suppose it was passable. Prices were very high compared to what can be found in Vancouver, but that applies to most of Harrison Hot Springs due to higher transportation costs and lower competition.

Episode #234: Hon Sushi

Burnaby South, $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.honsushibc.com

For the longest time, I did not have any data on my phone. While this meant rejuvenating, undisturbed naps on the bus and $15/month phone bills, there were also some drawbacks. I sometimes had to rely on the power of luck and random guessing to locate things, and meeting up with friends I had forgotten to get the numbers of sometimes turned into a nightmare. However, what really brought things to light was this one time I went to a restaurant with no Wi-Fi to enjoy some XLBs with my family when all of a sudden, I opened Snapchat to see an hourglass next to a three-digit streak. My world was about to fall apart.

I immediately dropped the XLB I was holding, ran out to the street, and then stood outside each restaurant to see if it had free Wi-Fi I could borrow for just one minute. Pedestrians were watching me with concerned looks on their faces. Fortunately, I managed to save said streak, and after a few awkward moments with my parents, I finished my dinner in peace. To prevent this from ever happening again, I went to Metrotown, got a data plan, and proceeded to nearby Hon Sushi to celebrate my victory against the no-data life.

Hon Sushi is a large Korean-Japanese fusion restaurant located on Kingsway near Old Orchard Shopping Centre. The dining room was not the only thing that was large. The menu was so big that it took me a good 10 minutes just to read through it. There were 3 pages of Korean dishes, and they even served the large Korean hot plates with toppings along the circumference of the plate (the kind found at Ta Bom).

Takoyaki - A

My lunch started off with a very delicious serving of Takoyaki (octopus balls). The balls were not very large, but they were soft and pillowy with an excellent crispy exterior. Inside each ball was a flavourful piece of octopus with just the right amount of chew. On top were well-balanced drizzles of sweet takoyaki sauce and mayonnaise.

Chopped Scallop Nigiri - B+

Unagi Nigiri - B+

Tuna Nigiri - B

Salmon Nigiri - B+

The rice in the Chopped Scallop Nigiri was a bit too tightly packed and under-flavoured (as with the rest of the nigiri), but the sweet scallop on top tasted fresh. The unagi had a smoky flavour and was amply dressed, while the tuna exhibited a decent soft texture. The salmon was pleasantly buttery and fresh.

Aburi Tuna Nigiri - B-

Aburi Salmon Nigiri - B+

The Aburi Tuna Nigiri lacked flavour and was a little over-seared. The rice here needed more flavour as well. However, the Aburi Salmon Nigiri had a delicious, smoky flavour, and the juiciness of the salmon was preserved through the searing.

Angel Roll - C

Hoping to end my meal with a heavenly roll, I chose the Angel Roll, which came with tempura prawn, imitation crab, scallop, cucumber, avocado, and cheese. The concept was promising, but the execution was flawed. The scallops were over-seared (and thus hard), while the crab meat ended up being mushy. The mushy crab meat was paired with mushy rice. The cheese was not melted into the roll properly, and the scallops kept falling off the roll. It was as if an angel constructed the roll after consuming 24 shots of vodka. The only thing this roll had going for it was the prawn tempura... after being pulled apart from the roll.

Service was not a problem during my visit, but the sushi rice clearly needed improvement. The one item that I had without any sushi rice (the Takoyaki) was very well executed. I did not try any of the Korean menu items, but perhaps (and hopefully) they are a little more angelic than the Japanese dishes.

Episode #233: Mika Sushi

Coquitlam, $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.mymikasushi.wordpress.com

Many of the restaurants on Austin Ave. in Coquitlam fall under one of two categories: extremely crowded with frequent lineups or barely alive. I've seen, on many occasions, cases where two restaurants with lineups of over an hour each surround a restaurant that is barely a quarter occupied.

Recently, Mika Sushi replaced the second location of Nao Sushi, whose main location in Burnaby is popular for its authentic Japanese dishes. Nao's Coquitlam branch was firmly in the first category when it opened, but it wasn't long before the hype died and empty tables abounded (my guess would be consistency issues, which I experienced in both locations). After a bout of cost-cutting measures and rude service (based on online reviews), Nao's Coquitlam branch closed its doors, and Mika Sushi took over.

Mika Sushi is Korean-operated but retains many elements of Nao Sushi. The signage features the same colours, and both the menu and the interior decor are virtually the same. They even retained Nao Sushi's lack of customers. The atmosphere was rather quiet when I stepped in. However, with Katie as my dining partner, there is no such thing as peace and quiet.

Wild Sockeye Salmon Sashimi - B+

We started dinner off with Katie's favourite Japanese food—sockeye salmon sashimi. Although the cutting was a little sloppy (and strange), the salmon tasted fresh. That being said, the texture of the salmon could've been smoother.

Aji Nigiri - A-

Engawa Nigiri - A-

Seared Toro Nigiri - A

Next up was a appealingly presented plate of nigiri. The Aji Nigiri (horse mackerel) came with a slight overdose of green onion, but was smooth and fresh. The rice was packed appropriately. The Engawa Nigiri (flounder fin) also had an excellent smooth texture and a mild but discernible sweet flavour. Interestingly, they thought that one piece of flounder fin per nigiri was not enough value, so they stacked two pieces on top of each other. The Seared Toro Nigiri, one of Nao Sushi's best items, turned out excellently here as well. It was juicy and seared just the right amount.

Dragon Roll - A-

Another hit of the night was the Dragon Roll, an eel roll topped with avocado. The eel was pleasantly soft and savoury, and the avocado was dressed with a creamy mixture of wasabi mayo and unagi sauce. The sweet flavours complemented each other. The roll was a bit rice heavy, but this was barely noticeable because there was sufficient flavour.

Atlantic Roll - B-

Our other roll was the Atlantic Roll, which came with avocado, masago, salmon, and a citrus-based vinaigrette. The avocado inside was appropriately soft and creamy. However, this time, the roll was noticeably rice-heavy, and the vinaigrette on top was much too acidic to work with the rest of the roll.

Chicken Teriyaki - B

For our filler, we had the Chicken Teriyaki, which was initially savoury with a nice thin layer of crispy chicken skin. However, there was too much teriyaki sauce, and it wasn't long before things started to turn soggy. Some pieces of chicken were noticeably tougher than others.

We experienced friendly service throughout our visit. The food was modestly priced, but not cheap enough to attract diners based on just value (Mika Sushi is surrounded by budget-friendly restaurants). Like Nao Sushi in its prime days, the nigiri was solid, with the other food a little less consistent. Although Mika Sushi is decent overall, it will have to offer more in order to become a restaurant people will line up for.

Episode #227: Sushi Mania

Vancouver (Northeast), $ (Budget)

I am usually quite good with numbers, but recently, that hasn't been the case. This time, not only did I miscalculate the amount of time it would take for me to get to Sushi Mania on Main St., but I also bussed down to 32nd Ave. instead of 23rd Ave. Getting stuck in a traffic jam did not exactly help. After doing a few facepalms, I had to frantically speed walk to the restaurant so that I would not miss any sushi photo opportunities. I ended up being 30 minutes late to my own dinner, but thankfully, Gee, Pat, and Jaden were patient enough, and none of the food landed on the table yet.

Sushi Mania has a reputation for being affordable and decent as well as having a good variety of dishes. Indeed, we found many intriguing appetizers and special rolls, and much of the food that whizzed by us looked appealing. However, we agreed to keep the dinner light, as dinners with me are almost always followed by a visit to a dessert shop. The restaurant was quite busy, and we found the seating a little tight, but bearable.

Spicy Salmon Nuggets - A

After having a very good version of this from Ki Isu, I was looking forward to trying the same dish here. These delectable salmon nuggets were no disappointment. The salmon inside was very juicy, and the batter had just the right amount of crispiness. The spicy mayonnaise complemented the nuggets without overwhelming them.

Sushi Pizza - A-

Next, we had the Sushi Pizza, which came with salmon, tuna, crab meat, and avocado. The fish was fresh with smooth, appealing textures, while the crispy rice at the bottom was not hard. We also enjoyed the sweet imitation crab, but thought there could have been a bit more of it.

Crunchy Munchy Roll - B

While we were musing over the menu, one of us spotted something very cool-looking, and we were determined to order it before we even fully knew what it was. This turned out to be the Crunchy Munchy Roll, with spicy tuna, cucumber, and yam tempura bits. There wasn't a lot of spicy tuna, so the tuna provided little flavour to the roll. What produced most of the flavour were the yam tempura bits on top. These were crunchy and went well with the accompanying drizzle of spicy mayonnaise.

Black Dragon Roll - A-

Our next roll of choice was the Black Dragon Roll, which came with crab meat, avocado, cucumber, and seared unagi. The roll came in small pieces, but was neatly constructed. The searing of the unagi created a wonderful smokiness, which was easily the highlight of the roll.

Mania Roll - A-

The Mania Roll consisted of crab meat, avocado, cucumber, and seared chopped scallop. Once again small but neatly constructed, this roll came with excellently seared scallops. The soft textures of the scallop and the sweet crab meat were a delight.

Hokkigai Sashimi - A-

Salmon Sashimi - B+

Saba Sashimi - B-

Tuna Sashimi - B

Tai Sashimi - B+

Tako Sashimi - B

For some odd reason, our Assorted Sashimi arrived towards the end of our meal. The hokkigai tasted the freshest and had a nice sweet flavour. The salmon and tai also tasted fresh. The tuna and tako were slightly less fresh, and the saba was rather chewy and salty.

Even though the restaurant was packed the whole time we were there, we received friendly service. Most of the food exceeded our expectations, especially after considering the price. If this place was a little more convenient to bus to from SFU, I would be a regular. 

Episode #226: Kimu Japanese Cuisine (2nd Visit)

Vancouver (Southeast), $ (Budget)
www.kimucuisine.com

Every semester, I try to organize a sushi meet-up so the TAs in my office can meet and get to know each other. This time, however, my attempts to organize were more or less a fail. Despite drawing a huge availability schedule that spanned our chalkboard and personally bugging each TA to fill out the schedule, more than half of the TAs ended up cancelling hours before the dinner for various reasons. Somehow, 15 confirmed guests became 7, and plus-ones almost outnumbered TAs that actually share the office with me. Nonetheless, the dinner went on with Andrea, Angus, Anya, Ashton, Patrick, and Sean in attendance.

Even though the restaurant still displays a "Grand Opening" sign, it has actually been open for many months. It has been gaining popularity, and now, it is one of my go-to places for casual group dinners.  Their menu features a great assortment of fusion dishes, most of which are Instagram-worthy.

As is usual for dinners with me, no ordering took place until around 45 minutes after we had sat down at our table, by which point the restaurant began to get busy and the service became sparse. We placed all our orders at the same time, but for some reason, my food came way later than anyone else's.

Belly King Roll - B+

After awkwardly staring at my friends enjoying their food for a very long time (some of them were already finished), my Belly King Roll finally arrived. This roll came with avocado, negitoro, seared sake toro (salmon belly), jalapeño, capers, garlic chips, balsamic reduction, and pesto olive sauce. Despite its small size, the roll was very successful texture-wise, especially with the smooth and soft seared salmon. I thought the salmon could've used a bit more smokiness though.

Spicy Crunch Roll - B+

Since Sean was with us, we got the obligatory Spicy Crunch Roll. A deep-fried California roll topped with spicy tuna, tobiko, tempura flakes, spicy house sauce, and BBQ sauce, the Spicy Crunch Roll packed a lot of flavour, and it was nice that the batter was not too hard. The spicy tuna had a delectable, soft texture, but it was slightly overwhelmed by the aggressive use of chili sauce.

Beef Gomae - B

Next, I had the Beef Gomae simply because I'd never seen the dish at any other restaurant before. It was essentially beef sashimi accompanied by gomae. The beef was tender and went well with the sweet gomae sauce, but the tangy ponzu sauce on the bottom complemented neither the beef nor the gomae. I had to let the ponzu sauce drip down before each bite.

Rainbow Sushi Pizza - B+

In honour of one of our guests, who really likes colourful things, I ordered the Rainbow Sushi Pizza, which came with crab meat, salmon, tuna, ebi, hamachi, tai, unagi, tobiko, BBQ eel, and wasabi mayonnaise. The crispy layer of rice at the bottom was slightly overdone, but the mixture of creamy sauces and smooth cuts of fish worked well. The tai and unagi were the highlights among the seafood.

Hamachi Toro Nigiri - A-

Madai Nigiri - A-

Shima-Aji Nigiri - A-

Uni Nigiri - B+

Ordering my nigiri turned out to be quite laughable for my entire table because they had run out of most of the more expensive types of nigiri. After having my order rejected again and again (feels bad), I finally ended up with the nigiri above. The nigiri was fresh and came in generous cuts. The delicate sweetness of the shima-aji and the smooth texture of the madai were highlights. There wasn't a lot of uni in the Uni Nigiri, but it still had a nice, creamy texture.

While the service was a little sparse as we came at prime dinner time on a Saturday, it was at least friendly. Once again, I enjoyed the innovation and the consistency in execution. I can foresee more adventures to Kimu, as there are still many creative dishes that I haven't tried yet, such as the Dontoro Bites, the Volcano Eggplant Seafood Yaki, and the Honeymoon Roll. Okay, maybe that last one will have to wait...

Episode #224: Kisoya

Port Coquitlam, $$ (Moderately Priced)

I've always been confident that I knew about all the sushi restaurants within a 15-minute drive from my place, until Linda managed to come up with one that had completely slipped from my radar. After I got through a few moments of utter shock and horror, we agreed to have lunch at Kisoya.

Kisoya is a rather large (yes, I don't know how I missed it) Korean-operated Japanese restaurant located in the north part of Port Coquitlam. It is one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in Port Coquitlam and features an extensive menu with a wide array of special rolls. However, there is no modern Japanese fusion on the menu, so you won't find any Aburi-type sushi here.

Crabmeat Mushroom Salad - B+

One thing on the menu that caught my eye was the Crabmeat Mushroom Salad. On the menu, it looked like an imitation crab sundae topped with colourful berries for decoration. Most of all, it was served in a wine glass, and I don't pass up things served in wine glasses. The berries didn't make it into the final product, but there was an abundance of sweet crab meat. It erred on the drier side, and a little more mayonnaise might have helped.

Power of Love Roll - A-

Since sushi is always a good way to experience things, I decided to get the Power of Love Roll. This roll came with unagi, deep-fried salmon, cucumber, avocado, tobiko, and unagi sauce. With crispy deep-fried salmon on top and crispy unagi inside, this roll was a good mix of flavours. 

Spicy Chicken Box

When choosing lunch boxes, I always like to choose the box with the least vegetables, the most meat, and the most special items possible. This led us to the Spicy Chicken Box.

Miso Soup - B+

The Spicy Chicken Box came with a Miso Soup. The consistency was on the thinner side, but there was sufficient miso paste to give the soup a rich flavour.

Ebi Mayo - C+

The Ebi Mayo was made with panko batter and dressed with a mix of mustard and mayonnaise. The batter was slightly hard, and the prawns were noticeably overdone.

Washington Roll - B+

Next up, the Washington Roll consisted of crab meat, cucumber, avocado, fresh salmon, wasabi and peanut sauce. Like the Power of Love Roll, the ingredients in the Washington Roll worked well together. The salmon and avocado topping created a nice creamy texture, and the wasabi provided a subtle hit of spiciness to the roll. 

Salad - B+

Dressed with a tangy vinaigrette, the lettuce-based salad was fresh and sufficiently flavoured.

Spicy Chicken Teriyaki - B+

The Spicy Chicken Teriyaki came with tender chicken and savoury bean sprouts underneath. The chicken had a pleasant grilled flavour, though parts of it were a bit oily. The spicy sauce was quite spicy, but not overwhelmingly so.

Prawn Tempura - A

Yam Tempura - B+

Sweet Potato Tempura - B

Without a doubt, the best part of the lunch box was the Prawn Tempura, which came with crispy, juicy prawns that had a nice snap to them. Interestingly, the batter on the yam and sweet potato was considerably thicker.

Overall, considering that this was a restaurant that I had never even heard of, the quality of the food surpassed my expectations. However, the service was a little sparse even though we were pretty much the only ones in the restaurant. The atmosphere ended up rather quiet as a result, but then again, once you wander east of Coquitlam, bustling sushi restaurants are like sunny November days in Vancouver.