Episode #229: Hong Sushi

Burnaby North, $ (Budget)
www.hongsushi.ca

The first restaurant that I ventured to after I had become bored of SFU's campus food was Sushi Town. At that time, I was aware that Hong Sushi was even closer to campus than Sushi Town. However, I ended up going to Sushi Town because it seemed the more popular of the two, and more importantly, I was too lazy to cross the street prior to eating. Hong Sushi ended up in my list of restaurants I wanted to try but forgot to, until Jeff from my office mentioned how he used to regularly order their very cheap and filling combo: 18 pieces of sushi + miso soup for just $6.95 (now $7.95).

Thus, the two of us went to Hong Sushi during one of our lunch breaks to try out their $6.95 combo among other things. Hong Sushi is Chinese-operated, and although it is rather small in physical space, its menu is not small at all. There were enough appetizers and special rolls to give me a hard time deciding how to construct my ultimate tasting experience.

One notable thing about Hong Sushi is that they serve everything on foam dishes, which complements their budget-friendly focus. Another notable thing about the restaurant is that you order using tablets (there's one at each table). Given the low volume of dine-in customers, I'm not sure if the tablets really contribute to improving the restaurant's efficiency. However, they are great if you find human interaction terrifying and are mortally afraid of actually having to talk to a server.

Salmon Roll - B

California Roll - B+

Yam Roll - B

The $6.95 combo comes with a Salmon Roll, a California Roll, a Yam Roll, and a bowl of miso soup (not pictured). The rolls turned out better than I had expected. The California Roll featured sweet imitation crab, while the lightly fried tempura yam in the Yam Roll had a decent amount of crispiness. The Salmon Roll came with fresh, buttery salmon, although we thought the sushi rice could have been a little more flavourful. All three rolls were neatly constructed and came in rather large portions. 

Salmon Sashimi - A-

Toro Sashimi - B-

Next up, the Salmon Sashimi was creamy and buttery and came in neatly cut, generous slices. I also liked how the pieces were not too thickly sliced. The toro did not fare as well, as it was slightly fishy and not especially melty. 

Appetizer Tempura - B

The Appetizer Tempura came with one prawn and one piece each of kabocha, zucchini, sweet potato, and carrot. Some of the vegetable tempura was well-prepared and turned out savoury and juicy. However, the batter tended to be quite thick.

Scorpion Roll - B+

Next, we had the Scorpion Roll, a massive roll with deep-fried prawn, spicy tuna, salmon, cucumber, imitation crab meat, soft shell crab tempura, and masago. Despite their colossal size, the individual pieces actually held together quite well. The soft shell crab was remarkably well-prepared and contributed a nice crispiness to the roll. The spicy zing from the spicy tuna also went well with the other savoury ingredients in the roll.

Chopped Scallop Nigiri - B+

Unagi Nigiri - B

Saba Nigiri - B-

Tai Nigiri - B-

Hotate Nigiri - B-

After our large roll, I was presented with some rather large nigiri. The nigiri were more about size than quality. The sushi rice was dry and too tightly packed. However, some of the toppings were decent. The chopped scallop had a pleasant, creamy sweetness, while the unagi was soft and dressed with ample sweet unagi sauce. The saba was too salty and not smooth in texture, while the tai and hotate lacked flavour. 

The service was very minimal, as the server seemed to expect us to interact with the tablets more than himself. However, the food was decent given the budget prices. Hong Sushi is not a place I would frequent, but it is a place I can fall back on if I ever felt the need for a change of taste from the other budget sushi restaurants on Hastings. 

Episode #225: Sushi Den

Vancouver (Downtown), $ (Budget)

While waiting for our movie to start, Puzzlefighter and I were in Chinatown looking for Japanese eats. Puzzlefighter likes fancy nigiri even more than I do, but when we eat together, we always end up ordering insane amounts of food. One time, the two of us went to MYST and ended up paying more than $90 for dinner. I literally have no idea how we ended up in that predicament. It's not like we're particularly big guys. This time, since both of us were quite hungry, we went to Sushi Den to keep the bill within reason.

Sushi Den is a moderately large Japanese restaurant located near International Village. It is quite popular due to its cheap pricing and decent assortment of menu items. Unfortunately, this meant that there was no way that Puzzlefighter and I were getting out of there while still able to walk properly.

Toro Sashimi - A-

The Toro Sashimi was just $9 for 6 pieces, and we were pleased with the freshness. The toro was smooth and buttery, and it came in generous slices. Some of the pieces were noticeably softer than others.

Negihama Roll - B+

Next up, the Negihama Roll (chopped yellowtail with green onion) was neatly wrapped. The green onion gave off a nice zing and a slight crunch, while the seaweed was not too chewy. However, the flavour of the hamachi was not particularly rich.

Out of Controll - B

Since we went out of control on the ordering, we thought it would be fitting to get the Out of Controll, a special roll with "lots of stuff." We found salmon, tuna, tamago, and sockeye inside the roll, which was dressed with spicy mayonnaise and coleslaw dressing. Although it did seem like the chef went a little out of control, the fish was fresh, and the roll was very large and filling. We found the roll a little rice-heavy, which weakened the flavours of the fish.

Flower Tuna Nigiri - A-

Flower Salmon Nigiri - A-

Ikura Nigiri - B

Uni Nigiri - B+

Of course, we had to try both types of flower nigiri, which was essentially sashimi wrapped around masago and cucumber (no rice). The Flower Tuna Nigiri came with really soft and fresh tuna, while the Flower Salmon Nigiri contained fresh, buttery salmon. We felt that the cucumber was just there for visual appeal, as it didn't really match the flavour or texture of the fish. 

The Ikura Nigiri came in huge portions, and the creamy flavours of the uni and avocado worked well together in the Uni Nigiri. The seaweed wrapping was a little tough though, which made it hard to eat the nigiri neatly.

Tai Nigiri - B-

Unagi Nigiri - A-

The Tai Nigiri (snapper) was not tough, but came with a little too much sushi rice, which overwhelmed the flavour of the tai. The Unagi Nigiri, on the other hand, was really juicy and meaty. The unagi had an excellent smoked flavour.

Beef Short Rib Yakiniku - A-

The Beef Short Rib Yakiniku is a fun dish where you can grill your own short ribs on a small tabletop grill. Since I didn't want to set the restaurant on fire, I let Puzzlefighter do most of the grilling. When done correctly, the short ribs have a nice charred flavour. The mild marinade did not overpower the ribs, and the meat was not tough due to the thin cuts.

Ten Zaru Soba - B

After all the food above, we decided to get a filler to really hit it home. The Ten Zaru Soba came with 5 pieces of tempura (two prawns and one piece each of yam, sweet potato, and kabocha). We found the tempura quite greasy, but sufficiently juicy and crispy. The cold soba was refreshing, and the green onion and sesame seeds livened up the dipping sauce. We quite enjoyed the soba until Puzzlefighter found a slight error.

Yes, there was a stray udon noodle in the soba! While the udon noodle didn't really bother us, we thought they ought to be just a little more careful, in case other things slipped into their food...

Overall, the food was decent given the prices, and the service was friendly and adequate. Although the atmosphere isn't particularly fancy, it is a place where you can get a good variety of food for budget prices. Despite the amount of food we ordered, our bill was only slightly over $60 altogether.

Episode #207: Sushi UOmo (2nd Visit)

Burnaby North, $ (Budget)

As the Fall 2016 semester came to an end, it was time to celebrate by having an epic sushi dinner with the TAs who shared the office with me. By virtue of SFU not really having enough TA offices, I had quite a few companions for this adventure: Ashton, Gaby, Jeff, Raymon, Sean, and Vy. Ashton, Jeff, and I were at an escape room that afternoon, and Ashton thought it would be a splendid idea for the three of us to have bubble tea right before dinner. How could I say "no" to bubble tea? Needless to say, I ended up marching into Sushi UOmo splendidly half full.

My first encounter with Sushi UOmo was in Episode #4 when it was the new kid on the block (nearly two and a half years ago), and lots of things have changed since then. The restaurant has become extremely popular, the quality has gone up, and the menu had been expanded. It has become the one restaurant I would recommend for budget sushi in North Burnaby.

Miso Soup - B+

The servers were quick to provide us with complimentary bowls of miso soup. In fact, they were so quick that my miso soup arrived at my table before I even got to the restaurant. You can't really beat that! It was slightly on the saltier side, but that was mostly balanced out by a good amount of miso paste, some tofu, and some green onion.

Drunken Tiger Roll - A-

Next, Gaby and I shared the Drunken Tiger Roll, which consisted of crab meat, avocado, cucumber, boiled prawn (ebi), unagi, BBQ sauce, and wasabi mayo. Overall, this roll had an enjoyable soft texture, and the flavours went together well. Soft, sweet unagi topped the roll, and the wasabi mayo was mild and unobtrusive. Unfortunately, I did not end up drunk, much to the disappointment of those at my table.

Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - B

Red Tuna Nigiri (Bluefin) - B+

Aburi Salmon Nigiri - B

Aburi Toro Nigiri - A-

The Sockeye Salmon Nigiri came with a generous piece of fresh salmon, though the rice was slightly bland and too tightly packed. The server eagerly suggested the Red Tuna Nigiri (i.e. bluefin), so I gave it a try, and it had a rather rich flavour compared to the red tuna nigiri I've had at other places. The Aburi Salmon Nigiri was slightly too creamy and chewy, but the Aburi Toro Nigiri was delightfully juicy and much softer.

Red Dragon Roll - A-

After the nigiri came the Red Dragon Roll that Jeff and I decided to split, and this roll came with wild salmon, unagi tempura, cream cheese, avocado, and BBQ sauce. This roll was another success. The cream cheese was melty and well-integrated into the roll. You could still feel the heat from the freshly made unagi tempura, whose light crispiness was an excellent complement to the soft, buttery wild salmon on top.

Tempura Udon - B+

By this point, I was already near capacity and ended up having to stuff some of my Tempura Udon at Sean. The udon was accompanied by mushrooms, carrots, and various veggies and was nothing extraordinary. The batter on the tempura was on the thicker side, but it was crispy with sufficient moisture inside.

Although they left out one of my items by mistake, the service was otherwise on point. I was actually somewhat glad about this since I was already very full. However, being very full was apparently not enough to stop me from spontaneously suggesting that we should have dessert afterward. That's one bubble tea and two large scoops of sorbet all in one evening, which I'm sure is totally healthy.

Episode #203: Sushi House

Richmond, $ (Budget)
www.sushihouse.ca

I'm only about 40% of the way to conquering all the sushi restaurants in Greater Vancouver, but there are some areas in which I've pretty much been to all the major sushi restaurants. Richmond is one of those areas. Unfortunately, a large majority of Greater Vancouver's escape game rooms seem to be located in Richmond. Tamsen and I were on a roll with our successful escapes, and we weren't going to let the trend stop. Once again, we did our usual routine: start the day with sushi, bubble tea our hearts out, solve a few escape rooms, and then stuff ourselves with dessert. I always feel "great" and "healthy" at the end of it all.

Things started off wonderfully as I arrived way too early and Tamsen had difficulties getting a ride on time. Snapchat was the only thing that prevented my fingers from turning into icicles. Going inside before noon, we found that there were already a good number of diners inside. The menu was quite extensive and featured many special rolls and Aburi sushi (seared sushi) options. Of course, I wasn't going to pass on the Aburi sushi.

Tuna Sashimi - C+

Salmon Sashimi - A-

We started off with a four-piece order of Tuna and Salmon Sashimi. The Tuna Sashimi was not particularly soft and tasted rather fishy. However, the Salmon Sashimi was served at a nice, cool temperature and had a fresh, buttery flavour. 

Ichi Roll - B-

Chopped Scallop Roll - B-

While we were trying to select a special roll, a typo on the menu caught our attention, which led us to ordering the Ichi Roll. They had called it the "Ich Roll" on the menu, and we deliberated over whether the roll would make us itch in some way until we discovered the typo. 

The Ichi Roll came with fresh crab, scallop, tamago, amaebi (sweet shrimp), tobiko, and avocado. The soy wrapper was very thin, and its sole purpose seemed to be to hold the roll together. The sweet tamago overpowered pretty much all the seafood inside the roll.

With the Chopped Scallop Roll, there wasn't enough scallop inside to give the roll a well-rounded sweet flavour. The scallop was overshadowed by the strong, nutty flavour of the sesame seeds on top.

Aburi Smoked Salmon Oshi - C

Kaede Roll - B+

Finally, we had two items from the Aburi page. The Aburi Smoked Salmon Oshi was surprisingly cheap (at just $6.50 for 8 pieces), but my soul died a little when I brought it to my mouth. There was virtually no seared flavour, and the smoked salmon tasted quite salty. It essentially tasted like an Alaska roll with a quarter of the avocado, double the rice, and salt as the garnish of choice instead of an appropriate sauce or vinaigrette. 

The Kaede Roll (with salmon, crab, ikura, cucumber, tobiko, and house sauce) was an attempt to imitate the signature Miku Roll at Miku. This fared much better than the Aburi Smoked Salmon Oshi. Here, there was a nice smoky flavour, along with lots of crunchy tobiko and some sweet imitation crab. The creamy sauce rounded off the flavours well, and I wished there was a little more of it.

The restaurant got slightly busy as peak lunch hours came around, but the service remained reasonably attentive throughout our visit. The food we had was largely hit-and-miss, and it seems that the cheap prices are what attracts customers to this restaurant. 

Episode #196: PSI Sushi & Roll

Surrey Northwest, $ (Budget)
www.facebook.com/sushirollsurrey

Ever since I was introduced to PSI Sushi & Roll back in 2013, I have been visiting it somewhat regularly. I have been to both locations and have ordered take out as well as dined in. Sushi & Roll is one of those budget sushi restaurants whose food is serviceable and does the job. Joanna and I were at SFU Surrey campus catching up with Xtrain and needed a quick lunch, so we went over to Sushi & Roll. On the way there, she pointed me to all these other delicious-looking restaurants, but when it comes to sushi, I won't give in to other temptations. At least not until I've had my sushi...

Although the dining space of Sushi & Roll is one of the largest among the sushi restaurants in town, it was still almost full when we got there. Since I already have a blog post about Sushi & Roll from before, I ordered a few things I haven't blogged about yet.

Seared Saba Nigiri - A-

Seared Toro Nigiri - B+

How could I not order seared nigiri when it is for less than $2 a piece? The Seared Saba Nigiri was very juicy and melty, to a point where it almost felt unnatural. I highly enjoyed the nice smoky flavour though. The Seared Toro Nigiri came with the same excellent smoky flavour, but parts of it were a bit dry.

Spicy Tuna Roll - B

Joanna had the Spicy Tuna Roll, which was nicely accented by sesame seeds and came with soft tuna. It would be nice to see the hot chili sauce integrated into the roll a bit better instead of just being piled on top.

Snow Angel Roll - B+

For my special roll, I had the Snow Angel Roll, which consisted of stir-fried salmon, wakame, and creamy sauce. The sheer amount of thick, creamy sauce on top made this roll look more like the Calories of Doom Roll than a Snow Angel Roll. However, to my surprise, the sauce actually worked well with the seaweed and the flaky, rich salmon inside. The wakame formed a net on top rather than separating nicely with the individual pieces of the roll, so grabbing one piece of the roll could potentially cause another piece to fall apart. Other than that, if you can get past the thick sauce, the flavours of the roll were decent.

Yes, we have already come to the end of this post. Did Joanna eat next to nothing? Did I finally decide to eat as much as a normal person even when there's sushi on the table? Nope. They forgot to place in two of my appetizers! It seems like I'm on a streak, as something similar happened in the previous episode as well. They were apologetic about it, but unfortunately, we couldn't stay any longer to wait for the missing dishes to arrive. I really needed my calories though, so we went to the nearby Chatime to fill ourselves up. 

Episode #193: Banzai Sushi House

Richmond, $ (Budget)
www.banzai-richmond.ca

Continuing with our theme of "the bigger the better," Sean, Patrick, Joanna and I headed over to the Vietnamese-operated Banzai Sushi House for dinner after going to Sushi Ville for lunch and visiting two ice cream places in between. If it weren't for Joanna suggesting that we exercise, we would have basically been eating non-stop. What did we do for exercise? We walked along the Stanley Park Seawall. Now, if you thought that we made it all the way around, you had overly high expectations for us. We walked like 15% of it before we decided that ice cream was more interesting and thus headed back to our car.

By the time we got to Banzai, I believe I was the only one who was actually in the mood for more sushi. Everyone else was either too exhausted and falling asleep or not even close to being hungry yet. However, by virtue of the divide-and-conquer method, we each sort of managed to sample a decent variety of dishes.

House Roll - B-

I learned from Sean that Banzai is the sister restaurant of Samurai and is known for its large portion sizes, but nothing could have prepared me for this. With tuna, salmon, tamago, crab meat, tobiko, and avocado all packed in there, the House Roll was a whopping 4 inches in diameter. Each piece of salmon and tuna inside could have been one legitimate piece of sashimi. I almost never have trouble picking up my sushi, but with this one, the struggle was real. I enjoyed the soft tuna, the creamy avocado and the sweet crab meat, but the sushi rice was quite bland and the salmon was a bit chewy.

Alaska Roll - C+

The Alaska Roll, which was slightly less intimidating in size, came with the same sweet crab meat and the same tough salmon. Without the sweetness from the tamago and the softness of the tuna, the tough salmon was more obvious here than in the House Roll.

Salmon Roll - C+

Spicy Tuna Roll - C

Usually, the quality of the sushi rice is less noticeable in a roll if there is less of it, but here, the rice was packed on like the whipping cream on a Starbucks Frappuccino. It was a little hard to taste the flavour of the salmon in the Salmon Roll, and the Spicy Tuna Roll ended up being almost non-spicy.

Prawn Tempura - B-

For our cooked item, we had the Prawn Tempura, which came with seven juicy prawns that had ample moisture and flavour. Unfortunately, the batter was hard and does not really have a nice crunch.

Unagi Nigiri - B-

Toro Nigiri - B

Ikura Nigiri - B-

The last obstacle I had to surpass was the attack of the jumbo nigiri (which I rearranged in the photo to only show the pieces that I had). If you asked me one thing I would recommend from this restaurant, it would be the toro. The toro was fresh, juicy, and melty. It was one of the best pieces of toro I have had in a while. The unagi, albeit a little fatty, had a nice smoky flavour, and the ikura provided a savoury burst of fish oils. 

The service we received was timely and friendly. Our server regularly came to ensure that things were in order. Banzai Sushi House satisfies a certain purpose, and that is to make you full and make your wallet happy at the same time. I'd be hard-pressed to find any other sushi place where I could get full with less than $15. Although I did not have enough stomach room for a full order of sashimi, it seems apparent that sashimi is one of their strengths. From what we tried, the salmon wasn't excellent, but the tuna and toro were both very fresh and enjoyable. 

Episode #192: Sushi Ville (2nd Visit)

Vancouver (Northeast), $ (Budget)

Whenever I have companions joining my sushi adventures, I always try to let them pick the restaurant. As long as it is a reasonable choice that won't likely give me food poisoning, I'm down. However, Joanna, Patrick, and Sean could not decide on one place to go. Sean's go-to restaurant was Banzai Sushi House, and Patrick is a loyal fan of Sushi Ville. Joanna just wanted to exercise and get ice cream. We ended up solving things the Raymond way: let's go to all three, one after another!

I had been to Sushi Ville once before and was not very impressed. However, Patrick persuaded me to give them a second chance by claiming that he was still alive after having been a regular there. Well, there was some truth to his words. There were also much fewer people this time (since we came on a weekday afternoon), so the food and the service should be better, right?

Giant House Roll - B-

I would never order the giant rolls myself, but for Sean and Patrick, it is all about the bang for the buck, so here we go. The sushi rice was about as crappy as before (it was too tightly packed and quite bland), but everything else seemed in order. With lettuce, cucumber, avocado, crab meat, salmon, tuna, and tamago, the Giant House Roll featured sweet tamago that complemented the crab meat well. It also came with mild wasabi mayonnaise on the side for those who would like more of a kick.

Giant Palm Beach Roll - B

The Giant Palm Beach Roll consisted of cucumber, crab meat, spicy tuna, and yam tempura. This was our favourite roll of the day. I believe it is also the reason Patrick is a regular of this place. The mildly spicy tuna did a good job of covering the blandness of the sushi rice. The yam tempura was pleasantly sweet, and together, the ingredients formed a nice mix of flavours.

Giant Spicy Crunchy Roll - B-

The Giant Spicy Crunchy Roll came with cucumber, avocado, spicy crab meat, and prawn tempura. This must have been the extra-giant version because we counted 14 pieces instead of the normal 10 for giant rolls. My table mates were more than pleased about the increase in quantity. Quality-wise, I felt that it was the weakest of the three rolls as the rice was too tightly packed, and the texture was a little hard around the edges. The batter inside was also quite greasy.

Tuna Gomae - B-

Next, the Tuna Gomae was very moist with a nice sesame flavour. However, none of us were fooled by the tuna, which tasted slightly fishy and was not very soft. The cutting of the pieces was not very clean either.

Beef Teriyaki with Rice - C+

Since I wanted to try a bit of everything, I insisted on getting an entree, so we ended up with the Beef Teriyaki with Rice. On my last visit, I had the Chicken in Soggy Wonderland, and this time, I was graciously presented with the Beef in Soggy Wonderland. What is up with their teriyaki?! Other than that, the teriyaki sauce provided a good amount of sweetness, and there was an abundance of cabbage and bean sprouts underneath, some of which were nice and soggy as well.

Joanna's Order

With fewer customers, the service was significantly better than on my last visit (when I was ignored for 15 minutes after getting a table). They even decorated Joanna's order to make it look like a work of art! The sushi was distinctly better than last time, and if only they worked on their sushi rice, the sushi would actually be decent. Perhaps I'll consider being a regular here if they get that fixed...