Episode #215: Victoria Sushi (2nd Visit)

New Westminster, $$ (Moderately Priced)

Every now and then, I like to motivate my friends to get good grades by offering to treat them to sushi if they do well in their courses. Last semester, I offered to treat Patrick and Sean to Victoria Sushi if they each got at least an A in a course specified by me. I expected this to be reasonably challenging, but little did I know that Patrick would try to obtain that A by studying at least 6 hours virtually every day throughout the semester. He turned down sushi adventures, weekend parties, and even raves that he already had tickets for just to study. I don't think I could have studied that much even if my reward was a two-month trip to Japan. Nonetheless, both Patrick and Sean got their A's, and off we went to Victoria Sushi.

Taking transit to Victoria Sushi is not exactly an easy task. The last time I visited Victoria Sushi, I tried to walk there from Columbia Station and got hopelessly lost. This time, Patrick offered to drive me there instead. However, due to the darkness of the night, we ended up on the wrong lane and were forced to go all the way to Surrey, which caused Patrick to start low-key raging. What should have been a three-minute drive ended up taking us more than 20 minutes.

The last time I visited Victoria Sushi was in 2014, when they first started rolling out their Aburi offerings. Since then, the restaurant has become much busier, and the menu was expanded to include a full range of Aburi options. Victoria Sushi previously held the 4th place spot in my books for the best Aburi Salmon Oshi (behind Miku, Minami, and Green Leaf), and I was interested to see whether they had kept up the quality over the years.

Salmon Roll - B

Chicken Teriyaki Roll - B

We started off with two simple rolls. We found the rice in the Salmon Roll rather sticky, and other than that, there was nothing particularly remarkable about the roll. The Chicken Teriyaki Roll came with tender chicken, but would have benefited from a stronger grilled flavour.

Soy Ginger Duck Miso Yaki - B

Going for something more adventurous, I selected the Soy Ginger Duck Miso Yaki. The duck was rather fatty, but was not as tender as we expected. The seasoning on the duck provided a slight spiciness, but it was hard to detect any miso flavour.

Salmon Oshi - A-

Scallop Oshi - A-

Beef Oshi - B+

Our three orders of oshi sushi came in a marvelous checkered display. The creamy oshi sauce on top of the Salmon Oshi and the Scallop Oshi was seared to create an excellent, well-rounded savoury flavour. The Beef Oshi, made with AAA tenderloin beef, was topped with onion and garlic mayonnaise. Overall, the toppings on each type of oshi were well-prepared, while the rice was overly sticky and too tightly packed. I later learned that we had come on an off day, as the rice issue was fixed on a subsequent visit.

Prawn Tempura - A

Due to the overly sticky rice, the Prawn Tempura ended up being the highlight of our dinner. The prawns were delicious, juicy and fried to just the right amount of crispiness. The amount of batter on the prawns was perfect. I would have gotten ten orders of this if I had the stomach room.

Boneless Karaage - A-

We were almost full at this point (we also had a Deluxe Bento, which I covered in Episode 39), but we decided to go for one last dish—the Chicken Karaage. It was pleasantly juicy and crispy, but could have been better with an additional sprinkling of spices.

Shime-Saba Oshi - A

A few days after our dinner together, Sean went back to Victoria Sushi and reported to me that he would give the Shime-Saba Oshi an A+. Since Sean almost never gives out A+'s for anything, that prompted me to return to the restaurant just to try the Shime-Saba Oshi (along with the fact that I had forgotten to take a picture of the restaurant). The oshi did not disappoint, and this time, the sushi rice was indeed packed correctly. The saba was savoury without being overly salty, and the soft texture of the saba was a perfect match for the rice underneath.

Despite the restaurant being rather busy, we were not disappointed with the service. It was too bad we encountered minor rice problems with our oshi, but Victoria Sushi remains one of the top places for affordable oshi in my records. If Victoria Sushi was in a more convenient location, I would undoubtedly become a regular.

Episode #204: Sushi Heaven

New Westminster, $ (Budget)
www.sushiheaven.ca

Sometimes, university will force you to push your limits and reach new highs. That's what I experienced this past month. I always thought I needed at least 4 hours of sleep to survive a day of lectures, but it turns out that I could push this limit down to 2 hours. All I needed was a ridiculous amount of bubble teas and frappuccinos to help me reach enough sugar highs to get through the day. I didn't really have a choice due to the never-ending slew of difficult assignments, quizzes, and projects I had to complete. To give myself a break from my hellish schedule, I dragged xSupaD with me to visit Sushi Heaven in New Westminster.

Sushi Heaven is a moderately small, Korean-operated Japanese restaurant located near Ikoi Sushi in the north part of New Westminster. The variety of items on the menu was largely in line with other Korean-operated Japanese restaurants in the vicinity. There were special rolls, seared sushi, bento boxes... you name it. The restaurant had a nice bleach scent when I walked in, which meant that we got to enjoy the clean bathroom scent for the first half of our lunch.

Tuna & Salmon Don - B

First to make it to our table was the Tuna & Salmon Don. The salmon was fresh, creamy, buttery, and really soft. The tuna was not fishy, but not particularly soft either. Both of us found the sushi rice overly sticky, and it was slightly too warm as well.

Seared Toro Nigiri - B+

Seared Salmon Nigiri - A-

Of course, there is no seeing seared sushi on the menu and not ordering it. The Seared Toro Nigiri was soft, juicy, and quite full of fish oil. It was seared the right amount, and I also liked how it was seasoned for more flavour. The Seared Salmon Nigiri had a good amount of spicy mayonnaise to highlight the seared flavour of the salmon, but we found the teriyaki sauce quite heavy.

Unagi Nigiri - B

Arriving on a separate plate (darn the fact I had to take one more picture because of this), the Unagi Nigiri came with some crunchy seaweed. I would have liked a more smoky flavour on the unagi itself.

Appetizer Tempura - B

Next, the Appetizer Tempura came with four sizable pieces of tempura: carrot, sweet potato, prawn, and zucchini. Funny enough, even though I am totally a meat person, I ended up enjoying all the vegetables more than the prawn. The vegetables were all sliced to appropriate thicknesses and were pleasantly juicy, while the flavour of the prawn was obscured by the very thick layer of batter surrounding it. The batter itself was quite greasy and rather mediocre.

Chicken Teriyaki Roll - C+

Moving onto the sushi, the Chicken Teriyaki Roll was quite rice-heavy, and the sushi rice turned out rather mushy. There wasn't enough chicken to balance out the rice.

Spicy Tuna Crunch Roll - B-

Since xSupaD really enjoys crunchy tempura bits, we had the Spicy Tuna Crunch Roll, which consisted of spicy tuna, crunchy tempura bits, spicy mayonnaise, and teriyaki sauce. Well, the best part of this roll turned out to be the crunchy tempura bits. Unfortunately, I couldn't get over the mushy sushi rice, and the tempura bits felt randomly sprinkled on rather than integrated into the roll due to the contrast in texture between the rice and the tempura bits.

Spicy Salmon Roll - C+

Our final dish was the Spicy Salmon Roll. I felt apprehensive about this roll as soon as I saw the amount of rice in each of the pieces. I think we already know what I'm going to say...

We received decent service during our visit. Overall, the restaurant's most attractive features were the good prices and the wide selection of items on the menu. The food itself was a little hit-and-miss, and the sushi rice needed some work. In either case, the food did the work, and I enjoyed a nice four-hour-long food coma afterward. I guess food comas last longer when you only sleep 2 hours a day. 

Episode #134: Sushi Paradise

New Westminster, $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.sushiparadise.ca

After surviving the deathly combination of midterms, assignments, and group projects for the semester, I finally had a few moments of spare time. I really wanted to have a vacation to reward myself for my hard work, but because I still had classes to attend and finals to prepare for, I decided to "vacation" at Sushi Paradise. The restaurant donned ocean-themed decorations and played exotic ukulele music. What more could I ask for?

Sushi Paradise is Japanese-operated and focuses on takeout, though they do have a few tables inside. You order and pay at the front, but there is a server who brings the food to your table. One unique feature of their menu is that you can order mini versions of their Teriyaki Donburi and Udon dishes, which is perfect for people like me who like try as many dishes as possible.

All of my food came out almost simultaneously. I wasn't especially hungry, so I didn't order a lot of food this time.

Paradise Roll - B+

The Paradise Roll, at $6.98, was the most expensive roll on the menu, and going by the logic that expensive things should be better, I decided to order it. It consisted of tuna, salmon, unagi, tamago, inari, fish roe, and vegetables. The individual ingredients were well-executed. In particular, the tamago was soft and fluffy, while the unagi had a tasty smoky flavour. I found it interesting how the inari had rice inside it - it was like having a piece of nigiri inside a sushi roll! Some of the ingredients got lost in the mix, but as a whole, the roll tasted decent.

Hamachi Nigiri - B

Toro Nigiri - C+

Amaebi Nigiri - A

Chop² Nigiri - B+

The Hamachi Nigiri had a light flavour and a smooth texture. It was not outstanding, and I thought that the sushi rice could have more flavour. The Toro Nigiri was sliced too thin, so it was lacking in flavour and did not exhibit a melty texture. However, the Amaebi Nigiri was excellent. The sushi rice was packed correctly, and the amaebi tasted like fresh spot prawns melting in my mouth. The Chop² Nigiri, which was essentially Chopped Scallop Nigiri, came with fresh, creamy scallop and was wrapped with a slightly crispy piece of seaweed.

Mini Tempura Udon - C+

Next, I had the Mini Tempura Udon, and for $4.98, it was a fair deal. The udon noodles were on the softer side, and the broth was quite standard fare. Unfortunately, the tempura prawn that came with the udon was poorly executed, as the batter was hard on one side and soft and soggy on the other. Did they accidentally drop it into the udon broth and then pull it back out? After one bite, I just dunked the rest of the tempura into the broth so that it would at least be consistently soggy.

Mini Chicken Don - B

I found the Mini Chicken Don ($4.28) to be more filling than the udon. It was also executed better and came with fresh, tender chicken and well-cooked rice. The colourful assortment of green beans, bell pepper, daikon, and ginger made the donburi more visually appealing. The only issue I had was that the thick consistency of the teriyaki sauce made the chicken and the rice taste mushy (even though they were not in fact mushy). 

The staff at Sushi Paradise were quite friendly, and most of the sushi items were decent. After all, it's Sushi Paradise and not Udon and Donburi Paradise. The restaurant's location behind Royal City Centre in New Westminster makes it hard to find, and this is further complicated by New Westminster's insanely confusing street-naming system. I managed to get off at the right bus stop, but it took me almost fifteen minutes to locate the restaurant because I kept mixing the diagonal streets and avenues up. At the very least, I got my exercise for the week.

Episode #109: Kojima Sushi

New Westminster, $ (Budget)

My mom and my sister really wanted to eat Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi after hearing me rave about Green Leaf Sushi. Since Green Leaf Sushi was a long drive for us, I suggested that my dad drive us all to Victoria Sushi instead, another restaurant from which I had had excellent Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi. However, when we got to Victoria Sushi, we saw several police cars and a policeman hurriedly exiting the restaurant. A helicopter whirred noisily over our heads. Despite all the commotion, my mom still wanted to eat at Victoria Sushi. However, the rest of us did not want to be the cat who was killed by curiosity, so we headed towards Uptown New West.

As we passed by Kojima Sushi, we saw many people hurriedly entering the restaurant. We immediately stopped the car. Thinking that the restaurant must be serving reasonably fresh food due to a high volume of customers, we entered the restaurant only to find out that it was only half full. Oh well, we were already inside and ready to eat my favourite food, so I began my half-hour-long process of meticulously planning out what choices to go with for each combo...

Tuna Sashimi - B

Salmon Sashimi - B+

The Tuna and Salmon Sashimi came in huge slices, and the sashimi was undoubtedly fresh. The Salmon Sashimi had an enticing buttery flavour and a smooth texture. However, both types of sashimi were a bit chewy, and there were a few tendons scattered among the pieces of tuna.

One of the combos on the front page was a Mix & Match Combo, which allowed you to choose three items from a list for $9.95. However, for me, picking the three items was like answering an interview question - after eons in deep thought, I still had no idea how to proceed, and everyone around me started to get impatient. My mom took over and whimsically suggested the Spicy Tuna Roll.

Spicy Tuna Roll - A

The Spicy Tuna Roll tasted surprisingly good! Loaded with just the right amount of spice, the tuna was soft and melty, and its flavour was accentuated by the sesame seeds sprinkled on top. 

Prawn Tempura - C+

The prawn in the Prawn Tempura had a decent rich flavour, but the frying oil for the tempura was evidently overused. As a result, the prawn was overly hard and crunchy. 

Tako Yaki - A

Each of us had one piece of Tako Yaki, but I ate mine too quickly and had to temporarily eject it from my mouth to avoid burning my tongue since it was served very hot. However, I suspected that the Tako Yaki was otherwise very good, and my sister and my dad both gave it an A, which confirmed my beliefs. The flour filling was very soft, and the exterior had just a hint of crispiness. The piece of octopus was well-flavoured and had a good amount of chewiness. 

Dragon Roll - B+

The Dragon Roll consisted of prawn tempura, avocado, cucumber, tobiko and unagi. Other than the frying oil issue for the prawn tempura, the roll was well-constructed. The unagi was savoury, and the avocado was fresh while rich in flavour. Overall, there was a good harmony of flavours.

Next, the Combo A arrived. This was a lot of food for just $8.99!

Chicken Teriyaki Don - A-

The Chicken Teriyaki Don was nicely pan-fried and dressed with ample teriyaki sauce. The chicken was tender, and the skin was crispy and delicious.

Tempura - C+

The Combo A came with one piece each of prawn tempura, yam tempura, kabocha tempura, and sweet potato tempura. My dad got out his handy dandy pair of scissors so that I could try a bite-sized piece out of each one. Again, the batter was unappetizingly hard. Out of all the pieces, the yam was the best, being sweet and sufficiently moist. We were all happy to let my sister have a few extra pieces of tempura as she seems to be fine with tempura of any quality. 

Udon - B-

The Udon worked well as a filler to conclude the meal. The dashi broth was a bit mild, but it had a heavy essence of kombu. The udon noodles were on the softer side.

One of the most remarkable parts of the meal was the bill. For all that food, the bill was under $40 (before tips). With the exception of the tempura, the food was quite well-prepared, especially for the price range. The service was sparse, but our server tried to be friendly. For a restaurant we just randomly stumbled into, we were all satisfied with our dinner. Funny enough, my mom mentioned going to Victoria Sushi again as I type this post. She must have contracted my addiction to Aburi sushi!

Episode #90: Hi, Dozo Sushi

New Westminster, $$ (Moderately Priced)

While everyone else was having fun at the International Night Market celebrating with loads of delicious-looking food, I was stuck at home celebrating the two-week anniversary of my gracious mouth sore. That meant no fried or spicy goodies for me, but nothing stops me from having sushi. Not wanting to venture out too far, my dad drove me to New Westminster and picked Hi, Dozo Sushi based on appearance alone. Funny enough, this was the restaurant I was thinking of in my mind.

Hi, Dozo Sushi is a moderately large restaurant situated in Uptown New Westminster. The staff cleverly placed the patrons so that the restaurant looked empty and deserted even though it was half full. However, the seating was quite comfortable as a result so I'll give them that. Looking at the menu, I found a large variety of dishes (including two pages of special rolls!). 

 The Dinner Combos

 

It didn't take me long to realize that pretty much every special roll and combo contained something fried, something spicy, or cream cheese. Oh great. Not wanting to spend more for less, I got the Sashimi Dinner Combo, which came with Miso Soup, a California Roll, 8 pieces of sashimi, Chicken Teriyaki, Gomae, Agedashi Tofu, and Appetizer Tempura (some other choices are possible as shown in the picture above). A little fried food won't hurt, right?

 Miso Soup - B

As mentioned in previous episodes, my dad pretty much only likes hot food, so I let him have the Miso Soup. He gave it a B, saying that it was a bit salty, lacking in green onion and tofu, and neither good nor bad overall.

The rest of the dinner combo came in a large lunch box. There wasn't a chance that I could refrain from having any of the tempura, because it looked and smelled good. At the very least, I had that healthy slice of watermelon plopped in the middle to balance things out!

Appetizer Tempura - A-

The Appetizer Tempura came with 2 prawns and 1 piece each of kabocha, green bean, yam and sweet potato. I found the batter to be a touch heavy in places, but other than that, there was much to like about the tempura. The prawns were rich and savoury in flavour and the kabocha, yam, and sweet potato had just the right amount of sweetness.

California Roll - B+

Tuna Sashimi - B

Tai Sashimi - A

Hokkigai Sashimi - B+

Salmon Sashimi - A-

The California Roll was on the smaller side and otherwise quite typical. The avocado was sufficiently creamy and the crab meat was sufficiently sweet. The Tuna Sashimi had a balanced taste and displayed neat knife skills, but was not particularly soft. The Tai Sashimi was the best as it was fresh, not overly chewy, and had a decent sweetness to it. The Hokkigai Sashimi was cut to the right thickness and the Salmon Sashimi had a nice smooth sheen.

Gomae - B

The Gomae was pretty standard fare. The spinach was not particularly easy to chew, but the sesame sauce was adequately rich.

Chicken Teriyaki - C+

The chicken in the Chicken Teriyaki was tender, but the sauce was terrible. The sauce had a gravy-like consistency to it and caused the skin to be very mushy. My dad, who normally loves Chicken Teriyaki, absolutely refused to eat it and went for the sashimi instead. Time for me to be the trash can. I had to mentally picture that I was eating turkey dipped in gravy to get through this obstacle.

Agedashi Tofu - C+

Unfortunately, the Agedashi Tofu was nowhere near as good as the tempura. I found the batter too crispy and the tofu rather bland. Maybe it would help if it actually came in some sauce.

Queen Roll - B+

Not wanting to get a special roll too large for me to finish, I went for the Queen Roll, which came with smoked salmon, prawn tempura, yam tempura, avocado, and lettuce. The smoked salmon had a fresh taste and the tempura was well-executed. The avocado helped blend all the flavours together.

There isn't much to say about the service because there wasn't very much of it. As for the food, there were some hits and some misses. However, it seems that they do know what they are good at as there are so many fried dishes on the menu! I found the prices to be quite reasonable for the amount and the quality of the food. As I was leaving the restaurant, I crossed paths with the beautiful aroma of aburi sushi. Uh oh, did I skim the menu too quickly? Well, that's one more thing to add to the list of things I missed out on these days...

Episode #81: Ikoi Sushi

New Westminster, $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.ikoisushi.ca

Ikoi Sushi is a new authentic Japanese restaurant in New Westminster that was first brought to my attention when it earned the status of "hidden gem" on Sherman's Food Adventures. It wasn't located in the most convenient of places for someone who travels mainly by bus, so I had been putting it off for a while. However, when food connoisseur LotusRapper recommended Ikoi Sushi to me, I decided to try the restaurant as soon as I could despite the transportation issues.

Indeed, transportation issues abounded that day. The bus that I needed to take to get to Braid Station never arrived, and I ended up just walking to the restaurant from Braid Station since my timings were already messed up. When I opened the door to the restaurant, I was hit with the exquisite fragrance of a fish market. The fragrance became unnoticeable as soon as I sat down at my table, and instead, I quickly noticed that all of the other diners at that time were Japanese, which made for a more authentic experience.

Fire Dragon Roll - A

Ikoi Sushi takes their time preparing the dishes, and after 15 minutes, the first item to arrive was the Fire Dragon Roll. It was a spicy tuna roll topped with BBQ eel and special sauce. The tuna was soft and not overwhelmed by the small amount of chili powder that was used to make it mildly spicy. The unagi was deliciously seared and the sesame seeds added additional flavour to the roll.

Next came everything from the Lunch Special D that I ordered. Well, everything except for the Miso Soup. I assumed that they were complying with the Japanese tradition that Miso Soup should be served at the end of the meal, so I didn't ask about it at first.

Tuna Sashimi - A

Salmon Sashimi - A

Hokkigai Sashimi - A-

The sashimi was a delightful start to the lunch special. All of the pieces were presented neatly and tasted fresh. The tuna was soft just like in the Fire Dragon Roll and the salmon had a delicious buttery sweetness to it. The hokkigai was thinly sliced so that it would not be overly chewy. 

Green Salad - B-

The Green Salad was served in a rather large portion for a lunch set. The lettuce leaves were dressed in a rather tangy Japanese salad dressing. There was too little of the dressing to provide flavour to the whole salad.

Chicken Teriyaki - A-

The tender chicken in the Chicken Teriyaki had a nice smoky flavour. Underneath the chicken was a thin bed of soba noodles that was very lightly stir fried. I enjoyed the softness of the noodles, but I would have preferred a bit more sauce for the noodles.

Miso Soup - A-

After observing other diners, it became apparent that they had simply forgotten to serve me the Miso Soup at the beginning. I asked the server for the Miso Soup (she was really apologetic about it) and it was quickly brought to me. The Miso Soup was served at a nice hot temperature with green onion and tofu and it had a well-balanced mixture of dashi broth and miso paste. 

Aburi Toro Nigiri - B+

Aburi Saba Nigiri - A-

At Ikoi Sushi, Aburi (seared) nigiri is available for an extra $0.25. The Aburi Toro Nigiri was very juicy and came with quite a thick, generous cut. One corner of the toro was over-seared and ended up being a bit hard, but otherwise, it was decent. The saba was delightfully soft and successfully seared, while the sushi rice was well-made for both pieces of nigiri.

The servers were quite friendly throughout my entire visit, though it got a little hard to get their attention once the restaurant became packed. Needless to say, when I tried to pay my bill at the counter, there happened to be 10 people in line trying to do the same thing! Ikoi Sushi is a nice example of how location isn't everything when operating a business. Affordable prices and well-prepared (as well as authentically prepared) food can work just as well. The food was definitely worth the transportation issues!