Episode #241: Jiro Sushi & Ramen

Vancouver (Northeast), $$ (Moderately Priced)

Besides "Have you been to Tojo's?", one other question I get asked a lot is "Have you been to Jiro's sushi restaurant? The really famous one in Japan?" While trying Sukiyabashi Jiro is on my bucket list, I am quite the procrastinator when it comes to making travel plans. Reservations at Sukibayashi Jiro are typically made at least 6 months in advance. Unfortunately, by the time I confirmed my travel dates to Japan, there were less than 6 weeks before departure. Not only were seats at Sukiyabashi Jiro long gone, but so were the seats at pretty much every other Michelin-starred restaurant in Japan. Not wanting to give up my dreams of eating sushi, I looked around for a close substitute and found Jiro Sushi & Ramen.

Jiro Sushi & Ramen is a new Chinese-operated Japanese restaurant with a clean interior featuring marbled tables and slim wooden chairs. Opening the menu, I found a good assortment of special rolls and an array of moderately priced items. There were also some cheaper options in terms of rolls and nigiri.

Kung Fu Roll - C+

One thing I lack in life is martial arts skills, so to make up for this deficiency, I went for the Kung Fu Roll, which consisted of spicy tuna, avocado, cucumber, salmon, seared tuna, grilled veggies, tempura oba, onions, masago, and orange. With its bright gold and red colours, the roll looked perfect for a Chinese New Year celebration. The spicy tuna inside the roll was pleasantly soft, and the orange slices were juicy and sweet (even though they weren't really part of the roll). Unfortunately, the obnoxious amount of hot chili sauce obscured the flavours of virtually everything else, and the roll was quite rice-heavy.

Tai Nigiri - B-
Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - B-
Toro Nigiri - B
Unagi Nigiri - B-

The Tai Nigiri was not too chewy, but not too flavourful either. The Sockeye Salmon Nigiri came with moderately fresh sockeye salmon, while the Toro Nigiri was soft and neatly constructed. The Unagi Nigiri, at $1.45 a piece, was the cheapest unagi nigiri I have come across in all of Greater Vancouver. It fared alright, though the thin cut dampened its impact. The sushi rice was also quite tightly packed and prevented me from enjoying the softer textures of the toppings.

Chicken & Scallop Teriyaki - B+
Tempura - B+

The Chicken & Scallop Teriyaki came with an option to add $2 for a few pieces of tempura. The teriyaki was the best-executed dish of the whole dinner, with juicy chicken and sweet scallops. If anything, the scallops could've been a little less well done. The tempura came with 2 prawns and 3 pieces of sweet potato. The batter could've used a little more crispiness, but the tempura was rich in flavour. The frying oil used to prepare the tempura was not overused.

The service during my visit was adequately friendly. However, my overall impression of the restaurant was that nothing truly stood out. Although there were no absolute blunders, my dinner lacked a dish enticing enough for me to come back for more. If I were looking for budget sushi, there are also cheaper options in the area. Will Jiro Sushi & Ramen find a way to captivate hearts like the famed Sukiyabashi Jiro in Japan?

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 #220: Torafuku

Vancouver (Northeast), $$$ (Higher Priced)
www.torafuku.ca

For a long time, I've known about Torafuku, the Asian fusion restaurant known for its quirkily named menu items. There's the Eat Yo Veggies, the Get in My Belly, the Magic Mushrooms, the Finding Dory, the Poke Her, and many more. Dine Out Vancouver presented a great opportunity for me to finally try Torafuku, but there was one caveat: the dishes had to be shared between two people. Since my only free day was Chinese New Year's Eve, finding someone to go with me proved almost impossible. I thought about calling in to ask what would happen if I have no friends, but fortunately, at the last moment, Lara came to the rescue.

The restaurant was packed when we arrived, with the reverberant walls and windows, things got quite loud inside. Since there isn't really a designated waiting area, everyone waiting for a seat just crowded around the door. Luckily, we had a reservation, so it wasn't long before we got a table.

Garlic Butter Popcorn - A-

While waiting for our orders to arrive, we received a generous, complimentary offering of Garlic Butter Popcorn. The garlic butter gave the popcorn a unique flavour, which both of us enjoyed.

Kickass Rice 3.0 - B+

Kicking off our entrées was the Kickass Rice 3.0, a roll with torched pork belly, furikake, cucumber, avocado, red shiso, miso mayonnaise, and Torafuku spicy sauce. I got a kick out of the fatty, tender pork, and the sauces provided a moderately spicy kick. However, the toppings, when combined, created a pizza-like flavour that obscured the pork. The kickass factor was just moderate with this one.

Calamari 2.0 - A-

The Calamari 2.0 consisted of crispy squid, brussel sprouts, local mushrooms, compressed apples, nero aioli, and angry tiger sauce (whatever that meant). It was spicy, and I liked how the batter on the squid was not hard. However, Lara found it a little oily, and I found the squid slightly weak in flavour. The juicy mushrooms that accompanied the calamari were truly kickass though.

(FOB) Fresh Off the Boat - A-

To celebrate our inner FOB, we chose the Fresh Off the Boat, a laksa with crab, scallops, prawns, clams, salmon, market veggies, and flaky puff pastry. Despite the name, the seafood tasted very Western to me with all the black pepper and spices on top. However, the laksa was creamy and hearty, and the scallops were very soft and juicy. The pastry tasted a lot like a cracker and could've been a little softer.

Magic Stick - A

The Magic Stick, our first dessert, featured strong, sweet chocolate ganache with a crispy layer feuilletine at the bottom. The texture was the true highlight here. On the side were a mix of berries and some condensed milk ice cream.

Milk and Cookie - A-

Our other dessert, the Milk and Cookie, was a vanilla panna cotta accompanied by a stick of black sesame shortbread. The shortbread was pleasantly sweet, while the panna cotta tasted fruity due to the addition of raspberry jam on top.

We found the service on point, and overall, the food was creative in a successful way. The prices are a little steep given the portion sizes and the location of the restaurant, but people come here for the innovation, or in my case, for the amusingly named dishes.

Episode #195: Sushi Loku (2nd Visit)

Vancouver (Northeast), $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.sushiloku.com

Looking for a restaurant to dine at on Labour Day required quite a bit of labour. Picky Diner and I would brainstorm a list of restaurants that we could visit, and I would call each one in turn only to find out that all of them were closed. Our laborious search finally came to an end when I discovered that Sushi Loku was open. I had visited Sushi Loku once before, but since then, I have seen many reviews and Instagram captions that suggest that Sushi Loku may be better than I made them out to be. The restaurant literally looks like Aburi heaven on Instagram. It was time for me to give them a second chance (not that I had much of a choice either).

On my first visit, the interior of the restaurant still retained the scent of the retro diner that used to be there before. Now, that scent was completely gone. They have tidied up the dining space, and the whole place was bustling with diners. Much to my surprise, we even had to wait 15 minutes for a table. From what I could see, there were three waitresses and five chefs on duty, each working hard to keep up with all the orders. It sometimes took some effort to get a hold of the servers.

Salmon Sashimi - A

Sockeye Salmon Sashimi - A-

Hamachi Sashimi - B

Tuna Sashimi - A

Toro Sashimi - A

Tai Sashimi - C+

Having heard good things about the sashimi, Picky Diner and I shared an order of Assorted Sashimi (18 pieces). We were quite pleased with most of the fish. Both types of salmon were very fresh and exhibited a delectably smooth texture. The tuna was very soft, and the toro melted perfectly in my mouth. The only piece that didn't really perform to expectations was the tai. It was remarkably fishy and chewy, and it tasted somewhat like I had grabbed a fishy-smelling fish from the dead fish section of a fish market and just started nibbling on it.

After finishing the last piece of the fishy tai, we then noticed something else that was fishy. We saw tables that had ordered after us almost finishing their food and getting ready to leave. Where was the rest of our food? It had been more than 50 minutes since we placed our order. When we inquired one of the servers, we discovered that they had forgotten to place the rest of our order in! Our server, who was new to the job, promptly came over to apologize several times and presented us with two complimentary miso soups.

Miso Soup - A-

Featuring tofu and green onion, this complimentary Miso Soup was one of the better ones I have had. The balance of ingredients was just right.

Aburi Beef Nigiri - B+

Aburi Hamachi Nigiri - A-

Aburi Salmon Nigiri - B+

Aburi Toro Nigiri - A

The Aburi Beef Nigiri was meaty with a wasabi-like zing to it. The garlic chip that accompanied gave the beef more of a punch. The Aburi Hamachi Nigiri (which Picky Diner had and rated) was also decent, though it did fall apart (I don't usually consider this to be a problem). The Aburi Salmon Nigiri was a little weaker in flavour, but the wasabi on top sort of compensated for that. Finally, the Aburi Toro Nigiri came with some deliciously soft toro accompanied by a hit of spicy ponzu that was not overwhelming. 

Magma Roll - B

Since I lack the skills to pick items from a menu in a reasonable amount of time, I had Picky Diner choose our special roll. We agreed to get something Aburi-related (seared), so we had the Magma Roll, which came with crab meat, avocado, chopped scallop, masago, spicy mayonnaise, and teriyaki sauce. It was just like a California roll with chopped scallop randomly placed on top. I say "randomly" because the ingredients did not really work together that well. The spicy sauce provided more flavour than the searing, but I did like the soft scallop and how the pieces were bite-sized.

Ebi Mayo - C-

Unfortunately, our dinner took a downturn with the Ebi Mayo. It reminded me of a certain unpleasant experience I had at Okoman Sushi. Yes, it tasted like they mixed up their box of tempura batter with their bottle of glue. The "batter" here was gummy, not crispy at all, and rather gross. The prawns themselves were slightly overdone. Flavour-wise, Picky Diner remarked that the Ebi Mayo tasted like lemon chicken.

Oshisushi Negi Toro - B

Normally, the goal with Aburi sushi is to create a rich, creamy, and buttery flavour accented by a smokiness that lights up your taste buds. When we looked at the Aburi section of the menu, we were scratching our heads over why almost all the choices contained either balsamic or ponzu sauce. We decided to try out the Oshisushi Negi Toro, which came with seared tuna, green onion, and ponzu sauce. Much to my surprise, the tangy ponzu sauce actually worked. The only issue was that there wasn't enough tuna, so the oshisushi tasted a little rice-heavy.

The servers appeared to be overwhelmed, but they were still able to give us friendly service. However, we did have to stay in the restaurant for a full two hours to finish our meal. At least we had our cameras to entertain, and in my case, my notebook as well. My verdict? Both the atmosphere and the food have improved since my last visit, but the food still wasn't always as stellar as it looked. They're getting there though.

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...

Episode #190: Maruyama

Vancouver (Northeast), $$$$ (Luxury)
www.maruyamavancouver.com

After trying the nigiri omakase at Maumi, I went for a nigiri omakase at Maruyama to compare the two. I needed all the fancy sushi I could get to refuel myself before the start of the fall semester. Plus, there's hardly anything wiser to do than breaking the bank just before I have to pay tuition. I first learned about Maruyama through a recommendation from Grayelf, one of Vancouver's most knowledgeable foodies. She had had a few great experiences there, so I thought it would be most fitting for the two of us to go together since she would have the best insights regarding what to order.

The master at Maruyama is Chef Yoshiya Maruyama, who previously worked at Blue Water Cafe in Yaletown. Maruyama does not quite have the elaborate, elegant ambiance that Blue Water Cafe does, but the atmosphere could still be described as classy. Chef Maruyama's height may be a bit intimidating, but he is very friendly. At the bar, we conversed about various topics ranging from the habitats of particular kinds of seafood to his experiences at other nearby omakase restaurants.

Grayelf and I wanted to try his best selection of sushi, but since neither of us cared much about uni, we opted for the $60 ten-piece premium omakase.

Hirame Nigiri - A-

Our omakase commenced with the Hirame Nigiri (fluke). The fluke had a pleasant sweet flavour, though the application of wasabi was a little too heavy for me. The sushi rice was decent here, but not made with utmost precision until around the third or fourth piece.

Isaki Nigiri - A

Our next piece, the Isaki Nigiri (three-line grunt), had a richer flavour than the Hirame and a very smooth texture.

Aji Nigiri - A

With the Aji Nigiri (horse mackerel), I enjoyed the addition of grated ginger and green onion, which provided a nice zing to the nigiri and helped to balance out any fishiness with the aji. The aji itself had a nice, rich flavour.

Kuro Dai Nigiri - A-

The Kuro Dai Nigiri (black sea bream) had a bouncy chewiness and a rich sweetness, along with a very smooth texture. The wasabi was once again a little heavy here.

Madai Nigiri - A

The Madai Nigiri (sea bream) had a sweet, scallop-like flavour. By this point, the sushi rice and the balance of wasabi were excellent with every piece. 

Mejina Nigiri - A

The Mejina Nigiri (large-scale blackfish) had a chewier, meatier texture. Freshness was very apparent with this one.

Kin Medai Nigiri - A

Slightly milder in flavour was the Kin Medai Nigiri (premium red snapper), which had a slight chew. Looking closely at the nigiri, you can see the red scales of the snapper.

Itoyori Nigiri - A+

One piece that really hit the target for us was the Itoyori Nigiri (golden threadfin bream). With an extremely soft and melty texture, this piece of nigiri was so delicate that it almost fell apart when I tried to pick it up. A slight hit of wasabi (no overage of it this time) perfectly complemented the rich flavour of the itoyori. 

Renkodai Nigiri - A

In comparison, the Renkodai Nigiri (yellowback sea bream) had a milder flavour. A lighter application of wasabi was used to accommodate for this. 

Bluefin Otoro Nigiri - A+

The finale of our nigiri omakase was a piece of Bluefin Otoro Nigiri. At $15 a piece (if ordered separately), this broke the record for the most expensive piece of nigiri I have ever had. Just five years ago, I would think that $2 for a piece of nigiri was too much. How times have changed! However, the price was justified as the bluefin otoro exhibited a fantastic, marbly texture. It produced the perfect umami explosion when placed in your mouth. I will say without hesitation that this was the best piece of bluefin otoro that I have had so far. Due to sustainability issues, I expect this to be the last piece of bluefin tuna I have this year, unless it is served to me as part of a nigiri/sashimi set.

Of course, ten pieces of nigiri would never make me full, so I asked for Grayelf's advice on some other dishes to get. We ended up getting the Organic Eggplant Agedashi and the Premium Homemade Udon. 

Organic Eggplant Agedashi - A

The Organic Eggplant Agedashi came with several small, cute pieces of eggplant with a debatably appropriate appearance. Graced with daikon and green onion, the eggplant was very juicy and absorbed the flavour of the broth well. They cleverly made many incisions into the sides of the eggplant to make it much easier to chew.

Premium Homemade Udon (half portion) - B+

Upon hearing that Grayelf and I wanted to split the Premium Homemade Udon, the staff offered to the split the udon between the two of us. The udon noodles were much thinner than regular udon noodles but still had a good amount of chewiness. The daikon, kombu (seaweed), and bean curd all complemented each other nicely. Deep-fried crumbs added savouriness to the udon, but also made the udon broth a little too strong and greasy flavour-wise.

We received professional and friendly service from both Chef Maruyama and the staff. Quality and careful preparation were apparent in every dish. I found the consistency of the nigiri omakase here to be better than what I had at Sushi Bar Maumi. However, Sushi Bar Maumi's omakase is cheaper and offers more variety. If you have wise spending habits like me and allocate a lot of your expenses towards sushi, I would say that both Sushi Bar Maumi and Maruyama are worth visiting.