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 #177: Kawa Sushi

Vancouver (Southeast), $ (Budget)
www.kawasushi.weebly.com

One of the most horrific things that can happen to anyone in the world just happened to me. Yes, my shower drain got clogged. To make matters worse, there was a pool of discoloured water left in the shower base, and neither a plunger nor a wire hook would clear up the blockage. I tried to brainstorm a few possible causes of this catastrophe, which included a dead rodent in the pipes, a tree branch growing in the wrong place, or perhaps a very plump spider, which would be the most terrifying of nightmares. After nearly spraining my back trying to unclog the drain and almost falling face-first into the crap-infused water, all I fished out were a few stray pieces of hair. I give up. Since I had no way of using the shower, I decided to cleanse myself by going for some sushi instead.

Being the classic indecisive me, I had my office mates help me pick out a restaurant. After they had mentioned about 20 different sushi restaurants that I had previously tried and blogged about, one of them came up with Kawa Sushi. I had never heard of this Japanese restaurant before (which is rare for me), so off I went to try it.

When I went inside, it smelled as if they had decorated the whole place with Chinatown-flavored air fresheners. Well, pretty much all the neighbouring shops and businesses were Chinese, so maybe that makes it okay? The dining area was nothing fancy, although the menus were clean and nicely designed. The menu featured many low-priced items, and the restaurant got quite busy soon after I had ordered.

Unagi Nigiri - B-

Saba Nigiri - C

Toro Nigiri - A-

Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - C+

Chopped Scallop Cone - B

The Unagi Nigiri tasted like no other unagi I have come across. It was lightly fried and also a bit tough. The Saba Nigiri was a little disappointing as the saba was fishy, and the rice was too tightly packed. The Toro Nigiri was the best piece of nigiri, featuring soft, melty, delicious toro. The Sockeye Salmon Nigiri surprisingly went for $1.10 a piece (far cheaper than another other Sockeye Salmon Nigiri I have seen), but unfortunately, it did not taste very fresh. The Chopped Scallop Cone came with delightfully soft and sweet scallops, but the seaweed that encased it was rather tough. About two bites in, my cone disintegrated into what looked like a DIY sushi kit randomly dumped onto a dish...

Shrimp Tempura Salad - C

I ordered this purely for its novelty, but I was a little concerned when it arrived. The panko batter felt rather hard, and there was very little shrimp meat inside the shrimp tempura. Moving down the salad, the bell peppers and the zingy carrot-based vinaigrette went together about as well as a toddler and an out-of-tune piano. The vinaigrette was also too acidic for my liking. The only plus to this dish was its generous portion size.

BBQ Prawn & Bacon - B+

Faring much better was the BBQ Prawn & Bacon, which came with four plump BBQ prawns wrapped with a flavourful layer of bacon. There was sufficient moisture throughout the prawns, and this was undoubtedly my favourite dish during my visit. It would be nice if the tails were fully removed from the prawns. 

Kym Roll - C+

The Kym Roll consisted of asparagus, tuna, avocado, tuna tataki, spicy sauce, onion, and "garlic flashes." There were many special rolls on the menu, but I decided to order this one because the word "flashes" was very intriguing to me. The "garlic flashes" added a nice crunch to the roll, and the amount of spiciness was very right. Unfortunately, the tuna tasted very wrong. The tuna on top was unevenly seared and tasted fishy, while the tuna inside had as much flavour as the plain, watery congee my mom used to make me eat if I consumed too much junk food.

The waitress was remarkably hardworking and efficient at providing friendly and attentive service to every patron. I was very impressed. If all women were like that, the world would be a fantastic place. Based on this visit, cooked food seemed to be Kawa Sushi's strength, whereas the freshness for some types of raw fish became problematic. The prices here are some of the most budget-friendly that I have seen in this region, but the quality of the food appears to match those prices.

Episode #154: Asakusa Sushi

Burnaby South, $ (Budget)

I was all set to go on another sushi adventure to Steveston, but unfortunately, my school day ran a little longer than expected. By the time I arrived at Metrotown, the skies were already darkening, and I was so famished that I didn't have the energy to sleep on any more buses (if that makes any sense). Perhaps having only a bowl of instant noodles for breakfast and a frappuccino for lunch wasn't a good idea after all. I had to cut my trip short and just dine at a random sushi restaurant near Metrotown. The first one I came across was Asakusa Sushi, and seeing that it was quite busy, I decided to step in and give it a try.

Asakusa Sushi is one of the few Vietnamese-operated Japanese restaurants in Greater Vancouver. The menu was filled with cheap lunch combos and dinner combos. Looking at the tables beside me, I also saw that the sashimi cuts were quite generous. Unfortunately, they didn't have an Appetizer Sashimi, so I went for the nigiri instead.

Miso Soup - B

I first had the Dinner #2 combo (Tempura, Beef Teriyaki, and a BC Roll), which came with a Miso Soup. The Miso Soup contained green onion, seaweed, and tofu. I liked how it was not too salty, but the miso paste tasted a little off. It reminded me of a broth rather than regular miso paste.

Tempura - B-

Beef Teriyaki - C+

When the first dish came, I was rather puzzled. Why was the tempura taking a dip in a pool of teriyaki sauce? Why was it even placed on the same plate as the teriyaki?! I tried to rescue the tempura from the sauce once I had taken a photo of it, but by that time, the zucchini tempura and the eggplant tempura had already fused together with a mush of soggy batter in the middle. Uh oh...

There were two pieces of prawn tempura and one piece each of zucchini, eggplant, and yam. The underlying ingredients were fresh, juicy, and savoury. The prawns were the best of the bunch, but they were coated with way too much batter. The vegetables, on the other hand, had soggy batter due to the teriyaki sauce. I couldn't really decide which I preferred. Moving on, the beef in the Beef Teriyaki was rather tough, although it was sliced thinly. There was an unsensible amount of bean sprouts underneath, which were drenched in teriyaki sauce. Overall, this was not a very carefully prepared dish.

The rest of my order arrived on a large plate. On the plate were some of the largest pieces of sushi I have ever seen. 

Inari Nigiri - B

Toro Nigiri - B-

Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - C-

Ikura Nigiri - C

I first went for the nigiri, and the Inari Nigiri was well-seasoned with sesame seeds inside to enhance flavour. The inari was on the thinner side, but it had a nice sweet flavour. Up next, the toro was fatty and enjoyable. However, the sushi rice was a big no-no. It was too tightly packed, bland, and rather dry. The sockeye salmon was mediocre and lacked a smooth texture, and to top it off, the fish-to-rice ratio was very wrong. The ikura wasn't much of a relief. The seaweed was very tough, and I actually had to use my teeth to bite open the salmon roe. Well, at least my teeth got its daily physical activity, though I wonder whether teeth need to be exercised.

Dragonfly Roll - C+

BC Roll - C+

The Dragonfly Roll was a large roll consisting of a dynamite roll with unagi and avocado on top. The roll was garnished with sesame seeds, masago, and some unagi sauce. The unagi was sliced thin and rather flimsy, but it did have a sweet flavour. However, the imitation crab meat inside was substandard and tasted a bit powdery. Finally, I got to the BC Roll, and each piece was literally as big as a hockey puck! I wasn't sure how I could tell whether the flavours worked together unless maybe I tried to do the chubby bunny challenge with it. The cooked salmon inside was soft and flaky. There was a bit of sauce on top, but the center part of the roll was quite weak in flavour. Oh, and how could we forget the bland, mushy rice on the outside?

I did not find the service particularly friendly, although it was passable and not rude either. Asakusa Sushi is a place for those who need to get full on a tight budget and aren't picky about quality. The quality of the food tends to be below average, but the portion sizes are some of the best in town. I did manage to finish all the food, but when I walked out, I felt like I would be full for days. That being said, my teeth did get a lot of exercise, so I think I should be fine...