Episode #29: Hiro Sushi

Burnaby North, $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.hirosushi.net

Right next to Boundary Rd. where No. 1 Chinese Restaurant used to be now sits a new Chinese-operated Japanese restaurant named Hiro Sushi. Having had multiple lunches from other decent Chinese-operated Japanese restaurants in the area, namely Take Sushi and Osaka Sushi (yet to be blogged about), I had hopes that this restaurant would fare just as well. The restaurant was larger than I imagined and has a seating capacity of approximately 50. The walls are painted with scenery and the large sloped glass ceiling lets in a lot of sunlight during the afternoon hours. Several servers and several chefs were busy serving the guests, and the restaurant was about half full when I arrived for lunch.

A quick flip through the menu told me that prices were quite reasonable, being slightly on the lower side. I ordered the Sushi Box, which contained the following:

The Miso Soup was served almost immediately after I ordered, while the rest of the items came in a lunch box.

Miso Soup - A-

The Miso Soup was served hot and was on the milder side. It was garnished with small bits of tofu, onion and seaweed. I liked how it was neither too salty nor bland.

The lunch box came 8 minutes after the placement of my order and I was pleased to find that they took the time to arrange everything neatly. 

California Roll - A-

The California Roll was decorated with sesame seeds and filled with crab meat that was flaky and had a good balance of mayonnaise. It was also very neatly cut and the rice layer was not too thick. Though it was a little cold, the crab meat's mildly sweet taste made this California Roll delightful to eat. So far, things are off to a good start.

Green Salad and Fruit - B

The Green Salad consisted of mainly lettuce and was dressed with a citrus-based vinaigrette. The dressing was a little sweeter than the average Japanese salad dressing and has a unique "orange-y" flavour to it which I enjoyed. I wished that the dressing was spread out more evenly among the lettuce for a more uniform taste. I suppose the Fruit mentioned in the menu consists of merely one slice of orange.

Ebi Nigiri - B

Tuna Nigiri - B-

Salmon Nigiri - B+

Unagi Nigiri - B-

The nigiri provided with the Sushi Box was a nice way to sample a small assortment of the raw seafood. The Ebi Nigiri was very obviously marinated with ginger and was quite firm. The Tuna Nigiri had a decent, soft texture but was overly fishy in terms of taste. The Salmon Nigiri came with a large amount of salmon which was cut thick. The sushi rice could be looser in order to better match the texture of the fish. The Unagi Nigiri was missing the grilled flavour characteristic of unagi and was overwhelmed by the sweet unagi sauce that accompanied it.

Prawn Tempura - C

Kabocha Tempura - F

Sweet Potato Tempura - C+

One piece of Prawn Tempura, one piece of Kabocha (pumpkin) Tempura, and two pieces of sweet Potato Tempura were included with the Sushi Box. Unfortunately, this was where it all fell apart. There was too much batter on every piece of tempura and the overused oil made it taste like a crunchy snack gone wrong. That being said, at least I could still taste the prawn inside the Prawn Tempura. The sweet potato was rather voluminous and had the right flavour. The kabocha, however, did not have the right flavour. It was cut too close to the edge and cooked improperly, giving it a foul taste (I will censor the words I used to describe that). Let's just move on to the next item.

Red Dragon Roll - B-

The Red Dragon Roll consisted of spicy tuna, cucumber, deep-fried prawn, salmon sashimi, avocado and tobiko. The roll is quite large and filling. The spicy tuna was soft, mashed and had a moderate amount of spiciness. There was a good amount of fresh salmon sashimi on top. The deep-fried prawn (which was essentially prawn tempura) had the same woes as the tempura earlier. The excessive contrast in textures, with the prawn tempura being hard and crunchy and the salmon and spicy tuna being soft and smooth, reduced the harmony among the ingredients.

The service was focused on efficiency and the servers kept a straight face while sounding rather direct. That being said, they were attentive enough to time the arrival of my dishes well and to clean up dishes when I no longer needed them. I could say that my visit to Hiro Sushi was a satisfying one if I had not ordered anything with tempura in it. For the time being, it looks like they need to get their tempura-man checked out.

Episode #28: Sushi Town (Hastings)

Burnaby North, Budget ($)

My friend Declan managed to convince me to take part in a bet with him, which, now that I think about it, wasn't such a smart bet after all. I lost by a ridiculously large margin and had to treat him for lunch at Sushi Town. At least this way, I could sample more dishes in a single visit, or so I thought ...

I discovered Sushi Town on Hastings as an inexpensive, decent alternative to SFU campus food 3 years ago and since then, I have been there so many times I lost count. It is a very popular restaurant which regularly experiences wait times (despite its rather odd location and run-down appearance from the outside) and is especially frequented by SFU students. On the other hand, they have enough chefs working at the sushi bar so that everything comes out in a minimal amount of time. The portions are quite large and it turns out that I still needed to make 2 visits (on Monday and Wednesday) after all to have enough to write about.

1st visit:

Korean Style Spicy Deluxe Chirashi Don - B+

Declan recommended this dish to me and it was a great way to sample several of the different kinds of raw seafood available. This item is listed on the menu in a somewhat confusing way - the name is too long to fit on one line, so it is printed on two lines with an extra line in the middle, making it look like two separate items. This Chirashi Don is enormous and comes with tuna, salmon, ika (squid), ebi (shrimp), hokkigai (surf clam), tai (red snapper), tamago (egg) and vegetables. Usually, the spicy sauce is mixed in with the ingredients but I had it separated and placed on the side in case it was too spicy for me to handle.

The tai (B-) was lacking in flavour, but was sliced into thin pieces which made it easier to chew. The tamago (B) had a strong egg flavour. I would have enjoyed it more if it had more sweetness to it and was softer. The salmon (A) came in abundance and was fresh and tasty. The tuna (B) tasted too salty and was a bit tough. The ebi (B) was also tough but was sweet with a slight gingery taste. The ika (A-) was mild in taste and had a desirable level of chewiness. The hokkigai (A-) was sliced very thin, but despite this, it still packed adequate flavour.

I enjoyed the sushi rice at the bottom which was well-seasoned, and the seaweed and masago added to the dish also helped enhance the flavours. I had a small spoonful of the spicy sauce (which was like kimchi sauce) and it would have been too spicy for me to handle if all of it was mixed in. There was also too much lettuce for the both of us to handle, but if you're looking for a filling dish, I guess this is a good thing.

Double Dragon Roll - B+

Awesome Roll - A-

The Double Dragon Roll consists of avocado, cucumber, masago, unagi and mayonnaise. The interior of the roll was dominated by the avocado, which resulted in a sweet, creamy and soft interior. This was well-balanced with the generous portions of unagi on the outside. The unagi was savoury but had a few bony parts (not to the extent that it was a major issue).

The Awesome Roll is widely considered their best roll and consists of crab meat, cucumber, avocado, mayonnaise, masago, salmon, green onion and bonito flakes. There was a rather heavy use of sauce with this roll, but the mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce together blended harmoniously and was especially tasty when supporting the bonito flakes. The crab meat was sufficiently soft and the salmon on top was slightly cooked but still mostly retained the smooth texture of raw salmon. 

By this time, I was full enough to call it a day, even though it was only lunchtime. 

2nd visit:

Toro Nigiri - C

Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - B+

Hotategai Nigiri - B

The Toro Nigiri looked a little suspicious with the white streaks being much less prominent than usual and the appearance of small dark red blood vessels scattered on one half of the nigiri. It was excessively fatty in an undesirable way and was mostly devoid of tuna flavour. The Sockeye Salmon Nigiri was fresh with a rather smooth texture. I wish there was a little more of the fish or less of the rice for a better fish-to-rice balance. Furthermore, the sushi rice should be a little softer. The Hotategai Nigiri could have been the best of the three as it was neatly cut and had the sought-after geoduck-like aftertaste. Unfortunately, it was as cold as ice-cream ...

Next, I ordered what probably ranks as the #1 most inexpensive method of filling yourself up at Sushi Town - the Tempura Udon. (A close competitor for this title would be the chilly Seafood Salad.)

Tempura Udon - B+

The Tempura Udon ($5.95) comes with 4 pieces of tempura (zucchini, carrot, prawn, yam) and a very generous bowl of udon. The tempura came with a gingery mild soy dipping sauce and was well executed other than there being a few bits of batter sticking out in places. There was a good ratio of prawn to tempura and a successful attempt at preserving the juiciness of the zucchini. The carrot was sweet, but the yam was cut abnormally thick (probably by accident as this was the first time this happened to me). The udon noodles had just the right chewiness and the soup was simple but well-balanced.

Tako Yaki - A-

The Tako Yaki was presented with a thin, crunchy exterior layer encasing a soft, pillowy flour layer on the inside. The tako (octopus) was prominent, chewy and provided good contrast with the rest of the Tako Yaki. The bonito flakes could have been cut and placed more neatly as it looked a lot like what you would see inside a pencil sharpener.

Other than the toro nigiri mishap, the rest of the food met my expectations. Service is adequate during less busy hours but may seem a bit rushed during "rush hour". There is a good assortment of items on the menu at bargain prices, but I wish they expanded their selection of special rolls as the existing ones are all quite popular. If you only have twenty dollars in your pocket, you can walk into Sushi Town, have a fulfilling meal, and walk out with half of your money left.

Episode #27: Urban Sushi

Vancouver (Downtown), $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.urbansushi.com

Do you ever have one of those days where you don't feel like doing anything? Today was such a day for me, but I believe I have a very legitimate reason. I had the luxury of coming face-to-face with a 3-inch arachnid at 3 in the morning inside my house. Now, never mind arachnids - I have what you can call spiderweb-o-phobia as well. As such, I slept for 3 hours, which was somehow enough energy for me to last through a day of school and drag myself to downtown afterward for some sushi. Urban Sushi is a small Japanese restaurant on Granville St. conjoined with its sister restaurant, Urban Grill. It is open until 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and closes earlier on weekends, which most likely suggests that it is frequented by businesspeople looking for a quick lunch or an early supper after work (though tourists also seem to make their way into the restaurant as well).

The regular menu items aren't cheap, but the Daily Specials are frequently very good deals. Today's special menu contained 5 dinner sets, each accompanied by a miso soup or a beverage. There were some pricey beverages to choose from, such as the Virgin Mojito, Virgin Singapore Sling, among several other choices. I didn't want to be reminded that I am still a virgin, so I gladly opted for the Tropical Ale. (I accidentally drank a bit of it before taking a picture - it was initially filled to the rim.)

(Beverages are not graded.)

The Tropical Ale consisted of ginger ale, grenadine (pomegranate syrup), and pineapple juice. It was cool and refreshing and is a sparkling drink. It has a sweet and citrusy taste.

I chose Daily Special #5 ($11.95), which came with the Tropical Ale (my choice of beverage - listed at $5.25 if ordered separately), BBQ Short Ribs, Salmon Teriyaki, Salmon Sashimi (2 pieces) and Tuna Sashimi (2 pieces). After a reasonable wait (about 10 minutes), my aburi nigiri (not part of the special) came. On the menu, the nigiri is listed along with stars on the side to indicate which choices were available aburi style (seared). To my surprise, there was no star beside toro (tuna belly), but my server told me he could have it made for me if that was what I wanted.

Aburi Toro Nigiri - A+

The Aburi Toro Nigiri turned out to be a glorious success (all thanks to me). Not only did they nail the fish-to-rice ratio, but they also nailed the smoky flavour on the mayonnaise, which made for two very delicious pieces of nigiri. The sushi rice was soft and well-prepared, while the toro was tastefully garnished and delightfully juicy. They should definitely add a star to the toro nigiri as I believe this was one of the tastiest things they have ever made.

Aburi Salmon Nigiri - A-

The Aburi Salmon Nigiri was topped with sprinkles of chili and pepper for a little added spice. I liked how the salmon still maintained a marbly texture on the bottom, but I thought it needed a bit more flavour. 

Salmon Teriyaki - B

BBQ Short Ribs - B-

The Salmon Teriyaki was a bit over-grilled, which made it lacking in moisture. The pepper and sesame seeds added much-needed flavouring. The moisture issue was somewhat remedied by the ample teriyaki sauce provided under the bed of lettuce. The BBQ Short Ribs were well-seasoned with a bulgogi-like sauce - it had a gingery tinge and a hint of a charred flavour. The main issue with it was that it was quite tough to chew.

Salmon Sashimi - B+

Tuna Sashimi - A-

The salmon sashimi had an irregular cut (it was cut thicker than usual and resembled a column). The salmon was fresh with an aftertaste much like smoked salmon. I still prefer the thinner, flatter way of cutting the sashimi. The Tuna Sashimi was very soft and I could feel it melting as I ate it. It had a slightly metallic aftertaste and dipping it in the soy sauce overwhelmed the tuna itself.

With regard to the service, they try their best in terms of attitude but it would be nice if they were a bit more conscientious. During my visit, they forgot to give someone the menu, they asked me if my food came after I finished eating everything and they forgot to bring me the card machine. Maybe they were a bit tired since it was 6 p.m. (almost closing time). I was tired too, but at least I had a mostly enjoyable meal and could take a one-hour nap on the 160 bus. Urban Sushi will remain as one of my go-to places for a quick, informal meal for my downtown excursions.