Episode #30: Osaka Sushi

Burnaby North, $ (Budget)

As a way to combat the heat, I did a third "Sushi-a-thon" at Osaka Sushi, a small, Chinese-owned Japanese restaurant situated on Hastings a little to the west of all the busy action around Anton's Pasta. Before my sushi adventures took me all around town, I would come here frequently after my classes to grab a bite before heading home. Osaka Sushi did a decent job of satisfying my craze for special rolls back then when I needed an escape from having the Double Dragon Roll and the Awesome Roll at Sushi Town over and over again. For a small restaurant, they have an impressive number of items on the menu, most of which are very affordable.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., they have a Lunch Special which allows you to choose any 3 items (from a list of 36 items) plus miso soup for $8.95. What I like about this Lunch Special is that there is sufficient variety among the choices and the lunch special represents significant savings compared to ordering the items individually. Interestingly, I also noticed on the menu that they have written the word "imitation" in front of every instance of the words "Shark Fin" on the menu (this was a response to criticism on both Yelp and Urbanspoon). I guess the prices alone were not enough of a hint to some that the shark fin was fake.

1st visit:

On the first day of my Sushi-a-thon, I constructed my own Lunch Special with the Small Chicken Teriyaki Don, the Tai Nigiri and the Appetizer Tempura.

Miso Soup - B-

The Miso Soup had finely chopped green onions and small pieces of tofu. It was served at a steaming hot temperature (be careful!). It was a bit on the watery side and could use a little less salt.

Small Chicken Teriyaki Don - B+

The Small Chicken Teriyaki Don was pretty standard fare. It contained 4 pieces of pan-fried chicken with the characteristic crispy skin on top. I enjoyed the crispy skin, but I would have liked more of the chicken (the balance was a little off). The rice also needed more sauce, though I suppose if you flipped the chicken over and smothered the sauce, you would get a partially satisfying result.

Tai Nigiri - A-

The Tai Nigiri came with 3 pieces and the tai actually had a mild, sweet, fish-like taste to it (in so many other places, the tai is very bland). It was fresh and had a smooth texture while being a bit chewy. The sushi rice had a hint of vinegar (which was just right in my opinion) and was packed correctly, not too tight or too loose.

Appetizer Tempura - C+

The Appetizer Tempura came with 2 prawns and 1 piece each of sweet potato, kabocha and zucchini. It was quite greasy and the amount of batter wasn't even in the right ballpark. Instead of me using a thousand words to describe how much batter there was, here is a picture of one of the tempura prawns:

I mean, seriously?! I award this the gold medal for "Most Batter Used for a Single Piece of Prawn." Fortunately, most of the tempura batter was detachable, though in the end, I had peeled off enough batter to make a separate, totally legitimate appetizer consisting of just the extra batter.

The sweet potato tempura was the only piece to have the right amount of batter, but unfortunately, one side of it was burnt. The prawns were tasty and sufficiently meaty. If it weren't for the batter issues, the prawns would have been an A in my books. The kabocha (pumpkin) was thin but sweet, though it tasted a bit mashed. The zucchini was nice and juicy and was the best of the lot.

Dynamite Dragon Roll - B

The Dynamite Dragon Roll consisted of 2 pieces of shrimp tempura with avocado and eel on top. They were quite generous with the eel, which was smooth and garnished with ample sweet teriyaki sauce. To give it more of a punch, they could have grilled the eel a little more to bring out a more smoky flavour. The interior of the roll was quite crunchy due to the copious amount of batter used.

2nd visit:

On the second day of my Sushi-a-thon, I ordered the Bacon Scallop Skewers (erroneously listed as "Scallop Skewers" on the dine-in menu) and the Deluxe Combo ($11.95). Surprisingly, the Bacon Scallop Skewers came before anything else.

Bacon Scallop Skewers - A-

The Bacon Scallop Skewers came with 6 pieces of scallop, each having a bacon strip rolled around it. The bacon was slightly crispy and was savoury, and could have just a bit more of a smoky flavour to bring it closer to perfection. The scallop, though meaty, didn't contribute much in terms of taste. The teriyaki sauce was excessively diluted with oil, but there was lots of it and it harmonized well with the bacon.

The Deluxe Combo came a few minutes after the Bacon Scallop Skewers and the presentation was neat and very colourful. Banzai!

Masago Nigiri - A-

Toro Nigiri - A

Tako Nigiri - B

Unagi Nigiri - B+

With the Masago Nigiri, I could feel the individual fish roe which made a nice popping sound. It had a distinct, slightly salty flavour to it. The Toro Nigiri was soft, smooth, and had a welcoming burst of flavour with neither a fishy nor metallic taste. The Tako Nigiri was sliced rather thick so I spent an entire minute trying to disassemble it with my teeth. The Unagi Nigiri was unfortunately split into two pieces held together by the seaweed, but it had a mild, sweet taste with a soft texture that matched well with the sushi rice. 

Salmon Nigiri - B+

Tuna Nigiri - B

Ebi Nigiri - A-

The Salmon Nigiri was very soft and had a bit of a shrimp-like snap to it. The Tuna Nigiri had a nice, smooth texture and was melt-in-your-mouth but the rice had more taste than the tuna. The Ebi Nigiri had the right amount of rice under it and tasted just like a fresh, well-prepared shrimp from a shrimp ring.

California Roll - B-

The California Roll came with 6 pieces consisting of crab meat, avocado and cucumber. I liked the sesame seeds on top which provided another dimension of flavour to the roll. The crab meat was sweet but was a bit high on the mayonnaise. The sushi chef used a little too much force when rolling the sushi together. 

The nigiri at Sushi Osaka is commendable, and it's been a while since I've had this many different kinds of nigiri at a single restaurant without having to give a below-average grade. Service was very attentive and my tea was refilled in a very timely manner. The servers were friendly for the duration of my visit, but I wish they said the names of the dishes as they were brought out to me. The most memorable part of this Sushi-a-thon was the Toro Nigiri, and I can still taste the toro as I'm writing this post 11 hours after having it. Darn, I hate being hungry past midnight ...

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.