Episode #179: Tatsu Japanese Bistro

Vancouver (Northeast), $$$ (Higher Priced)

After a gruelling midterm in which my pen disintegrated all over my desk, it was time to rectify the situation with some nice Japanese fusion sushi. Remembering a positive previous visit, I decided to go to Tatsu Japanese Bistro once more to experience some of their mouthwatering baked mozzarella dishes. Even though it was raining at the time, I walked all the way to the restaurant from Commercial-Broadway Station to lift my mind from the exam. A little rain doesn't stop me when there's sushi ahead.

Tatsu Japanese Bistro features a modern, trendy atmosphere with a bit of an artsy touch to it. They put effort into making everything look nice; the menus, the walls, and the food are all appealingly designed. The restaurant is Korean-operated and serves a lot of fusion dishes, but that being said, if you are looking for Aburi Salmon Oshi, it is nowhere to be found. I died a little at this realization. However, while flipping through the menu, I saw a whole assortment of enticing photographs of food that reminded me of all the good things this restaurant had to offer.

Tai Sashimi - B+

Sockeye Salmon Sashimi - A-

Tuna Sashimi - B+

Things started out nicely with the beautifully plated Appetizer Sashimi. The Tai Sashimi was soft and smooth, and the ikura added a bit of a fruity flavour to the tai. Next, the Sockeye Salmon Sashimi was fresh with a sufficiently sweet flavour. The Tuna Sashimi had the slightest hint of fishiness in one of the pieces, but apart from that, it had a delightful melty texture and was neatly cut. 

Eggplant Seafood Yaki - A+

The Eggplant Seafood Yaki, consisting of deep-fried eggplant, torched assorted BBQ seafood, and mozzarella, was one of the most epic appetizers I have come across in a long time. I could feel my soul being enlightened. The abundance of baked, juicy salmon and the plump salad shrimp created a very heartwarming effect. The eggplant was sweet and juicy, and the seared mozzarella cheese provided this dish with an irresistible Aburi-like flavour. Despite the multitude of ingredients, I did not find the seafood yaki heavy. This is one of those things that remind me that money is worth saving and life is worth living.

The final part of my lunch was the Tatsu Omakase Sushi, which typically comes with the Crunch Roll. However, the waitress was kind enough to let me substitute the Sunset Roll at no extra charge. For omakase sushi, I would have liked to see something other than the most mundane types of nigiri, but at least I was getting about $37 worth of sushi for only $26.95. I even got a fried amaebi head!

Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - B

Tuna Nigiri - B+

Hamachi Nigiri - A-

The Sockeye Salmon Nigiri was just as fresh as the Sockeye Salmon Sashimi above, and the Tuna Nigiri was soft and melty. The Hamachi Nigiri (yellowtail) was especially appetizing and came with fatty, juicy, and fresh hamachi. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the sushi rice because it was packed too tightly in most of the pieces and interfered with my enjoyment of the softer textures of the fish. (Yes, sushi rice in nigiri is not meant to be tightly packed so that you can easily grip it with your chopsticks. In fact, nigiri is not even supposed to be eaten with chopsticks, but we all do it because everyone else does it.)

Ebi Nigiri - B-

Toro Nigiri - B+

Tai Nigiri - B

Amaebi Nigiri - B

Next up, the Ebi Nigiri (shrimp) came with way too much wasabi, which I'm pretty sure made me lose a few of my nose cells. The ebi was also on the dry side. The Toro Nigiri (tuna belly), however, came with a very good piece of fresh, melty toro. The Tai Nigiri (red snapper) was sweet and soft, while I found the Amaebi Nigiri (sweet shrimp) a touch too sticky and gluey. 

Hokkigai Nigiri - C+

Unagi Nigiri - B+

Tamago Nigiri - B

The Hokkigai Nigiri also contained way too much wasabi and was overly chewy. It sure sucked to be my nose. The Unagi Nigiri was soft and melty and dressed with rich unagi sauce. Finally, the Tamago Nigiri was sweet and fluffy, though it would fare better with a slightly more grilled flavour.

Sunset Roll - A

After munching on the fried amaebi head, I had the Sunset Roll, which consisted of a California roll topped with torched mozzarella, assorted chopped BBQ seafood, and three seemingly misplaced blueberries. It was colourful and elegantly presented with a good interplay of flavours. Flavour-wise, it shared many similarities with the Eggplant Seafood Yaki, but it was nonetheless another highlight of the meal. 

The service was friendly and attentive and remained so even at times the restaurant became busy. I must say, this was one colossal lunch, and there were times I had to take a break, go on Instagram, and look at pictures of food to make me a little more hungry again. Although nigiri isn't one of Tatsu's strengths, things like the Eggplant Seafood Yaki and the Sunset Roll tempt me to return and try more of their creative offerings. 

Episode #178: Matoi Sushi

Coquitlam, $$ (Moderately Priced)
www.matoisushi.ca

To celebrate my birthday, I decided to go to the movies with my family and watch "Finding Dory" in order to make me feel better about my awful short-term memory. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper celebration without sushi, so before the movie, I went to Matoi Sushi, one of the most well-known sushi establishments in Coquitlam. Lo and behold, after struggling to remember to bring the movie tickets with me, I completely forgot to take a picture of the front of the restaurant. To make up for it, I created the graphic below, which should give you an excellent idea of what the restaurant looks like.

Matoi Sushi is an authentic Japanese restaurant that has been praised constantly in online reviews. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only authentic Japanese restaurant in Coquitlam other than Osamu Sushi. The restaurant was packed soon after we sat down (as I expected), and since grilled fish is one of their greatest strengths, I made sure to include the Salmon Kama in my order.

Prawn Tempura - B+

The Prawn Tempura came with four prawns and one piece of green bell pepper, which my dad snatched before I could even see what it was. At least he told me it was very good... The prawns were also good as they tasted juicy and fresh. The batter had a good amount of crispiness, but I found it a little thick and weak in flavour.

Hamachi Sashimi - B-

Tuna Sashimi - C

Tako Sashimi - B

Salmon Sashimi - A-

Surprisingly, their sashimi was not really up to par during this visit. The Hamachi Sashimi tasted fishy, and the Tuna Sashimi not only shared the same woes, but was also mushy. Nobody in my family was willing to eat it, so yours truly temporarily morphed into a garbage can once again. The Tako Sashimi, though it wasn't very smooth in texture, at least tasted fresh. The Salmon Sashimi was the clear winner here, with a fatty, smooth, and adequately soft texture.

Aburi Toro Nigiri - A-

Fortunately, the Toro Nigiri tasted juicy and fresh. The rice formation was good, and the toro was seared just the right amount.

Gyu Roll - C+

The Gyu Roll (Beef Teriyaki Roll) is one of the cheaper special rolls and looked like a fitting choice for me since I like both beef teriyaki and sushi rice. The lettuce bits in the roll added some crunch, but unfortunately, the main ingredient, the beef, was tough and not really up to any of our standards. The sauces were also a little thicker than expected. Once again, I got the opportunity to eat pretty much the whole thing and pack on those calories. As strange as it might be, I believe I have the highest tolerance for crappy food in my family.

Unaten Roll - A-

The Unaten Roll featured prawn tempura, cucumber, radish sprouts, mayonnaise, and BBQ eel. It was much, much better than the Gyu Roll (although at nearly twice the price). The savoury, grilled unagi went very well with the meaty prawn tempura, and the mayonnaise worked to tie all the flavours together. This time, since everyone wanted some of this roll, I only got two measly pieces... 

Beef Udon - B+

In the Beef Udon, the broth was well-balanced and absorbed the flavour of the beef well. The udon noodles were quite tasty and had a nice al dente feel to them. This was mainly for my dad (who refuses to eat cold food even when it is 30 degrees outside), and for the most part, he was satisfied with this dish. The only issue that all of us noticed was, of course, that the beef was tougher than expected.

Salmon Kama - A

Just like that refreshing feel at the end of a nice massage, our dinner came to a happy ending with the Salmon Kama. Yes, the fish head has a somewhat ominous and creepy gaze, but the small amount of meat in it was juicy and had an appetizing grilled flavour. This dish brought light to an otherwise lackluster meal and exemplified what Matoi is best at: grilled fish.

Despite how the restaurant was rather crowded, we still received friendly and timely service during our visit. The quality of the food was unexpectedly hit-and-miss. They excelled at the salmon sashimi and the grilled fish, but the beef and tuna were remarkably weak. I suppose this is another example of how authentic Japanese food does not always trump inauthentic Japanese food.

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.