Episode #223: Shizen Ya

Vancouver (Northwest), $$$ (Higher Priced)
www.shizenya.ca

After dying a little on the inside from our UBC sushi crawl, Vancity Noms and I decided to take things a little easier for our next sushi adventure. That took us to Shizen Ya, a small restaurant chain with two locations in Vancouver, where we planned to have a light lunch.

Shizen Ya is the Whole Foods of the sushi restaurant world. Everything about the restaurant screams healthy and organic. There is a large vegetarian menu, as well as many gluten-free options. Their food contains no additives in addition to being MSG-free, and they use organic brown rice for all of their sushi. They also make the prices high just to give you that real Whole Foods experience. Since Vancity Noms is an avid fan of Whole Foods, this was the perfect sushi restaurant for her.

Chicken Udon & Sushi Combo

Our "light" lunch quickly turned into a feast in which our table was completely jam-packed with food. I couldn't resist getting the Chicken Udon & Sushi Combo, which was only $10.95, but I also wanted to try loads of other stuff. I ended up having to balance plates and menus on my legs in order to clear the table barely enough for some food photography. Unfortunately, this is a regular occurrence with me.

Organic Salad - B+

The Organic Salad was an assortment of fresh greens accompanied by lots of dressing. The dressing was rather acidic and had a slight alcoholic zing to it. Mmm...

Salmon Roll - A-

Dynamite Roll - B+

I never thought I would like brown rice in my sushi, but Shizen Ya managed to make it work. The chopped sockeye salmon was super soft and created a nice, creamy texture. The seaweed was also easy to chew. The Dynamite Roll came with creamy avocado and juicy tempura prawn. The batter on the prawn was slightly hard, but the flavours worked well together.

Chicken Breast Udon Noodle Soup - B

The main filler of the combo, the Chicken Breast Udon Noodle Soup, came with white chicken meat and thick udon noodles. The broth was on the richer side, while the udon noodles tasted like standard fare. I thought it could have been tastier had they lightly grilled the chicken.

Toro Tataki Nigiri - A-

Wild Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - A-

Albacore Tuna Nigiri - A

After the Sushi & Udon combo, I had three pieces of nigiri that really blew my expectations. The Toro Tataki Nigiri was only seared very slightly, but had an extremely soft, melty texture. The texture was also perfect with the Wild Sockeye Salmon Nigiri. The Albacore Tuna Nigiri came with a thick slice of extremely fresh tuna, and the organic brown rice was packed just loosely enough to complement the soft, delicate textures of the fish. 

Spicy Salmon Roll - A-

Next up, the Spicy Salmon Roll came with the same soft and fresh sockeye salmon and a decent helping of creamy avocado. The spicy sauce was used conservatively and did not overwhelm any of the ingredients in the roll. 

Natural Bomber Roll - B+

Finally, just to blow up my stomach size a few more notches, I went for the Natural Bomber Roll, which consisted of tiger prawn "whole wheat" tempura, fresh real crab, mayonnaise, cucumber, organic spring mix lettuce, organic avocado, and creamy bomber sauce. The crab meat was pleasantly soft and tasted somewhat like the Brunswick canned sardines I regularly eat as 4 a.m. snacks. The prawn tempura was a little hard, but the abundance of fresh, tasty avocado and the richness of the mayonnaise-based creamy bomber sauce made up for it.

Service was not a problem despite how busy the restaurant got. Overall, I was quite impressed by the very fresh seafood and their ability to make me like brown rice. The fresh organic avocado was also a delight and a factor of success in many of the dishes. The excellent food here gave me a sudden urge to blow a whole paycheque at Whole Foods, but fortunately, I was deterred by how full I was. Maybe some other day, Vancity Noms...

Episode #222: The Grand UBC Sushi Crawl (Part Two)

After waking up from Vancity Noms' class and having an epic piano-off in the library (where we got a little too loud), the two of us were somewhat ready to resume our grand sushi crawl at UBC's Vancouver campus. I say "somewhat" because Vancity Noms was still somewhat full from eating way too much at the first stop of our crawl, and I felt like I had consumed way too much soy sauce. Whereas others would be burnt out from doing such a crawl, I was soy sauced out. However, the time was ticking, and if we didn't make our move, the sushi places would have started closing.

The Seven Sushi Places on UBC's Vancouver Campus

• Honour Roll
• Suga Japanese & Korean Restaurant
• Mio Japan
• Bento Sushi
• Miyamae
• Togo Sushi
• One More Sushi

This post will cover the last three.

Miyamae

The whole time I had been exploring UBC, I never knew that there was an entire underground Asian food court at University Village. When I first saw it, I was quick to suggest to Vancity Noms that we should do a food crawl featuring all the stalls in the Asian food court, but quickly retracted the idea after realizing all the unfortunate things that would happen to my health if I did that. Not to mention that I would also be doomed if what happened during the Grand SFU Sushi Crawl were to happen again...

Miyamae serves a variety of bento boxes, which range from $6.95 to $11.95. I went for one of the higher-end ones since I had an unagi craving at the time.

Miso Soup - B-

The Miso Soup came with adequate miso paste, some seaweed, and some tofu. Although it was rich in miso flavour, it was also quite salty.

Dynamite Roll - C

If anyone were to make sushi that did not look appealing to me, this was about as close as one could get. The Dynamite Roll featured crunchy tempura prawn and a somewhat decent filling, but the sight of the rice made me go "Uh oh..." It was not only soggy and mushy, but there was also too much of it.

Slice of Orange - A

Salad - C+

Unagi Don - B

The one thing they did nail was the Slice of Orange. Although it wasn't exactly the prettiest slice of orange ever, it was one of the sweetest and juiciest slices of orange I have ever had. The Salad consisted mainly of lettuce, and I wasn't fond of the vinaigrette dressing, which tasted strangely like soy sauce. The Unagi Don came with very soft, but somewhat fatty unagi. The unagi sauce was sweet, and the don was sizable enough to be a good filler. 

Togo Sushi

After I'd finished the bento box, Vancity Noms suddenly had to leave, so I was left to make the long, perilous journey from University Village to Wesbrook Village in the dark all by myself. I decided to walk there in order to burn a few extra calories. I made my way through various hazards, which included trees with branches, students playing soccer, and eerily quiet residential areas, before arriving at Togo Sushi 15 minutes before they closed at 8 p.m. I was lucky enough to be the last customer whose order they took.

Togo Sushi is a small fast food chain with locations scattered across Metro Vancouver. I've always considered it to be the best of Metro Vancouver's fast food sushi joints, and I was hoping for no disappointment here. 

Seared Salmon Roll - B+

The Seared Salmon Roll was a new addition to the menu, and it was fairly well executed. It had a nice, smoked flavour that was accompanied by a good helping of spicy mayonnaise. The imitation crab meat was sweet, and the textures were on point. 

Inari Nigiri - B

Salmon Nigiri - B-

Toro Nigiri - C+

On the other side of the plate, the Inari Nigiri had a nice, sweet flavour and tasted somewhat eggy. The salmon in the Salmon Nigiri was creamy, but weak in flavour. The rice was a bit too tightly packed, but at least the fish-to-rice ratio was correct. Finally, the toro was soft, but tasted quite fishy. Throughout my visits to Togo Sushi, I've found that tuna is consistently one of their weaknesses. 

Nonetheless, what I had at Togo Sushi was good enough to be the highlight of my entire crawl. I'd originally planned to try the sushi at the nearby Save-On-Foods as well, but once I saw that they served exactly the same sushi as Nesters Market at SFU, I ran away as quickly as I could.

I had just one more sushi place left...

One More Sushi

By the time I walked all the way back to University Village, everything was dark and deserted, with signs of life few and far between. I walked into One More Sushi at 9:30 p.m., just half an hour before closing time, and I was their only customer.

If you are looking for something you can legitimately call a sushi restaurant at UBC, One More Sushi is the place. It was a large restaurant that resembled a Chinese diner more than a Japanese restaurant. The menu items were quite pricey, but the special that day allowed me to order a California Roll for half price. Even though I was stuffed, one simply does not say "no" to discounts on sushi.

California Roll - B-

The California Roll came with an abundance of sweet crab meat. However, there wasn't really enough mayonnaise inside, so things ended up a bit dry.

BBQ Black Cod - B

The BBQ Black Cod was served as a small filet along with some of the most teeth-exercising vegetables out there. There was some sweetness and some smokiness, but the cod could have been juicier.

Hotate Nigiri - B

Toro Nigiri - B

The hotate (scallop) was sweet and soft as expected, while the toro was fresh with a nice, melty texture. While the neta (the seafood on top) was above average, the sushi rice was mediocre as it was too tightly packed.

Mango Tuna Roll - B-

The Mango Tuna Roll came with fresh mango and some not-so-fresh tuna. The tuna was slightly fishy, and it was not very soft either. The roll was quite small, and at $8.50, it was very pricey for what it was.

After consuming 66 pieces of sushi (amidst other things) and getting both carbed out and soy sauced out (never again...), I can now present to you UBC's seven sushi vendors from best to worst:

• Togo Sushi
• Honour Roll
• One More Sushi
• Mio Japan
• Miyamae
• Bento Sushi
• Suga Japanese & Korean Restaurant

Episode #221: The Grand UBC Sushi Crawl (Part One)

Since the Grand SFU Sushi Crawl was totally not a traumatizing experience, I thought it would be a great idea to do a Grand UBC Sushi Crawl as well. With seven places to visit instead of five, I knew this crawl would require that much more endurance and careful planning. Using my good judgment, I got Vancity Noms, who managed to finish exactly zero pieces of sushi last time, to help me on this adventure.

The Seven Sushi Places on UBC's Vancouver Campus

• Honour Roll
• Suga Japanese & Korean Restaurant
• Mio Japan
• Bento Sushi
• Miyamae
• Togo Sushi
• One More Sushi

This post will cover the first four.

Honour Roll

Our meeting place was Honour Roll, located in the centre of the AMS Student Nest. My morning idiocy took no breaks, and I spent several minutes messaging Vancity Noms to ask her where the Nest was while I was standing right in front of it. An all caps explosion ensued...

Back in the days of the old Student Union Building (SUB), the sushi stall was originally named Honour Roll. The name changed to Peko Peko when the new SUB opened, but has now reverted back to Honour Roll. Featuring a good range of slightly pricey pre-made rolls, we hoped that the sushi was honour roll–worthy.

Miso Soup - B

Since I badly needed something to drink after all the energy expended on finding the Nest, I went for the Miso Soup. It came with green onion and tofu and had a well-balanced flavour. However, the pieces of tofu were awkwardly coarse, as if they had been accidentally left to dry for a few minutes.

Real Crab California Roll - B-

Coming in six generous pieces was the Real Crab California Roll. We found it slightly dry, and it could've done better with a little more mayonnaise.

Smoked Salmon Roll - B

One of the more decent rolls that we had was the Smoked Salmon Roll. The smoked salmon was strong and rich in flavour and went well with the avocado. However, there was a small bit of saltiness intrinsic to the roll, which meant that the roll did not pair well with soy sauce.

Salmon Roll - C+

Next, we had the Salmon Roll, which was a bit too tightly packed. The salmon also had little flavour.

Avocado Roll - B

One thing I thought I'd never eat in my life was the Avocado Roll. I used to hate avocado as a kid. I would pluck every piece of avocado out of my sushi and then stare evilly at the avocado mound I had just created, thinking of ways to destroy the mound. However, since Vancity Noms ordered this roll, I took the plunge and had one piece. It tasted surprisingly decent, and the level of creaminess was just right.

Our overall impressions of Honour Roll were quite positive. Although the sushi was pre-made, it was superior to pretty much everything available at SFU. I was unable to stop Vancity Noms from eating loads of the sushi at Honour Roll. After she had consumed about 20 pieces of sushi, I had legitimate reasons to be concerned about how we were going to get through the rest of our crawl.

Suga Japanese & Korean Restaurant

Our next place to try was Suga Japanese & Korean Restaurant. For years, I had been wanting to come to this place for their 5 items for $25 lunch special, a lunch special that sadly disappeared off the menu by the time I finally made it to the restaurant. Unfortunately, this also meant that I would not be able to convince Vancity Noms not to order her super filling Tuna Sashimi Don...

Meanwhile, since I had to eat at four different places for lunch, I tried to keep the food quantity reasonable by ordering only one plate of food.

Tuna Sashimi - C

Salmon Sashimi - B+

We were off to a great start with the highly questionable Tuna Sashimi. It was not too fishy, but it was also not soft at all and tasted slightly cooked. The Salmon Sashimi fared much better. It had a smooth texture and was creamy and reasonably fresh.

Chopped Scallop Nigiri - C+

Toro Nigiri - C-

Next, I enjoyed some questionable nigiri. The Chopped Scallop Nigiri was not rolled properly (as evident in the photo) and was remarkably dry. There was also not much scallop inside. The Toro Nigiri came with way too much rice and way too little toro, making the whole thing taste bland like plain congee. Never again...

Una Q - C

The Una Q was a roll with a eel and cucumber. There was so little unagi that Sauce Q would've been a much more appropriate name for the roll. The cucumber inside was fresh and crunchy though, so I'll give them credit for that.

Suga Japanese & Korean Restaurant seems to be a particularly bad case of being stingy on the pricier ingredients and then trying to make up for it by giving you more of the cheaper ingredients. I'm not big on portion sizes at all, but for me, this was unacceptable. It didn't help that our server was clearly unenthusiastic throughout our visit.

Mio Japan

Located just steps away from Suga Japanese & Korean Restaurant is Mio Japan, a popular teriyaki place that also serves nigiri, sushi rolls, and sashimi. Vancity Noms was done at this point, but she remained a good sport and watched me as I devoured unreasonable amounts of sushi while taking forever to write down my notes.

Knowing that Mio Japan's specialty was teriyaki, I wanted to go for both the teriyaki and the sushi, but without help, I could only choose one or the other. Since I had to stay true to the name of my blog, I went for the Dynamite Combo.

Sockeye Salmon Nigiri - C+

Dynamite Roll - B-

The Dynamite Combo came with three pieces of Sockeye Salmon Nigiri and a Dynamite Roll. The sockeye salmon was moderately fresh, and the rice was not too tightly packed, but WTF was up with those cuts? Did they just cut the salmon sashimi style and then placed it on top of the sushi rice?? No, just no...

Moving on, the Dynamite Roll, although it came with only one prawn, was savoury with a nice creaminess coming from the avocado. The sushi rice was just a touch dry.

Bento Sushi

Since Vancity Noms had class later in the day, we ventured back towards the middle of the campus and found ourselves at Bento Sushi, a part of the mini food court at the David Lam Management Research Centre (beside the Sauder School of Business). As we were still in prime lunch hours, the entire food court was very busy.

In the display refrigerator was an assortment of pre-made sushi combos, each costing about $10. Feeling like a samurai after having wolfed down two meals' worth of sushi, I went for the Cali-Samurai Combo.

Tuna Nigiri - C

Salmon Nigiri - C

Ebi Nigiri - B-

California Roll - C

Unfortunately, the sushi ended up being very expensive for the quality. The sushi rice in the nigiri was so tightly packed that it was actually somewhat hard to chew through. The tuna in the Tuna Nigiri was rather mushy and tasted like mashed wet paper. The Salmon Nigiri was not flavourful, though the Ebi Nigiri was at least noticeably sweet. The California Roll came with creamy avocado but was very rice heavy, and the imitation crab stick was either weak in flavour or simply got lost in the sea of rice (or both).

After finishing the Cali-Samurai Combo, Vancity Noms had class to go to, and I needed a break from all the soy sauce I was consuming. With nothing good to do in the meantime, I crashed one of Vancity Noms' classes and wished upon my lucky sushi stars that I wouldn't be called to participate. It worked. Perhaps the fact that I fell asleep in the middle of the class helped.

Click here for Part Two of the Grand UBC Sushi Crawl!