Tojo's - Sunk you desu!

I have heard about Tojo's - a Japanese fine-dining restaurant, since I came to Vancouver. It is well-known for its unique and creative Omakase. Everyone kept telling me, "You must try it!" So, to celebrate my reunion with an awesome friend(plus early b'day celebration), we decided to smash our piggy banks to have a dinner there.

I was served by an Obaasan who was very surprised to find two non-Japanese girls who could understand her in Japanese. As ambitious as I was, my pocket could only allow me to order the $80 5-course Omakase. However, when the course was served one-by-one, I was completely blown away.



The tuna tartar was very nicely minced and then shaped. There are a cubes of cucumber and Japanese yamajaga (literally, mountain potato) within the tartar. Topped with ginger and spring onions, this piece of art serves well with the sweet soy sauce.



Hmmm.... salad... Fresh and sweet shrimp, thinly sliced salmon sashimi, small pieces of squids, organic greens and, the amazing homemade mustard are truly a heavenly combination. For those who do not know, I hate mustard but, that evening, I had a strong urge to lick the plate clean.

The only cooked dish for the night it is. Homemade sauce again and yes, I was licking my plate, with the help of my chopsticks. My least favourite dish of the night but it's still amazingly done. Nothing was over cooked as the saba were still soft and the vegetables were nicely grilled.





Maguro(Tuna) was rolled with seaweed and deep fried. You might not be able to see all three pieces of the Maguro that were on my plates but they were as equally fried as possible, i.e. the thickness of the outer layer of the maguro that are cooked are nearly the same for all three pieces. The ume(plum) sauce would have come out too strong if it wasn't for the boiled vegetables that came along with it.

The last dish of the night was a sushi platter. I do not quite remember what were the rolls so, I could be wrong about the ingredients for each of them. But one thing I do remember is, I had them without soy sauce because, there was no stinky fish smell at all. That's how fresh those little things were!


Clockwise from the top: Cucumber wrapped crabmeat roll, Scallop roll, Aji nigiri, Karei sushi(courtesy of Mishy), roll topped with tuna and Sockeye Salmon rolled with egg crepe.

You would think those dishes are too small to fill your tummy but I was really full after cleaning up every single bits and pieces on all 5 plates. When Obaasan came with a smile and the (5+1)-th dish, I nearly cried out of joy. Why? More awesome food! And I needed a reason to stay longer!



Welp, all good things will come to an end eventually. But as I walked out of the restaurant, I knew that I won't be eating California Rolls or B.C. Rolls for a while...

Sunk you desu!

Note: The recent change in menu has removed the $60 4-course Omakase