Minami Restaurant

Minami Restaurant is a sister restaurant to the famous Miku Restaurant that I like a lot too.  My friend was very nice to pick this restaurant for her birthday dinner since I wanted to try this restaurant for the longest time.  My personal preference is Minami for a girls' night out while Miku for a date night ;)

Deep fried goodness!
Ebi Fritter -- I love the mayo! And of course, the cruncy shrimp!

Love the freshness and the charcoal
Aburi Sashimi - Three types of sashimi: Tuna, Salmon and Hamachi.

More charcoal!
Aburi Saba Oshi Sushi -- Balanced portion of rice and fish. Rice are gently pressed too.

Crunchy Scallop Roll -- It's scallop roll sprinkled with tempura bits.
I felt a little tricked by the name but now I know!

A different kind of roll.
Yasai Maki Chicken -- Roasted chicken breast with vegetables rolled underneath it. 
I like to think of it as stuffed chicken!

Saikyo Miso Baked Sablefish and Shrimp Crab Dumpling -- The miso took away the attention to the softness of the fish.
It's still good but I prefer the one from Blue Water Cafe and Raw Bar across the street :D

Happy Birthday Suli!
Coconut Blueberry Cream -- The coconut taste was not strong.
I don't usually like coconut so yes, I enjoyed it. 

Sweetness <3
Passion Fruit Verrine -- I have to love that almond pudding!
The passion fruit ice cream was a little sour to my liking though

Lunch at Guu

Lunch special at Guu!  I was at Guu with Garlic  Yes this is just about the lunch special for now.  I know a lot of crazy Guu fans out there.  Thoughts about the regular menu will come when I have time later on.  (I have tried all the Guu in Vancouver so it's taking a while for me to compile everything.) They just started the lunch menu so it might not be as well thought of in comparison to the dinner menu.  My recommendation is: If you do not mind the wait, go to Guu for dinner.

Sushi Elephants

I have always been tempted to walk in there because of the attractive signboard but when most reviews talk about how good the rolls are, I was afraid that I will never be able to finish all the rolls I want to try.  So, when we needed a reasonable restaurant for a farewell dinner, off we go to Sushi Elephants!  Overall, the rolls are unconventional but tasty; ingredients are not unique but certainly fresh.  One of the sushi restaurants that I will go back to!

Hapa Izakaya

Hapa Izakaya -- another Japanese tapa style restaurant, but unique!  I was there almost a year ago for my housemate's farewell dinner and all of us had a good time.  Strongly recommended for those who like fusion food!

Miko Sushi Restaurant

Everytime I passed by Miko Sushi Restaurant, I have an excuse to go to the restaurant down the street for something non-sushi.  This time, I couldn't come up with any good ideas as of why I shouldn't go in.  After a long day at Stanley Park, we were too tired to walk any further for whatever food is there.  So, we went in!  There were a lot of pictures and signatures of ice hockey players on the wall.  The atmosphere is friendly and warm.  It gets crowded as time goes by and we were glad that we made it there before the huge crowd.  All the typical rolls, nigiri, sashimi and cones are on the menu.

Zakkushi

Zakkushi is one of the few special izakaya around.  They specialize in Japanese skewers.  There are wide variety of those and some other dishes like oden, okonomiyaki, sashimi, salads etc.  But, I still like their skewers best.  It was probably a hit-or-miss because the skewers were extremely salty when I went there to celebrate my birthday a few years ago. It didn't stop me from going back though.  And this time, I am very proud of myself to go back there!

Tojo's Take 2

There is really nothing much to say about the goodness of Tojo's so, I will post some pictures of the Omakase that I tried for the second time.  Some are dishes I do not quite remember what they were although the memory of the taste still lingers in my mind.  

More words about Tojo's can be found in my previous post.

Where is this?

I will be honest... I don't remember what name was this restaurant when I found this stack of pictures in my picture folders.  I do however remember who I went with and where it was located.  So I attempted to visit the restaurant to check out its name but I can't find the restaurant! Uh oh!  So, I guess here is some pictures of some nice Japanese dishes, sushi rolls especially, for the eyes!

iWR II - Santouka Ramen

A friend said, "Whenever I ordered ramen at other ramen store, I would add some spicy pepper flakes in them. But, I don't do that here."

I went there with a Japanese friend and commented, "It is sort of chewy... you know what I mean?" 

He nodded and said, "I know what you meant.  I like it too and I don't know how to describe that texture ."

Miku - Sushi isn't just rolls

A friend strongly recommended me to try out Miku Restaurant since he had a really good experience there and would like me to check it out. So, guess where I celebrated my birthday this year? Miku!

I was planning to try the Omakase but their Omakase includes beef that I do not eat :( It was a little surprising when they cannot have Omakase without beef in a sushi restaurant. Doesn't sushi stress on seafood? And Omakase is supposed to be tailored to the customers' preference?

We ordered 5 dishes and they started us off with the Aburi Tuna, i.e. tuna charcoal-seared with blow torch. Aburi simply means the grilled on top of charcoal. Instead of grilling the on top of the BBQ, they torch the tuna over a charcoal. However, if the server hadn't told me that the dish was an aburi dish, I would not have realized at all. All thanks to the slightly sauteed sweet onions that help the disguise!



Before I could finish the previous dish, the Sashimi Salad was already on the table. At first glance, I thought I would hate it because of the amount of oil that you can clearly see in the picture. But interestingly, it turned out to be my second favourite dish of the evening. The dressing, which is not over powering at all, brought out the sweetnness of the seafood itself while preventing the seafood from becoming too dry.





As you can guess, the Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi was served before we have a chance to finish the first 2 dishes. We were recommended to try it while it's still hot. Seeing how slow we were eating, the server was nice to put a hold on the next two dishes. That was the first time I had oshi(pressed) sushi. Yes, sushi is more than just rolls. It's their recommended dish and it was definitely my favourite. The portion of rice is just nice and it was not "over-pressed". The jalapeno on top of the sushi did not taste like jalapeno at all as it has blended itself very nicely into the sushi while giving a little sting to the aburi salmon.


Perhaps I was completely blown away by how awesome the previous dish was before the following Seabreeze Roll. So, it might not get as much credit it should from me. This roll was made from maguro(tuna) and avocado "topped with house made nori sauce and shiso leaf". The rice wasn't a filler but a part of the roll itself. The nori(seaweed) sauce was very key to bringing the tuna and the avocado together as well.



The Minami Roll was new on the menu that evening and seeing how ambitious I usually am when it comes to food, we decided to give a try. I have to say, it's the least favourite dish of the night. Still better than California Rolls but, not something I would recommend. The rice was soaked in plum wine and then wrapped with tofu-crepe instead of seaweed. The combination is unusual but the roll did not impress me as the rice was a little too soggy to hold the ingredients in the roll together. They used cucumber and yama imo(literally, mountain taro) to balance out the taste but they didn't help much.




Since it was my birthday, I got my birthday present! I really do not remember the name of the dessert but hey, it was made by a pastry chef! And I have sweet tooth! What can go wrong? Nothing! :love:

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