Fancy Sushi

What: Salmon Aburi and Dynamite Roll Combo
Where: Green Leaf Sushi – Vancouver, BC
Cuisine:Japanese
Affordability: $15-20

Last year, I had the opportunity to dine at Miku, one of the top tier Japanese restaurants in Vancouver, where I fell in love with a new kind of sushi called Aburi sushi. Instead of being rolled up in seaweed, the sushi is pressed in rectangular boxes, drizzled with a mayo-like sauce, and then torched with a hand held flame. Needless to say, it’s much more labour intensive than rolling up a regular sushi, so it comes at a hefty price as well. But it is eye-rolling delicious.

Fast forward one year, and I managed to find a restaurant that also serves aburi style sushi at a slightly more reasonable price. We tried the salmon aburi oshi sushi, dynamite roll, and 4 nigiri sushi that came with the combo. Although the aburi sushi was a bit too oily at the bottom, the flavours were totally on par with Miku’s. One bite into the dynamite roll and I found myself thinking why order cheap sushi from other places when I can have this kind with perfectly deep fried tempura shrimp?! As for the nigiri, I don’t normally order slabs of raw fish, but their ratio of rice to fish was just right, and we finished every last piece that we ordered.

One thing I must ding the restaurant though is their ventilation. The restaurant is pretty small (luckily, they take reservations), but by the time we were done with our dinner, we definitely smelled like grease all over our clothes. Oh well, doesn’t stop me. Hope to be back soon!

Happy New Year!

What: Caterpillar and Spicy Salmon Roll
Where: Sushi California
Cuisine: Japanese
Affordability: $10

Happy New Year foodies! It’s been way too long since we last posted anything, so as a new years resolution, my goal is to blog at least once a week. Fingers crossed that I’ll have time to keep up with this resolution!

Even with so many Japanese restaurants in Vancouver to choose from, Sushi California is one of those restaurants we keep going back to. It’s super conveniently located a block east from the Broadway Cambie Canada Line station, but be sure to arrive early as the place does not take reservations.

We ordered sashimi, spicy salmon roll, caterpillar roll, and a udon soup and the bill was only $30! The sashimi slabs are huge and fresh, and you can even place half-orders if desired. My favorite was the caterpillar roll as the avocado on top was creamy and the tempura shrimp was crunchy inside. The spicy salmon roll is cheap, but the salmon-to-spicy sauce ratio was off and I’ve had better spicy mayo elsewhere.

Overall, a great place to meet up with friends to grab a quick bite and fill that sushi craving!

The Sushi California

What: Sashimi Dinner and Salmon Skin Roll
Where: The Sushi California (Windsor)
Cuisine: Japanese
Affordability: $20+

I was reluctant to try another Japanese restaurant in Windsor after the numerous disappointing ones in the last few weeks. But I am also determined to find good food in this city. Enter The Sushi California on University…and just in time.

It was a packed house on a Wednesday night and that’s a good sign for this city as most restaurants I’ve been to had been empty even on a Friday night. They had a fairly large menu of both authentic sounding Japanese dishes as well as fusion ones. They certainly have a large collection of fusion rolls that can satisfy anyone’s appetite. I ordered the Sashimi Dinner, which had 16 pieces of sashimi (with my choice of fish) with a rice bowl and miso soup. I also ordered the salmon skin roll for kicks. The other rolls just look too filling and by these two dishes I’ve already rang up close to $30 for dinner for one. But it was all worth it. The hot green tea was divine and had asked for more throughout my meal. The order took longer to come since there was only one server attending to a fair-sized sushi restaurant that was packed. But all is forgiven. The fish were fresh and the cuts were fairly thick. All the fish were firm, and both butter fish and octopus were sublime! The salmon skin roll was just the right and crispy to my liking. I would highly recommend it if you are easily overwhelmed by the others in the menu. I would recommend, however, that they at least offer a scoop of ice cream with the meal as a compliment. I would rank it high up there in the “likeness” factor if they did that. But if you have room for dessert and can spend a few more dollars, they offer frozen Mochi balls and ice cream including a tempura cream cheese. I’m just too stuffed at this point to have any more food.

Would I go back to California Sushi? Of course. It’s a little pricey but it’s definitely worth it. The others in the area are just bad, bad sushi!

Hikari

What: Shrimp Tempura, Salmon Skin Roll and Assorted Sashimi.
Where: Hikari
Cuisine: Japanese
Affordability: $25+ per person

Pointers:

– Hikari came highly recommended by colleagues from Toronto who has travelled to Windsor on a regular basis with a disclaimer of “but it’s not the same as we’re used to”. I hate sounding like a typical Torontonian, but I can’t blame them for it. However, it did satisfy my craving and would recommend it for what it is more than the alternative in the area.

– The selection of fish is typical for a smaller city where consumption of something like raw fish does not rank up there in the local scene. You have your salmon, tuna, and shrimp, which will likely have a longer shelf life than more exotic ones. I’m not expecting blow fish, but there are others that can make any sushi dining experience an interesting one. I ordered the shrimp tempura since that’s staple and quite surprised to see it cooked I the proper rice flour batter and flash fried (I’ve seen my share of tempura sacrilege this past week that would put Captain Highliner on a pedestal). No complaints here as, again, it was properly executed. I also ordered the Salmon Skin roll as it is a favourite. Each restaurant makes it differently and I like the variations. This one was good too. A little too much on the flakes that wrapped the roll, but I didn’t mind. It was lightly rolled however so it got a little loose as you pick it up. But not too big of a complaint there. For the feast a resistance, I ordered the assorted sashimi, which if I recall, had 12 pieces of fish (3 or 4 of each). They were thickly sliced that the usual serving and clearly been frozen and thawed. The fish had an icy-gain texture and very limp. Fresh fish is often plump and your teeth cuts thru it like butter. The fish here did not. Given that tho, I didn’t suffer from any stomach upsets returning to my place that evening or the next day. So I’ll give Hikari half a thumb up for that.

– Overall, it’s okay. Like my colleagues said “it’s not what we are used to” and “take it for what it is”. I’ll go back to my comment earlier that in light of the alternatives in the area, you’d likely find me at Hikari again. FYI, Hakari closes between lunch and dinner hours. Call first before making your way there.

Sushi on the west coast is so much better!

What: Roll Lover Party Tray
Where: Sakura Sushi
Cuisine: Japanese
Affordability $8-10

Pointers:
– This small  restaurant is a gem in the heart of Richmond centre area, and a rare find as it’s owned and operated by Japanese people.

– We decided to order a party tray for lunch which consisted of dynamite rolls, California rolls, spicy tuna rolls and salmon avocado rolls with a total of 48 pieces. We found this to be just the right amount of food for hungry three people.

– The dynamite roll had nicely fried tempura shrimp, California rolls were moist with just the right amount of mayonnaise, but my favourite was the spicy tuna roll. Although it lacked the crunchy panko bits, the degree of spiciness was perfect as they incorporate hot sauce, not spicy mayo, into the fish before rolling it up.

-Definitely recommend this place if you’re feeling hungry when you get off the skytrain at Brighouse station or if you’re shopping at Richmond Center!