zipang provisions: looks like a bar, tastes like sushi

for my mom's birthday dinner this year, we wanted something japanese but not just sushi and not just izakaya. its getting harder and harder to find new restaurants to try! so we went to visit what i call hipster sushi at zipang provisions. the outside looks NOTHING like japanese food and will easily be passed if you're unprepared. 

asari butter clams: didn't try this but my parents thought it was good? 

nanban chicken: this was one of our favourite dishes. the deep fried chicken was covered in a tangy sauce then topped with tartar/mayo. fried up crispy, although a bit heavy, scraping off some of the white sauce made this one of the best chicken's I've had! 

4.5/5

black cactus roll ($7.80): raw tuna, tempura bits, mayo, masago and spicy sauce rolled in black sesame seeds: not bad but nothing special and a bit pricy for what we got. a thicker layer of rice than expected but i liked the crunch of the sesame seeds and freshness of the fish. 

3.25/5 

salmon oshizushi ($11.80): salmon pressed sushi with jalapeño and creamy sauce: compared to minami or kishimoto, this fell quite short. the sear didn't do much to enhance the flavour and the whole piece tasted like a salmon maki but with a bit of sauce. 

3.25/5

east meets west roll ($8.80): avocado, unagi and black pepper wrapped with proscuitto: my favourite roll of the night! the salty from the pork and the fatty sweetness of the unagi and it's sauce blended together really well! 

4.75/5

okonomiyaki ($8.80): japanese pancake with seafood bits inside. this was a bit doughy and salty but i love okonomiyaki and wasn't bad for the price! 

3.75/5 

overall: the food at zipang is a tad pricey and a hit or miss kind of place but i enjoyed my meal! what was good was REALLY GOOD. nothing was bad but it wasn't special for the price we paid. i would return to try more special rolls and their lunch sets! 

black dragon sushi: simple rolls and...fries?

summer of 2013 (almost a year ago...whoops) my friends and i decided to try black dragon sushi on kingsway since we love our sushi rolls and their menu seemed to be filled with them!

we started off with some staples that we always order:

salmon roll ($2.50) - not bad, the salmon inside wasnt extremely chopped up but rice was bland. 

2.75/5

california roll ($3.50) - haphazardly put together and bland..not very good.

2.5/5

salmon avocado roll ($3.95) - pretty full but again, rice was not good. texture and taste were poor. 

2.75/5

agadashi tofu ($3.95) - fried nice and crispy, served hot but not enough sauce. 

3.25/5

chicken kaarage ($4.95) - this was the strangest chicken kaarage i ever got at a japanese restaurant...it was like chinese deep fried chicken skin with french fries...i dont even know what to say...

1/5

maple roll ($7.25) - crab meat, cucumber and avocado topped with salmon and some mayo: this was not bad for a special roll with the price of only 8 bucks.

3/5

yam tempura roll ($3.50)

spicy salmon roll ($3.50)

for both of them, same comments as above. the filling is not bad since they dont skimp out but the rice is not very tasty. 

3/5 for both 

salmon tataki ($10.95) - this was alright as well but again, not enough sauce and didnt have too much flavour other than just the salmon.

3/5

overall, the food is fine but bland with hard/tasteless rice and there is nothing special about but the prices are quite decent. i would return to try more special rolls but would not make a special trip out of it. definition of mediocre 

2.75/5 

jumbo sushi: small prices but small tastes

craving sushi in richmond, my mom and i went to jumbo sushi where i had once gone with my friends. it took forever to decide what to get because they have a huge choice of special rolls all with pretty interesting fillings and sauces and its really cheap. in the end we chose two and i must admit i was a bit disappointed...

red roll ($4.95): chopped scallop inside, spicy salmon outside topped with tempura flakes - sounded great but did not wow me. rice is extremely bland and the tempura flakes were stale and chewy. although the fish tasted fine, it was so packed with rice i could hardly taste it. 

2.5/5

bc lion's roll ($6.95): spicy salmon topped with salmon tempura: this tasted better than the other because i liked the contrast between the warm tempura and the raw fish but there was WAY too much rice. the overall flavour of the rice is also very bland leaving me wanting more. 

3/5

overall: i love special rolls but these did not live up to my expectations. the prices are very cheap and unfortunately, it is reflected in the quality (amount of rice) and lack of flavour. i think i might return again when im really craving cheap sushi (since this did temporarily please my sushi cravings). 

also, not that it matters much but the owner (i think) is not rude but is a bit cold. he did give us free miso soup but did not seem to be pleased about it.  

kawa sushi: cheap sushi makes for bland sushi?

a couple months ago, i got a takeout menu in the mail for a new sushi place near my house called kawa sushi. the menu was full of special rolls that were reasonably priced and seemed pretty good. finally, i got around to getting take out from the little restaurant and although it wasnt bad, i was disappointed. 

power roll ($6.95): prawn tempura, cucumber and avocado topped with salmon and tuna - honestly, there was nothing really wrong with the roll, the prawn was crispy and the slices of fish were nice and thick. the only thing was that the whole thing didnt have very much taste. there were no sauces which i knew when i ordered it but for some reason, i though it would just have more flavour. 

3/5

at first i thought $6.95, thats not bad but after eating the roll, i realized that other special rolls elsewhere that are tastier are around the same price. i would return to try different rolls but for now, even though $6.95 sounds good on paper, it did not reach my expectations.