sushi s: perfect rice to fish ratios!

sushi s has great reviews on urban spoon and my mom asked me to choose a restaurant for a lunch of 8 people. i wasn't expecting too much but was IN LOVE when the first rolls came out and i saw the amount of rice. it was PERFECTION. i am one of those annoying people that pick off chunks of rice from sushi pieces because its just too much and at sushi s, i did that NOT ONE TIME. although the prices are a bit high, i think the quality is worth it. 

spicy salmon roll ($4): really nice big chunks of salmon and again, it was made so carefully but be warned it is actually REALLY SPICY

4.5/5

chopped scallop roll ($4): so beautifully constructed and tasted delicious

4.5/5

S roll ($10) crabmeat, prawn tempura, yam tempura, cucumber, avocado: very good combination of deep fried and sauce flavours. 

4/5 

red dragon ($12) prawn tempura, avocado, cucumber with salmon on top: beautifully constructed again, presentation was really amazing for the rolls! the flavours worked well together and it wasn't too spicy. 

4/5 

black dragon ($10) prawn tempura, avocado, cucumber with bbq eel on top: flavours the same as the top, i actually preferred this one because i now love unagi :D 

4/5 

alaska roll ($5): same concept as the sushi garden rolls but this had a way bigger piece of salmon and instead of being stuffed with avocado, it had a california roll filling. sauce onto wasn't too citrusy making the roll delicious. 

4.5/5 

not pictured: 

smoked salmon cream cheese roll (red pepper and mango) ($6): this was actually very delicious, it had the perfect balance between the different flavours and was constructed very neatly! a bit pricey though

4/5  

seafood yakisoba ($12): small portion but lots of stuff other than just the noodles! a little bit oily. 

3.75/5

bbq beef short ribs ($13.50): honestly don't remember details but they were good. 

3.5/5

spicy combo (spicy tuna, spicy salmon, spicy chopped scallop) ($11): same spicy sauce as mentioned above but used for all the rolls making it a little bit one dimensional as we couldn't even differentiate between the 3 sometimes

3/5 

overall: sushi s has really good rolls because of not only presentation but the care they put into constructing each one. none of the flavours were too overpowering except the spicy but hey, i love spicy. definitely recommend for sushi (cooked food was mediocre) that is quite a few notches up from the sushi garden variety but yes, good food comes at a higher price.

kiku sushi: a metrotown area alternative (+group buy deals!)

i came to kiku twice but only intended one visit and this was to use another group buy coupon. the first time i went, it was at lunch and they did not let me but decided to stay anyways and returned for dinner another day. 

they are known for special rolls and lunch/dinner combos so this is what we ordered on visit 1: 

lucky choice combo ($8.25): choice of 3 items with miso soup including rolls, nigiri or appetizer/small entrees. 

house roll: my favourite one of the three, this was packed with crab meat and quite large in size! they didnt skimp on the filling of salmon either and it ended up being quite tasty. 

3.75/5

chicken teriyaki roll: not bad, sauce was super sweet but again, lots of filling although theres LOTS of rice which made me realize i should've just ordered a chicken teriyaki instead of the roll.

3/5

spicy salmon roll: quite a bit of salmon but sauce tastes like straight siracha and wasnt actually mixed into the roll either...again LOTS of rice. 

tuna oil tataki ($9.95): just like tuna tataki except with a strong oil, sesame and soy sauce base topped with green onions and ginger. the tuna was alright...strangely cut but seared nicely. the sauce was a bit salty but went well with the tataki. it was quite a large portion for the price and we enjoyed this! 

4/5

on visit 2, we used the coupon which included a choice of appetizer, chicken teriyaki either rolls or nigiri and sashimi and ends with green tea ice cream. this "meal" was around 13 dollars so we didnt save MUCH but thats what happens sometimes. 

spicy salmon roll (same as above): ordered on top of deal

chicken teriyaki: small portion of chicken was served lukewarm but the chicken wasnt tough or dry so thats a plus! 

3/5

gyoza: very poorly made...all ripped up at the bottom 

1.75/5

nigiri and sashimi: sashimi spicy sauce tasted just like siracha but the nigiri were fine. 

2.5/5

winter dynamite roll ($6.50): this was pretty expensive but the best part of our meal. they have both california and dynamite winter rolls which mean it is topped with some chopped scallop and a motoyaki type sauce then lightly seared. this was actually a very tasty combo and my friend and i both would return for this. 

3.75/5

half of our sushi spread

green tea ice cream: a sweeter end to the meal. 

overall: i would come back for certain things but i felt their cooked food was very chinese style (as evidenced by their mandarin speaking chefs and servers. their lunch specials are a good deal though as their rolls aren't small but are packed with rice. 

also, i felt the food tasted better without the coupon. hope theyre not one of "those" restaurants...

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 

potter's garden korean bbq: korean food for a happy tummy

 having to go to work at metrotown in about an hour, my mom and i looked for a quick lunch place and stumbled upon potter's garden.

i hadn't tried much korean fare before this so we werent sure what to order but was pleasantly surprised by the delicious food and reasonable lunch prices at potter's garden! 

complimentary banchan: sweet potatoes, kimchi and bean sprouts: all quite good! 

paejon: seafood pancake ($9.95) - the best thing about this was the fact that we could get it in a medium size as opposed to the HUGE one at other korean places. this was pretty good, not too oily or thick with dough but mostly comprised of imitation crabmeat.

3.95/5

pork bulgolgi: panfried spicy pork with mixed vegetables with rice ($12.95) - my mom and i really enjoyed this, it was flavourful and had a lot of pork in it! not too spicy but enough to give the entire dish a lot of flavour. 

4.5/5

tofu soup (came with pork bulgolgi) - SO GOOD...perfect amount of spice and lots of tofu bits. you could also taste some seafood which was not overpowered by the spicy. the best bowl for a cold day.

4.5/5

overall, potters garden today is still one of my favourite korean restaurants and tastes very homemade and simple. their lunch deals are a GREAT value and delicious :)  

the one: carb-heavy portions

after church one sunday, a huge group of 15 went to the one for some food and drinks. the one is really popular because of their huge portions, especially the slushes, and the food's not bad either.

its not my favourite taiwanese place in the are (pearl house!) but it is bigger and we had some hungry people. 

japanese green milk tea with coconut jelly large size (~$6.00) -  my friend ordered this but she said it was pretty good. she was also able to pack half of it for home but its not as large as their slushes. 

no rating

dry noodle with braised beef flank, spicy ($8.95) - i have a new love for noodles without soup but with a thicker sauce instead to mix together. this was good being quite spicy and flavourful with a HUGE amount of noodles underneath that were actually a nice al dente. main complaint: the amount of meat was really little..each piece was small and there just wasnt much. 

3.85/5

overall: i would come back with a group of friends but a huge portion of just noodles to me, is not worth it. 

kingsway sushi: post 30hr famine splurge

every year my church group does something called the 30 hour famine where we don't eat for 30 hours and raise money that goes to world vision to provide food for people that don't have a choice whether they get to eat or not. obviously after 30 hours of nothing but juice and water, we are starving so we usually go get some AYCE to fill ourselves up. when we visited kingsway sushi, we were biased into thinking that everything was the best food ever because we were so hungry. 

honestly, its not bad at all since the rolls were fine, the cooked food was fine and it wasnt too expensive being $13.95/person. other than the service which was rude and unattentive (expected from ayce), i would return when in need of a sushi binge. 

cheesy california roll (fried kani, avocado, cucumber and masago)

california rolls, chopped scallop rolls, spicy salmon rolls, dynamite rolls and crunchy roll (dont know whats in there)

chicken kaarage - THIS STUFF IS AMAZING...I LOVE IT 

chicken teriyaki

gyoza 

spicy chicken (flaming lava chicken)

salmon and tuna nigiri

(trust me, this isnt all we had, i just got too hungry to take pictures) 

tealips: waffles and drinks (or water)!

during the summertime, i went out to eat a bunch and one place i visited with friends was tealips bubble tea and coffee. we came here after having a huge sushi meal looking for dessert. there was also a menchies downstairs which i opted for instead of the waffles but here are pictures of what my friends ate. they said it was pretty good and not too expensive but they would rather pay more for the quality at neros. really nice ambiance there with lots of people studying and its just like a peaceful aura throughout the store. 

leige waffle with ice cream and caramel sauce add ons ($~5) 

matcha red bean brussels waffle (~$6-7)