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! 

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.

gyo: hidden japanese gem and a seafood yukke don

this post is WAYY overdue and i've been back to gyo-o multiple times now but to reminisce on the first time i fell in love with the food here...fond memories. 

gyo-o is a part of the gyoza king chain and serves up mostly rice bowls or udon (both soup and dry) as well as many appetizers including sashimi.  located in the same strip mall as pearl castle and deer garden, i feel it is often forgotten but it sure has amazing food.

the first time here, everything looked amazing but there were TOO MANY CHOICES so i looked to urban spoon for help and then settled on the seafood yukke don as well as a pick and choose bukkake udon. 

miso soup came with the bukkake udon. 

seafood yukke don: chopped up seafood mixed with special sauce over rice with a poached egg ($11.00) - this right here is what makes this place amazing. i had never tried seafood yukke don and was skeptical but this is THE BOMB DOT COM.

lots of chopped up seafood in this magical sauce that you mix into the rice with that egg and it just because the best bowl of rice you will ever have. tasty but not overwhelming with little bits of fish to keep your protein tastebuds happy. this is seriously a MUST EAT. but be warned, it is a bit slimier so if you're not into that stuff, stay away and stick to the deep fried. 

5/5

pick and choose bukkake udon (~$13) (sorry dont remember the real name) - deep fried chicken kaarage, takoyaki and poached egg atop a bed of udon noodles served with sauce. 

they have a whole list of toppings that you can choose from to go with your udon.

my first time having cold udon and it was really good! the chicken and takoyaki here are awesome, some of the best id ever had, but the udon was quite different from what i'm used to.

the sauce comes on the side and once i removed the toppings (im not huge on soggy fried) i poured the liquid in slowly just to see how it would taste and it was quite good! 

this was the end product of the egg and sauce, looks unappealing but had a delicious flavour. and they give QUITE A BIT of udon. nice and chewy, al dente udon! 

4.75/5

overall: this is one of the best food discoveries i have made thanks to food blogging. i walked past it 100 times before and never even thought about entering but it is DELICIOUS. not what you usually expect at japanese restaurants...its even better. only complaint is that the prices are a bit high but the food is so delicious that you dont care.

5/5

itadakimasu: izakaya with a twist

itadakimasu had a groupon (sometimes it comes back) and open only for dinner, my family came for my birthday celebration. the food is interesting and quite tasty! 

pari pari ebi mayo ($7): essentially deep fried shrimp but they coat it with rice krispies instead of the usual tempura batter! gave it a delicious crunch and the sauce was sweet and spicy. absolutely delicious! 

4.5/5

daily cute temari sushi ($10): ball shaped sushi with assorted fish on top - they were very cute but tasted like regular nigiri (with more rice) but it was nice to get a variety.

3/5

takoyaki ($4): octopus filled balls that are covered in 2 sauces and bonito flakes - these were quite good! not too greasy or heavy but nothing especially memorable about them. 

3.75/5

tuna tataki ($8) - lightly seared tuna with ponzu jelly - the jelly was really interesting almost like salty jello that was delicious ontop of each slice of tuna.

4/5

kurobuta pork sausace ($~5): this was a special but did not impress us very much. tasted just like plain sausage although the grainy mustard sauce was good! 

2.75/5 

beef bibimbomb ($8.6): beef short rib, egg, scallions and rice in a stone pot - this comes with spicy sauce but we got it on the side. the sauce makes it really delicious so if you can take things a bit spicier definitely go for it! this was really good! the flavours melded really well and wasnt too greasy either. one of my favourites of the night!

4.5/5

overall: the food here is a bit expensive and portions are not the MOST generous but it is definitely different and delicious! also the servers were super nice and had no problems with the groupon. returning is in the near future! 

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 

mt.fuji: only sushi in killarney area

wanting to have lunch close to home, my friends and i stopped by mt.fuji japanese restaurant at killarney market. 

the quality and portions are nothing special but good enough to satisfy any sushi cravings that you may have and being the only sushi place in a mostly industrial area, its not bad. 

salmon nigiri ($1.50 each) - good, nothing special but quite a bit of rice

from back to front:

dynamite roll ($4.50) 

salmon avocado roll ($4.75) 

spicy salmon roll ($3.95) 

all 3 rolls were standard but had a bit too much rice on them. 

3/5

green jade roll - salmon, avocado, crab meat, tamago, tobiko, mayo rolled in cucumber ($8.50) - very refreshing but quite pricy for what you get. 

3/5

overall: i would only come because it is nearby but everything is very average and a bit overpriced. 

sushi cafe kitchen: definition of fast food sushi

being in a rush to get from downtown to school, i gave up on trying to find a good sushi restaurant (even though there are millions downtown...) i settled on sushi cafe kitchen which is located in sinclair centre aka the walkway with some shops between the skytrain and canada line.

the food is not very good being bland and slimy, but it was fast.

spicy salmon roll (top): ($3.50) - this was not very good. the rice was quite hard and flavourless. also, the fish was very slimy and did not taste at all like salmon.

1/5

salmon-cali roll (bottom): ($3.50) - this was a bit better tasting with the addition of avocado but the rice was just as bad. the crab meat section was also extremely bland and did not taste like anything. at least the salmon was a bit better?

1.5/5

overall: i would not return here unless it had no other choice. 

umi japanese eatery: decent japanese food court noms

after having a pre-lunch snack at let's roll, my mom and i stopped by richmond center after her hair appointment for a bigger meal. the new dining terrace has a lot of choices but umi looked pretty good! this is the same japanese stand at most food courts except this one has more hot food like udon and appetizers and also separate section for desserts. 

chicken udon (~$8) - this was unexpectedly good! the udon noodles were a good firm texture and they give a pretty big portion of chicken as well. it was quite salty though and the soup didnt have much taste other than salt...but it wasnt bad!

3.5/5

takoyaki ($~5) - this was very normal and a bit room temperature but at least it had lots of bonito flakes! 

3/5

overall: if i was coming back to richmond centre for lunch, i wouldnt mind coming back but i hear good things about bourbon st. grill so i would try that first! 

guu richmond (revist): still just as guu'd

what a (non) surprise! guu richmond again! i purchased this big city deals voucher for bubble tea at estea express in the food court which was expiring very soon so i had to go to aberdeen two weeks in a row. well last week we already ate at the food court so the only other place is...guu! 

still just as good (or even better) than last time since my palate is starting to be open to newer flavours. i used to order ONE thing only at japanese restaurants being udon but now i love raw fish and anything deep fried and battered. we decided to try two new appies in addition to our regular box and were very pleased with our lunch meal! 

salmon yukke ($3.80) - chopped salmon sashimi with garlic teriyaki, pine nuts and green onion served with prawn crackers - this was our first time trying this and BOY WAS IT DELICIOUS

they give you a quail egg to mix into the salmon then you scoop it on the prawn crackers and the flavours will just pop all over your mouth. the garlic sauce is amazing and at this price, i would order 100 times again! (ps. if you dont really like slimy, this is not for you!)

4.75/5

takoyaki ($4.50): deep fried octopus ball with tonkatsu sauce and mustard mayo - i was a little disappointed to see it deep fried instead of grilled but i was stupid not to read the description. this was delicious although a little lacking on the bonito flakes. they had huge pieces of octopus inside and the mustard added a good contrast to the sweet tonkatsu sauce. 

4.35/5

sushi box: tuna, surf clam and salmon sushi, salmon and scallop sashimi, california roll, egg, grilled mackerel, chicken karaage and rice - just as good as i remembered. they changed the sushi/sashimi without ever mentioning it but i dont think thats a huge deal.

4.5/5

overall: guu is dang guu'd and although their menu isnt the largest, they do have a lot of lunch boxes and choices so if you like rice, fish or deep fried foods, YOU HAVE TO GO HERE.