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! 

ikura japanese restaurant: lunch boxes for seven bucks!

so much good food in marpole area…and my family (of three…look at the amount of food…) decided on ikura japanese restaurant. they have really good lunch box deals and special rolls all at a good price! food is not exactly authentic (chinese run) but it is definitely enough to satisfy sushi cravings. 

lunch box d (beef short ribs, sashimi, assorted tempura, salad, miso soup) $9.95: the tempura batter was a little thick and theres a huge hole for the wasabi making the box look incomplete but the sashimi was thick and tasted fine! beef short ribs were a tad chewy

3/5

 hamachi tataki ($7.95): i actually really enjoyed this. nice thick slices of hamachi in a ponzu type sauce not too salty! 

3.75/5

lunch box b (chicken teriyaki, assorted tempura, miso soup, california roll, tuna roll and small salad) $6.95: same hole in the middle but for 7 bucks..this was an amazing deal. same comments as above but i actually liked the chicken more, it was not dry! 

3.5/5

crazy girl roll (spicy tuna and avocado topped with ebi and avocado in a spicy mayo) $6.95: probably my favourite thing from here. all my favourites together in a roll that was a good price too! only complain is that the rice was a bit thicker than i like.

3.75/5

papaya roll (salmon, papaya topped with tuna, bonito and a sweet sauce) $9.25: least favourite thing here…found it really expensive for what was give…the tiny piece of papaya is not worth 10 bucks and there was DEFINITELY a wasabi component that i did not like. 

1.5/5

soft shell crab kaarage ($6.50): didn't try it but seemed a bit thick on the batter?

overall: the food was good for the price that we paid. this amount of food was enough for a huge lunch box of leftovers!

sushi bay: sushi will always be at the top of my list

continuing on trying all restaurants in vancouver, i decided to try out sushi bay on kingsway which is have passed 3000 times in my life but never felt compelled to try.

my dad really likes bento boxes so thats what we started with: 

miso soup: comes with bento box 

sushi and sashimi box ($10.99): this had california roll, 3 nigiri and 4 sashimi with tempura, rice and a salad - honestly, i wasn't too impressed with the food here. it tasted good but not amazing as suggested by the high urban spoon ratings. 

3/5

seafood lunch box ($9.99); salmon teriyaki, california roll, tempura, rice and salad - again it wasn't expensive or bad, just kind of boring

3/5

awesome roll ($7.95): california roll with bbq salmon ontop and yam strips with a spicy sauce - this was pretty good! but the yam strips weren't crispy like i expected, actually sort of limp…

3.5/5

overall: the food is fine and the prices aren't too high but thats all i can say about the place as nothing was memorable. 

sushi ame: special rolls are so beautiful

sushi ame is located deep in downtown on robson with really good reviews so i decided to grab takeout from here for dinner! although the food was good, it was a bit pricey for the amount of fish to rice but i did enjoy the special rolls more since i love non-authentic sushi. 

negihama roll ($2.95): a little lacking in the fish department 

3.5/5

salmon avocado roll ($4.50): not bad but nothing amazing, thicker on the rice

3.5/5

spicy crispy roll: prawn tempura, cucumber in a roll with avocado, yam tempura and crunchy flake with sweet chile sauce ($7.95): this was probably a bad choice to have for takeout because the tempura was a bit soft. i asked for it without the spicy worrying my dad couldnt take it but it ended up being a bit bland. 

3/5

black tiger roll: spicy tuna, crab meat, cucumber in a roll topped with avocado and unagi ($10.95): my favourite of the bunch..all my favourite ingredients in a roll and beautiful presentation! 

4/5 

overall: would return to try more of the special rolls but there are lots of other sushi options that i think are a better value. not bad for robson street though. 

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...

sushi california: nothing like a whole buncha rolls

nothing's better than sushi take out on a friday night...especially at a great price like at sushi california. 

top: spicy tuna tempura roll ($3.95) - deep fried tempura in a spicy sauce in a roll for 4 bucks...as good as it sounds... 

4/5

bottom: smoked salmon garlic roll ($4.50) - prawn tempura in the middle with smoked salmon on top sprinkled with garlic chips, kind of plain tasting/starchy without a sauce to hold it together and heavy on the rice!  

3.70/5

house roll ($4.50) - just like at sushi garden, its just loaded with stuff like crab meat, assorted fish and tamago. perfect for a filler and to get a nice variety

4/5

top: hot n roll ($3.95) - spicy tuna in the middle topped with spicy salmon, pickled onion and jalapeño, my favourite of the night, perfect amount of spiciness and delicious overall! 

4.5/5

bottom: alaska roll ($3.95) - again, like sushi garden an avocado filled roll with a salad dressing type sauce and salmon. slices on top were a bit thin but the garlicky sauce was so good. 

3.75/5

overall: sushi california does not fail to satisfy that cheap sushi desire. non-authentic rolls and funky combinations for under 25 bucks...yes please, anytime! 

sushi star: hidden "not quite a gem" sushi

a warm summer day in 2013, me and two friends decided to have downtown adventures visiting soirette and the harbour but before that, we needed energy in the form of SUSHI and found sushi star in a hidden street. 

 gyoza ($3.95) - the gyoza were not great. it was quite hard and seemed over fried but did come the table piping hot which is a plus! i can be a bit biased though since i strong prefer pan fried over deep fried and am a bit upset they didnt clarify it on the menu ): 

2.85/5

tuna tataki ($7.95) - 8 bucks for tuna tataki is a pretty good price but as you can tell from the picture, its not the most beautiful or delicious around. the sauce had a nice acidity but the slices were very thin and hardly seared.

3.25/5

yam tempura roll ($3.95), dynamite roll ($3.95), salmon avocado roll ($3.75)

all the rolls were pretty average with a blander tasting rice. the filling in the dynamite wasnt bad since i actually enjoy when there is crab meat included but the salmon avocado was quite packed with rice and had little salmon in it. 

3.25/5

lion king roll ($8.95) - deep fried california roll topped with spicy crab mix. this was not a bad roll but looking back, we should have picked something that had different fillings on the top and inside. nonetheless, its a bit pricy for what you get but the spicy topping was quite good. 

3.5/5

overall: sushi star has a very high rating on urbanspoon but i didnt find any of it amazing. the prices are decent especially for downtown and the place is really small and cozy but there's a lot of other sushi waiting for me in vancouver. 

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.