All Entries in the "Japanese" Category
Tenhachi Japanese Restaurant in Shaugnessy Village
We met up with Kim Ho for dinner last month. Kim Ho had been a prolific commenter on chowtimes and he also had a blog which he calls it Words of Wind. He recommended a Japanese restaurant Tenhachi which apparently is one of those places that had been blogged about many times by local Vancouver food bloggers.
Tenhachi is located in the ground floor of a bed-and-breakfast place unlike the B&B that most people are accustomed to. Firstly, despite the name Shaugnessy Village it is not anywhere like the tony Shaugnessy neighborhood. Shaugnessy Village is more like a cheap hotel more than it is a B&B.
Tenhachi comes across to us as a pure Japanese restaurant. Decor-wise, there is no hint of this being a Japanese restaurant but we were greeted in Japanese. We tried to tell them we don’t understand Japanese (in English of course) but they kept on talking to us in Japanese. Hmmm … if anything, Suanne and I do not look like a Japanese at all. But service was great and have all the hallmark of Japanese politeness.
I had absolutely no idea what I was ordering. So I ended up ordering something that sounded good. The above is Beef with Ponzu Sauce which costs $14.
I did not know what Ponzu Sauce (it’s soya sauce with lemon) was but now I know. That is because Kim Ho is like a walking encyclopedia! Ask him any obscure question, he is able answer!
The beef was thinly sliced and served cold … just like a beef salad of sort.
It also came with Pine Mushroom. It was quite good. I am not familiar with these mushroom … is this Japanese?
My Beef with Ponzu Sauce came also with “organic” miso soup. It was certainly one of the best tasting miso soup we ever tried and it has “stuff” in it.
Oh yeah … Suanne pointed out to me that Japanese do NOT have soup spoons unlike the Chinese. You are supposed to slurp LOUDLY direct from the bowl!! He he he … to the Chinese that is rude and frown upon as uncultured. **shrugs** … to each their own!
Suanne was less adventurous and opted for their Spicy Chicken Teriyaki from their Dinner Plate section. This one costs $10. There is nothing spectacular about this dish and despite the name, it is not spicy at all.
The rice is served with a sprinkle of something like black sesame seed. What is this supposed to do? Is it just for garnishing or is it supposed to impart flavor and texture to the rice? We could not tell the difference frankly.
Arkensen ordered the Assorted Nigiri Sushi. Ohh … expensive … $16. But it sure looked good but I think it’s a bit too expensive. Is there anyone particular item here that makes this expensive? They all looked pretty common to me.
Nanzaro had the California Roll and Fish & Chips and Sunomono. This is definitely NOT Japanese except perhaps the “Sunomono” which I have absolutely no idea what that is. This one is $11 and is more western than Japanese.
Since it is more western and Nanzaro had ketchup with his sushi … yew!
We also ordered Mushroom Tempura (or at least I think that is what it is).
Hey, what exactly is this thingy up there? What does it go with? They gave us so little of this … it’s like no bigger than your fingernail.
We were too full but Kim Ho got some desserts — definitely not Japanese :-)
The bill came up to $90 including tips. If you ask me it was expensive because it was just only for three adults and two kids.
I am so sorry to say this but both Suanne and I had diarrhea after the dinner. I had to get to the washroom in the middle of the meal but Suanne had it worse … she spent the whole night in the washroom at home! We think it must be either the cold beef or the miso soup because it is what both of us had and not the boys who were fine. So, I guess we had just bad luck here.
Despite the good reviews we find in the net, I am afraid it is not a place we would go back to again. But we want Kim Ho to know that it was a great pleasure to have met you. We’re looking forward to meeting up again in the FoodBuzz dinner on the 20th this month!
Sushi Platter from Matsuyama in Richmond
I don’t know what to say. This summer had just gone past so fast. This morning I was reminded that summer is coming to an end and this weekend is as good as it gets for the rest of it. So, for a change we decided to just go out to the park for lunch.
The boys had been hankering me to get the Matsuyama Party Platter which we did not manage to do all these while because they wanted an hour advance notice to prepare them. We called the moment they are opened (at 11AM) and placed our order. Guess what, they told me over the phone that they only needed 15-20 minutes. I guess it’s because it’s early enough that they did not need the 1 hour advance notice.
We had blogged about Matsuyama before here. This place had turned out to be our favourite sushi place in Richmond. By the time we got there as the appointed time to pick it up, it was all ready.
BTW, a question … you don’t leave a tip do you when you go pick up your food from the restaurant on your own, do you? And another question … if they deliver to your house, how much do you tip the deliverer? A percentage of the tab or a fixed amount.
They came packed nicely in a round plastic platter. For a moment, I thought they might even give it to us in a few separate Styrofoam containers like some sushi places do. I like this better because it looks nicer. The soya sauce was included in separate containers rather than sachets.
We brought it to the South Arm Park. On a nice day like this, this place is always packed with picnickers. We love this park more than anyone else in Richmond because it is well maintained, large and most important it is very shaded.
The boys were quite impatient to dig in but they know the protocol in the family … pictures first before they can touch the food. Sigh … such is the life of a food blogger. :-)
This is a 54 piece platter. Although it works out to a lot of pieces shared between just the four of us, I know the boys will finish it all off. They will eat anything except for (1) anything that has cucumber in it, and (2) it is not contaminated by the wasabi. Anything that is 1/2 inch from the wasabi is pretty much left to Suanne and I to eat.
Suanne and I were not fans of wasabi ourselves. We always leave it untouched. However, we like the ginger, especially Suanne.
This above must be what they call the House Roll. It is quite big and filled with stuff like salmon, tuna, avacado, imitation crab meat, eggs, cucumber and salmon roe. Or at least I think that’s what it contains.
The California Roll is the favourite of the boys. It almost always contains only imitation crab meat, avacado and sometimes cucumber. This is not Japanese having been invented in Los Angeles where avocado is first used as an ingredient.
On the home front, we have the BC Roll. I don’t know the history behind the BC Roll but I reckon it must have been invented here in Vancouver. The unique ingredient here is the grilled salmon skin which gives it an oily taste. Could it have been invented by Vancouver’s Tojo?
The surf clam is quite unique in that we don’t see a lot of this in average sushi outlet.
Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant in Richmond
One of our favorite weekend restaurants is the Silver Tower Cafe. For all the times we chose to eat around the neighborhood, we had always went to Silver Tower and ignored the Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant even though it had a more prominent front.
Since our boys wanted sushi, we decided to go in and check it out.
The Matsuyama is located on the eastern end of Alexandra Road. Parking is terrible around here but we normally could get a spot if we wait for a while. We almost always have someone pull out within 5-10 minutes max even on peak lunch time.
Looking at their menu, we were wondering why it took us so long to visit this place. They have lots of choices … not just sushi. What we like is their prices.
Between the four of us, we ordered two lunch boxes and two sets of sushi. These Bentos costs only $7.95 each.
The miso soup came together with the bentos.
Their Maki Combos are $6.95 which I felt was quite alright. See the cucumbers? Well, our boys does not eat cucumber and they had to be picked out before our boys touches it. Suanne ends up eating the cucumbers all the time.
They serve the makis on wooden platform “plates”. I believe this is the traditional way of serving sushi in Japan.
The total bill came to just over $32. We had originally wanted to order one of their Party Platters which ranges from $26.50 (41 pcs) to $50 (56 pcs) but they needed at least an advance order of 1 hour. They do deliver free from 5pm to 11pm.
Fish On Rice on Kingsway, Burnaby
We are beginning to run out of a place to eat in Richmond. Since the boys wanted AYCE (All-You-Can-Eat) Sushi, we took a long drive to Burnaby. There are lots of cheap and decent sushi places along Kingsway at around the Metrotown section. We decided to go to Fish on Rice.
There are actually two Fish On Rice with the other one along Broadway in Vancouver. The Fish On Rice on Kingsway is located on the second floor of 4381 Kingsway. When I suggested Fish On Rice, Nanzaro thought I was pulling his legs. He simply could not believe there’s a sushi place with that name. He expected more Japanese sounding names like Akasuka, Ningkasu, Yokohama, Toyota, Mitsubishi. LOL!
Frankly, I knew of the bad reviews of Fish On Rice particularly the fact that they have bad service. I sort of understand that because they have one of the cheapest AYCE Sushi around town.
The Lunch AYCE is $12 but is $1 extra for weekends. Between the four of us, it costs $60 including tips. We went at about 1PM and knew that there would be a crowd — we just did not know how big the crowd was.
We put in our name to the waiting list and was informed that the wait is 1.5 hours and that we were given at most only 1 hour to eat because they closes lunch at 3PM!! Take it or leave it, they said … no negotiation. I wanted to go for another place but the boys wanted this so much and did not mind waiting. It was easy for them to say — they have their iPods while Suanne and I only have each other to talk to.
We did not have to wait for 1.5 hours really. We got shown our tables only after 30 minutes. I guess a lot of people left their names and then left without waiting.
The interior look quite authentic but I do suspect this is not Japanese owned. Seating were cramped and tables were divided into booths of various size. We wanted so much to get seated by the windows with sunken floors but it was not possible because they are meant for bigger parties.
There are rules here … all AYCEs have rules. Here, you could have either AYCE or ala carte but not on the same table. There is also a 2 hour time limit.
Service was indeed bad. The waitresses walked around with their eyes looking at the floor all the time. They were so afraid of eye contact. We had to literally block their path to get their attention.
Mum, as usual being kiasu one, over ordered. Her reasoning that we only have 1 hour to eat but I know she wants maximum value for the money! For those who don’t know the meaning of the word kiasu, see here. I kid you not … kiasu is a word recognized by Oxford Dictionary.
We all regretted … BIG TIME! There were so much food all that we wanted to puke! I mean, why go through the agony of stuffing yourself silly just because it is AYCE right? Not to mention too … the guilt the next day when we step on the scales and found that we just gained 1 KG in 1 day. We never learn. LOL!
The food was not stellar but was quite OK. Some of them had lots of MSG. We, of course, maximized on our order of sashimi. We were not surprised that they are sliced so thin (they are supposed to be chunkier).
Salmon head and salmon cheek. Suanne digs this stuff. She enjoys picking up the flesh pieces. Too much work for me … too much work for the boys too.
I think the above is the Crispy Chicken Skin … it was some skin but not 101% sure if it was chicken. Nice … we like it. Not healthy, I know but they are absolutely delish.
Oyster Motoyaki is another of Suanne’s favourite. It has too much mayo and too rich for me. Suanne makes this at home and has the recipe here. It’s easy to make … check that out.
There are lots of other pictures we took … click on the link below to see more.
Posh Sukiyaki Restaurant in Richmond
Suanne and I are beginning to find more time to ourselves these days. The boys are getting older and they are having more extra-curricular activities. It’s a sign that it’s going to be a few more short years before they will be spending even more time on their own.
With the boys involved in another of their activities, Suanne and I took the opportunity to check out Posh in Richmond. We had always been meaning to try this place for sometime already.
Posh is located at the strip mall by Sexsmith Road. There are three Posh’es within Metro Vancouver with the other two located on Broadway (Vancouver) and Kingsway (Burnaby)
Despite it being called a Sukiyaki restaurant, I had the distinct feeling it is more Chinese than anything. At least all the workers spoke Chinese.
I had always thought that it is a big restaurant but were quite surprised how small it is.
There are a few tables upstairs which seats about 20 people max. They optimize the seating by putting removable wooden partitions since it is just the two of us. It is OK for us and does give us a bit of privacy in the cramped seating arrangement.
I can’t recall exactly what Suanne ordered. I think it is called Green Sofa and had some apple flavour in it. It looked pretty for sure.
For me, I had the sake. To tell the truth, I had NEVER had sake in my life before. So when I ordered sake, they asked if I wanted it warm or cold, I had absolutely no idea what to order. I just chose warm. It was pretty good. It came in a small flask and a small cup.
This is a All You Can Eat place. We had to place our order on the chit provided.
First thing to choose is the soup. We had the Spicy Soup Base which costs $7. It was very spicy which was great. Posh claim that they brew this concotion of 15 herbs and 4 types of chilli over 7 days before serving.
There are extras that one could order like satay sauce for $1, Hot Sauce for $1, extra eggs, butter and vinegar for 50 cents. We ordered the satay sauce and really, the soup base is flavourful enough and we did not need it.
Tell me … I can’t tell the difference between Sukiyaki, Shabu-shabu and the Chinese hotpot and steamboat. You know what the differences are?
For some odd reason, they keep on telling us that we get one free egg each. They told us like four times. I am not sure what the big deal is really.
We saw our neighboring tables breaking the eggs and eating it raw as dip. If I did not see them eating this, I would have thought that we’re supposed to break it into the soup base. This adds a lot creaminess to the sukiyaki.
It was great, for me at least. Suanne don’t like eggs, especially raw ones. Good thing too because I got to have two eggs. Extra egg is 50 cents each. Next time I come, I’m gonna smuggle in my own eggs from home.
The star of the sukiyaki is their thinly sliced pork and beef. We ordered way too much … 12 trays in all! We had no idea how much a tray was and was shocked when they stacked it up on the table. We sheepishly finished it off because the order chit specifically said that “wasted meat will be $3/portion”.
Posh claim that they serve only premium Alberta beef. For Suanne and I, we can’t tell one type of beef from another. But it was awesome. It was great.
Besides the meats, there are over 30 other types of ingredients. There are no way we could try everyone of them. They offered to help us fill the order but we sort of declined in case they gave us only the cheap stuff. LOL!
I must say that the service was great and genuine. They were quite patient with us and took time to explain things for us. Seeing this being our first time, they came by often to check if we’re OK and if we wanted more. (We did not want more … we wanted them to take some away because we had over-ordered).
Total bill was $55 which was kind of pricey but we love every aspect of the meal.
Kisha Poppo Japanese Restaurant in Richmond
The secondary school ended the school year in the middle of June except for those who need to sit for provincial exam. Instead of going out for cake meet with Polly, we brought along our eldest sons (Arkensen and Webbie) who are in their early secondary grades for an all you can eat sushi lunch at Kisha Poppo Japanese Restaurant. They cant get enough of sushi.
Kisha Poppo has two locations in the Lower Mainland, one in Vancouver and the other in Richmond. We went to the one in Ironwood Plaza, 1060-11660 Steveston Hwy, Richmond. Although I had checked out the reviews for this restaurant which turned out to be not very good, we just wanted to give it a try. Anyway, most of the all you can eat sushi place have bad reviews.
We were there at 11:30 am where it just opened for lunch. The place actually fills up quite quickly as there were quite a lot of office workers who dine here, perhaps due to the proximity to their offices.
We opted for the All You Can Eat Lunch as the boys can eat a lot. The AYCE lunch is $10.95 for adult on weekday where the menu has 33 items to choose from.
We find that the service is very poor. First of all the service is slow. We have to wait for our food and there were times that our table is empty. We also dont like the way the order is taken. They did not supply an ordering sheet for us to write down our order. Instead, the waitress will take the order verbally and she rushed us through the order process and she seemed impatient when we stop to look at the menu. Overall the food is decent for an AYCE.
The only item the boys like is the salmon sushi. They had 23 pieces of salmon sushi all together.
Click on the link below for more photos of food.
Yakko Sushi in Burnaby
After the Sun Run, we decided to go for sushi. I knew the boys would have loved it and planned to go to the Sushi Garden located along Kingsway across the street from Metrotown. However, the very popular Sushi Garden was closed. Dashed!
So we walked a few doors away and went instead to a smaller Sushi restaurant. It is called Yakko Sushi (located on 4689 Kingsway). There a quite a few sushi restaurants in this stretch of Kingsway … at least four that I can think of.
I have learned to like Kikkoman soya sauce which is sweet. At Yakko they serve Yamasa soya sauce. I don’t quite like this Yamasa brand. It had a stronger intense taste and a bit too salty for me. Not sure about you but I use the soya sauce to flavor the rice.
Oh, what do you think of the practice of mixing wasabi with soya sauce? I see a lot of people do that but I find that taste strange.
We opted to get one of their Party Trays. Their Party Tray H costs $27.00 which was just enough for the four of us. I felt that it was a bit expensive because I think we can get more for $27 just a few door down at Akasuka Sushi. Anyway we have about 49 pieces in all in this plate.
Oh, I had seen some places where they serve such things on wooden boats. That would have been fun for the boys but this place did not have that. It was kind of boring the way they presented it on the large plate.
The simple Salmon and Tuna Rolls were the first everyone dug into. I think this is because it is the easiest and least messiest to eat. I believe this type of maki is called Hosumaki … simple, small maki with a single filling.
Then there are the Pressed Smoked Salmon. We did not like these nigiri sushi in that they had smoked salmon … would have preferred fresh salmon on it. We noticed that there is a thin nori in between the rice … not sure what the purpose of that though.
Then there are the uramaki, which is basically made of three layers … rice in the outside with fillings in the outside and a nori in between them. I gather that this is not Japanese but rather types of sushi to suit the North American taste (i.e. more meat, bigger pieces and and more importantly COOKED!).
So. those you see above are the California Roll & Smoked Salmon Roll. The California Roll is quite popular in Vancouver. You can get it everywhere. Key ingredient of the California Roll are crab meat and avocado.
Above is the BC Roll & Yakko Roll. The BC Roll is the pride of British Columbia. It is the one on the left. We love BC Rolls. It has salmon which is grilled in a sweet sauce and a bit of cucumber. My boys pull out the cucumber every time — they hate cucumbers.
Futomaki is simply giant maki. They are much bigger but thinner. Reminds a lot of the Korean whatchamacallit sushi which is more coined shaped. This one is a vegetarian style Futomaki. The boys did not touch it, I am a meat person and so guess who ended having to finish this off.
Nice! I think we’ll go for more such type of sushis in future.
