Ajisen Ramen in Richmond

Updated: 2nd Jan 2015; This restaurant is closed.

Not sure about you but Ramen does conjure images of school days when we could not afford three square meals and all we had was meals after meals of instant noodles. For some reason, I loved instant noodles then. Am not sure what it is about instant noodles and kids … my boys are simply addicted to those stuff too.

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We went to Ajisen Ramen not too long ago for dinner with Nanzaro. Since he likes noodles, we thought we should just give it a try. Ajisen is located in the Parker Place Mall in Richmond. It’s on the eastern side of the mall, the part facing Hazelbridge Way. You won’t miss it, driving along Hazebridge.

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Inside, it does look kind of Japanese with gaudy coloured pink chairs and all. When we walked in they shouted greetings in Japanese. I’ve never been to Japan before but my impression of how a Japanese restaurant is like is exactly just like that.

Despite that pretense, to us it is a Cantonese restaurant because the people who work there all spoke in Cantonese.

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We got seated and was promptly handed the menu. ALL menus should be like these if you ask me. Simple names and pictures to show how it looks like (or at least how it is supposed to look like). I like especially the “Recommended!” notations above some of the dishes. It takes brain work out of choosing from an unfamiliar menu.

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The condiments on the tables were interesting. (more…)

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Ninkazu Japanese Restaurant in Richmond

Updated: 1st April 2011; the $9.95 lunch does not include sashimi now but one can have unlimited salmon and tuna sashimi with $5 extra.

Last year’s spring break, Polly and I brought our kids to Tomokasu Japanese Restaurant in Vancouver for birthday celebration of a few of them which fall in March. This year, we did it again, but we do not have to travel so far. A new Japanese Restaurant, Ninkazu has just opened in Richmond. It’s a sister company of Tomokasu.

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Ninkazu Japanese Restaurant is located at #205-4231 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond. It is on the second floor of the small strip mall between Parker Place and Aberdeen Center.

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This is the view from our table.

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The interior deco is very similar to Tomokasu. We were there at 11:30 am when the restaurant just opened and we were one of the first customers there.

We had the all you can eat lunch which costs $9.95 for adults and $6.95 for children 4 to 9. Apparently, this restaurant also serves all you can eat hot pot in the evening. Check out their website for the details.

Here were some of the items we ordered:

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For starters, we had the Miso Soup, Ebi Sunomono (Shrimp and Vermicelli in sourish soup) and Goma-Ae (Japanese Spinach Salad).

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The star of this all you can eat is the Sashimi. We can only order limited serving of Salmon Sashimi and or Tuna Sashimi per person, so we ordered all that we can. The boys just love sashimi, Salmon only.

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The Seafood Motoyaki is served in aluminium container instead of oyster shell.

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We also ordered some rolls like California Roll, BC Roll, Alaska Roll, Dynamite Roll and Tomo Roll. Other than the California Roll, I have no idea which is which.

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Chicken Karrage, deep fried chicken wing is Polly’s favourite.

Click on the link below for more photos.

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Tomokazu Japanese Restaurant, West Broadway

Polly, me and the kids celebrated the arrival of spring at Tomokazu Japanese Restaurant on West Broadway, just next to Toy-r-us. Coincidentally, that day was Polly’s family landing anniversary. We also took this opportunity to celebrate the birthdays of our kids which fall in March. There are four March birthday kids in the group.

Tomokazu serves all you can eat; $9.95 for lunch, $21.95 for dinner and $11.95 for late-night. They also have regular menu which goes by the item you order. Check out their website for more details.

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We were there very early, just before 11:30 am; their opening time. We were sitted at a Japanese style table where we have to remove our shoes and sat on benches around a square table.

As usual we were served green tea and the condiments like wasabi.

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We ordered the Miso Soup, Goma-Ae (Sesame Spinach) and Ebi Sunomono Salad (Prawn Salad) as a starter.

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Come along are the Beef and Chicken Teriyaki.

There is a limit of two orders per person for Sashimi. The boys love Sashimi and we ordered all that we can. Apparently, the kids do not quite like the Tuna Sashimi. They preferred the Salmon Sashimi.

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KL Series: Sushi King in KLCC Suria

I brought Nanzaro to visit the Petronas Twin Towers. He wanted to go up the middle span which I had blogged on about two months ago. Unfortunately we did not get the chance to get up to the towers because the tickets for the day had all been issued. Too bad.

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Nanzaro said that he wanted sushi. We went around looking for one and found a Sushi King outlet in the KLCC Suria food court. There are dozen of Sushi Kings all over Malaysia and is perhaps the most popular chain of sushi restaurant in the country.

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Singapore-Malaysia Trip: Zipangu Japanese Restaurant at the Shangrila

Thanks for enduring my many postings on my trip to Singapore and Malaysia. This is the final posting in this series. From tomorrow I am gonna take a long rest from blogging and pass the baton over to Suanne. It was just a 2 week trip but did manage to blog 28 entries in all. Wow, Suanne had not blogged for 4 straight weeks — that’s not fair!

Joyce treated me to dinner at the Zipangu Japanese Restaurant in the Shangrila Kuala Lumpur. The Shangrila KL is perhaps still the No 1 hotel in KL. It used to have been voted as the No 1 hotel in the world. Joyce had a corporate membership in the hotel. For that she gets 50% off.

We were deciding over whether we should go for the RM$98 (US$ 25+) Buffet or try something different. We opted for the Japanese restaurant because there were a long queue at the buffet restaurant waiting to break fast (it was Ramadhan then).

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The entrance were grand. We had to wind our way along walls of wine. Pretty amazing and I was thinking … gosh! how much is this meal gonna cost!!

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The restaurant were impressively laid out. We could see the kitchen at work from where we were. This is so authentically high end Japanese restaurant. The service were prompt. They must have the best waiters and waitresses in the entire city. They not only looked pretty/handsome but they do come across as very intelligent and professional.

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Joyce and I could not recognize most of what was in the menu. So, we opted for the Set Dinner. Each set dinner costs RM98, same price as the buffet. I went for the Tempura Set Dinner while Joyce chose the Salmon Set Dinner.

What came first was a tea pot for each of us! I initially thought that it was tea.

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All-You-Can-Eat Sushi in Top Gun Sushi

Updated 17th Jan 2011: This restaurant had been closed according to Urbanspoon.com.

A glutton is never satisfied.
~ Namibian Proverb

It’s been a while since we had sushi and the boys wanted sushi for lunch too. Suanne also wanted to try the Top Gun Sushi I went to a few weeks ago. So, we made our way to the Top Gun Sushi at the New West Quay.

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The all-you-can-eat is more expensive on the weekends. It costs about $11 for adults and $7 for kids age 6-9. He he he … the waiters thought the boys were below 9 years and we kept quiet … don’t ask, don’t tell, right?

All-you-can-eat Shashimi is $2 extra for adults. Arkensen can just eat shashimi alone. We ordered 28 pieces in all. The pieces are small but rather fresh.

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Suanne started off with cold noodles from the salad bar. I don’t know what that means when Suanne said they were “refreshing”. 🙂 It’s had a bit of lemon and is sourish.

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Top Gun Sushi at the Quay

Updated on 12 April 2010: This restaurant has closed according to Urbanspoon.

If you find no fish, you have to eat bread.
~ Ghanaian Proverb

The folks in the Service and R&R Project teams went to an all-you-can-eat sushi. They selected the one which is called Top Gun Sushi at the Quay. It is located on the second floor of the Public Market at the New Westminster Quay. I have never been there before but I have heard so much about Top Gun Sushi. Although it has ala carte but it is famous for it’s all-you-can-eat.

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We went early and arrived at 11:30am to make sure we have a table. It was a great idea because the place was really packed, especially so because it’s a Friday afternoon. We had a great table by the window which overlooks the Fraser river.

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The sushi was good, the selection was similar to the many all-you-can-eat sushis in the city. The prices are pretty cheap compared to some other places I went to. (more…)

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Richmond Sushi

Health food makes me sick.
~ Calvin Trillian (1935 – )

Today is our anniversary as new Canadians. Coincidentally, this week is also the week we landed in Canada. We decided to celebrate these two special occasions by eating out somewhere more than our regular budget — as we always do every year. I wanted to try out this new Malaysian restaurant (called Cafe D’light) along West Broadway which was featured in the local papers but Arkensen and Nanzaro both wanted sushi, all-you-can-eat sushi! We had all-you-can-eat sushi last year in Sui Sha Ya but we decided this year to go to Richmond Sushi in Union Square along Capstan Way. We have been to Richmond Sushi once before — it was decent and not too expensive. There are a lot of nice restaurants in Union Square.

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Well, this place has both ala-carte and all-you-can-eat. We opted for all-you-can-eat. We asked for a pick list and left the first round selection to Suanne. Of course, both Arkensen and Nanzaro wanted to weigh in on what is chosen.

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Arkensen asked for a total of 12 salmon sushi! Arkensen loves raw salmon and can eat just that and nothing else. The all-you-can-eat menu does not have sashimi for lunch and so the next best thing for Arkensen is the salmon sushi. Here he is picking off the salmon pieces first:

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