Munchie Adventure: Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen 岸本, Vancouver

I discovered Kishimoto by pure luck I suppose, since I just went on urbanspoon and looked up the first nearest Japanese restaurant in the area xD Very hard to spot and no parking either except for a few metered spots in front =(

Restaurant: Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen 岸本 (visit their website here)
Location: 2054 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price range: $10+ per person for lunch




Date of visit: April 13, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4.5/5
Food quality: 4.75/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

Not having done much "research" about this restaurant, I decided to get a lunch box instead of a roll because I wanted to try more variety =) I ordered their Sushi and Sashimi Lunch Special ($12.95). Started off with your typical bowl of miso soup.

Onto the box (Sorry about the picture quality, it was quite dark in there and my phone wasn't cooperating ><) I really liked the salad, not your typical iceberg lettuce salad with radish dressing, don't know how to describe the dressing they used, but it was less tart and had more flavor to it. The sashimi was very fresh, the tuna melted in my mouth and I liked it =) I'm not sure if the other sashimi I suspected to be hamachi was supposed to be there, but this was a very "crunchy" piece of fish and was delicious. Not a fan of wild salmon but it was fresh and flavorful. Same thing about the sushi, very well done because it was proportional and the rice was compacted perfectly. I didn't like the BC roll-- too burnt so the bitter charcoal-y taste remained and had a bad aftertaste. California roll was California roll xD

EC ordered their Tempura Lunch Special ($8.75) which also came with a miso soup. The portion was generous for the shrimp tempura (there were three pieces :o), but the yam looked like they used old oil for frying =(

All in all, I enjoyed my experience here and I may come back to try their rolls because of the beautiful display =) One of the rare Japanese-run Japanese restaurants, so I may come back, but the lack of parking spaces is a HUGE deterrent for me >w< Someday my curiosity will get the better of me and you'll see me come back =)

Munchie Adventure: The NorthHouse Restaurant 鄉香小館, Coquitlam

I remember coming here when it first opened and found the food not up to par, so never returned. Came with a friend for dinner a few years after and found some improvement, so here I am, another few years later, giving it another trial run =) This is located right before you enter the Henderson shopping centre parking lot =)

Restaurant: The NorthHouse Restaurant 鄉香小館
Location: 1200-1163 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam
Cuisine: Chinese, Northern Chinese
Price range: <$10 for lunch specials




Date of visit: April 2, 2013
Atmosphere: 3/5
Staff/service: 3.5/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 3/5
Buck worthy? 4.5/5

After ordering, we were given soup, I guess it's on the house because I don't remember reading anywhere about soups with what we ordered. It was a clear egg white soup with random veggies, not bad to start off our meal with.

The first thing to arrive was their infamous Ground Pork Sauce on Rice ($4.99). Rice was overcooked and the meat was too tough. I expected it to be oily, but because the rice was so soft, the oil didn't coat nicely and ended up being a mess =( Flavors were good though.

The Stick Rice Set ($7.99) was one of their lunch special specials (because it's normally $8.99, but on sale today =D). It included pork hock with beans in braised sauce. There were only three pieces, which worked out for us, but I felt it was too salty on its own. Loaded with beans though!

With the combo there was a soup, and mystery balls (before I found out). I was pleasantly surprised, they were fishballs with pork inside. Pork tasted fresh, fishball wasn't as chewy as I like, but love the idea. Soup base was a light seaweed soup.

I suppose this is the highlight of the set, Sticky Rice! This was by far the best thing in the meal. I loved how they steamed it in the bamboo steamer, the rice was perfectly cooked and seasoned well. I didn't notice a lot of oil either, and the amount of meat in there was perfect. Too bad I couldn't fit more in me!

Their Salty Pepper Chicken ($5.75) was very fresh and not too salty, which we liked. I found the pieces of chicken to be too big, they were all attached to each other in large clusters, which made some parts under-fried and not crispy =( However, nothing different from other stores offering this dish.

I'm glad we gave them a second chance, I will definitely revisit if I have time again, maybe to try their dinner menu =) Some items weren't done as well, but the ones that were well done, were pleasant surprises. I felt bad when I was getting the bill though, since they had just started eating lunch ><" It looks family-run, since there's only one waitress up front =)