Munchie Adventure: Nao Sushi, Burnaby

Look! A customer in a Kimono! =O

We couldn't decide on a place for lunch, so we decided to come try this place! Its a tiny store, but there's a few parking spaces behind and side street parking that's free. There's also meter parking in front of the store =) I got there a bit early, so it wasn't open yet, but there were a few people waiting already! =O I couldn't figure out whether it's Japanese or Korean run though, hard to tell haha




Restaurant: Nao Sushi (visit their website here)
Location: 7060 Kingsway, Burnaby
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price range: $10-15




Date of visit: October 13, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 3.5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

They have a special rice called Kamameshi, which is a kind of hot pot rice, but I didn't try it. Maybe next time =) I ordered a Sushi and Zaru Soba Set ($9.95) because I was suddenly craving those noodles. And I didn't want to just get it alone, since that would be boring =P

It came with four pieces of sushi (Salmon, Tuna, Ebi, and Tamago), 4 pieces of California Roll, and 4 pieces of BC Roll. The sushi was nicely done, with some wasabi in it already (a surprise I found out later haha). Tamago was really sweet though, didn't like it. The two rolls were good, I like how there wasn't a lot of rice.

Of course, it came with Zaru Soba too, the buckwheat noodles were chewy but also a bit "rough". Came with adequate amount of sauce, and the container was really cute =)

CL ordered nigiri sushi by the piece, and they looked nice, except for the Masago, which looked a bit like it was falling apart. She ordered Saba (seared) ($1.40), Ika ($1.40), Amaebi ($2.00), Tsubugai ($1.60), and Masago ($1.00).

CM ordered an Agedashi Tofu ($3.50)-- unpictured, I forgot haha, and an Avocado Roll ($3.00)-- pictured with the sushi. And we all go miso soup :3

Overall it was a good experience, the waitresses were friendly and the restaurant looked really clean. Although I think it's a bit pricey for their quality.














They have a really nice website though, prices aren't listed online, but heres a few pics of their menu that I sneaked in ;D

Munchie Adventure: Golden Swan Restaurant 金天鵝海鮮酒家, Vancouver

I don't know why, but my uncle really likes to come here. They have a tiny parking lot, expensive dim sum, and mediocre food. They DO have push-cart dim sum though, so a bit of tradition is kept-- maybe its the vibe and feel you get from the restaurant that attracts him here. Oh, maybe also his VIP card (free tea or smth).

Restaurant: Golden Swan Restaurant 金天鵝海鮮酒家 (visit their website here)
Location: 5380 Victoria Drive, Vancouver
Cuisine: Chinese, Dim Sum
Price range: $10-15 per person




Date of visit: October 11, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 3/5
Food variety: 3.5/5
Food quality: 3/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

We ordered a lot of food, and I couldn't get a shot of everything, but most of the food was decent, your typical dim sum restaurant. I'm just going to post pics =) I'll try to post them up in the order of the bill, but as I said before, couldn't get a picture of everything, so hopefully it'll still make some sense =)

Overall, most of the dishes were quite large, which made the fact that they charge quite a bit for it, understandable. Tasted good too, I especially liked the fried rice, the masago added a little extra to it and made it quite memorable =) The rice rolls were a bit hard, not as tender as we'd liked them to be. Probably will see me here again, since it seems like a decent place, but I'd rather go across the street to Western Lake =P

PS. Parking here is limited, and rather hard to find. Not car-friendly =(

Munchie Adventure: Sushi Oyama, Coquitlam

Haha... I'm back here again! Probably the 15% off discount is drawing me here before it ends =P This is actually a compilation of two visits, because I'm lazy like that =) I just have to say, service is lacking. When I came with my friends, we had to flag them down multiple times for tea, and they say "yes" then never come back with tea. . . I went on a Saturday, and by the time we left, it was full and there were people waiting for tables.

**WARNING: This is going to be ONE LOOOONG POST! xD

Restaurant: Sushi Oyama (visit their website here)
Location: 3055 Anson Avenue, Coquitlam
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price range: $10-20 per person for lunch




Date of visit: October 3 & 6, 2012
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Staff/service: 1/5
Food variety: 4.5/5
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 3.75/5

Sooo my visit with the family, we ordered Party Tray C ($37.00), which came with sushi and rolls. Lets talk about the rolls first! =)

There was Red Roll (left), which is pretty much chopped scallop roll with spicy tuna on top. It was VERY SPICY. So I didn't have any. Looked like a bit too much rice though. Then flanking the other side was a Mangodaise Roll. The mango was SO SOUR. It looked pretty though. And in the middle was a California Roll and Chopped Scallop Roll. Nothing special about these, chopped scallop was falling apart though ><" And on the top and bottom were parts of the Dynamite Roll. This one was done better than last time, at least the shrimps weren't over-fried.

Onto the nigiri sushi! There was Salmon, Tuna, Ebi, Chopped Scallop, and Hokkigai. Again, they were large pieces and I like how they had lemons between the salmon, I love lemons on my salmon haha!

The BBQ Salmon Gama ($3.95) was a pleasant surprise. For that price, I expected a tiny piece of salmon, but instead, it came on a sizzling plate, and there were two pieces! My parents had it, and they really liked it. It was cooked really well and was very fresh. Although the gama part was a bit of a lie, since it wasn't really the cheek part =P

Their Spicy Salmon Sashimi ($9.45) is similar to the one at Sushi Town. We asked for the sauce on the side, and it was definitely a smart move. The sauce was too spicy for my liking.

Since we liked their Takoyaki ($3.90) so much last time, we ordered two this time to cure our cravings =D

Service wasn't terrible this time, cuz it wasn't busy at all. Slow service, but not totally ignored.

Next visit! My camera somehow goofed up and I couldn't take pics ='( So all these are photo credits to my friend, AL! Thank goodness =D

Service was definitely lacking this time, I sat down for 10 minutes and had to ASK for the tea x.x They also swapped the menu on us! Prices were different, so most of the items were about $0.50 more expensive. Not really that big of a deal, but just weird =S

We got a Black Dragon Roll ($10.90) because SW wanted to have unagi =P It was pretty good, and the presentation was beautiful. Pretty much it's a California roll topped with unagi and sauced up.

Then an Awesome Roll ($7.60), but this time it was a bit on the spicy side.

The Spider Roll ($7.60) was pretty good, stuffed full of softshell crab, one piece even had a little pincher! haha =)

To get some variety, we got a Beef Yaki Udon ($7.65), and we agreed that we could make it better at home. It wasn't anything special, a bit watery too, just beef, mushrooms and udon.

Excited as we were, we also ordered Bills Roll ($4.40) and Chopped Scallop Roll ($4.40). Of course, this ended up as too much food for three people, but oh well =) Bills roll was kinda weird for me, first time having yam tempura in my rolls =P It was oily. The taste of the oil overwhelmed the roll, and made it bad. Chopped Scallop Roll was the norm, scallops were pretty fresh, but too much rice.

I did get a Tako Yaki in the end even though it was $4.30 this time. SW burned herself on it, and after laughing at her, I did the same thing ==; At least it proved it was fresh? haha

It took them forever to refill our tea, my friend walked to the front to ask them, but they never came, and we had to ask multiple times before we could get some tea! And paying for the bill took forever too. We ended up walking to the front to pay =/ Overall, the food was decent, but service was terribly slow-- almost non-existent. After this 15% off promo, dunno if I'll come back in a while xD

Munchie Adventure: Kingyo Izakaya 金魚居酒屋, Downtown Vancouver

After a very satisfactory lunch last time, I decided to bring my friend here for her birthday!! When I got here though, it still wasn't open, they're pretty strict about their opening times I guess, since we got there around 5:23pm, and they open at 5:30pm xD Greeted by a friendly waiter, we were soon seated at a table. (I made reservations earlier, so I guess that helped) There were four of us, so more variety could be ordered! =D

Restaurant: Kingyo Izakaya 金魚居酒屋 (visit their website here)
Location: 871 Denman Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Japanese, Izakaya, Tapas
Price range: $10-20 per entree




Date of visit: October 1, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 3/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

We were so excited!! We already had a few things we wanted to order in mind, but there was also a special menu besides the regular one. First we got a Tako-Wasabi ($3.80), and ordered it half half, so we could try both the raw and cooked versions. We were worried we'd run out of tako, but it turned out to be the opposite. We ran out of seaweed first =P I felt the wasabi flavor was a bit strong for my liking, and I couldn't taste the difference between cooked and raw. Taste was good overall, don't think I'll order it again though.

Then came the Yellowtail and Avocado Carpaccio ($9.80). It was pretty in presentation, but the fish itself wasn't that special. Trying to fit everything in one bite though, gave me a good flavor explosion. It's ok. Kinda small for $9.80 xD

The waitress took our order down wrong, and this came. I would've liked to have it, but being on a student budget, $22.00 for Stone Grilled Kobe Beef was too much-- no matter how amazing it looked.

We actually ordered the Stone Grilled Beef Tongue ($8.20), which was the same amount of fun. And I really liked it. Thinly sliced and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, the beef tongue was tender and had a bit of "crunch" to it. It was really good.

Grilling it was fun too! The rock started to get less hot after a few pieces, so it took longer to cook, but all good.

While we were all being awed by the beef tongue, the My Ebi-Mayo ($8.80) came. It was nice presentation, and the prawns were quite large and fresh. Too much sauce for my liking, not very spicy, and too oily. Had to drown it in lemon juice after a few bites xD

The Chicken Karaage ($7.80) didn't disappoint. It was juicy inside and crispy on the outside. I didn't try the salt, cuz I felt it tasted good on its own. Added a bit of lemon on it, and it was golden.

I wanted to order their "Our Famous Invincible and Undefeated Tan-Tan Noodle" ($8.80), but decided we were at a Japanese restaurant, so we ordered the Clam Ramen ($8.40) on the special menu instead. Personal preference, I don't like clear broth for my ramen, but the others thought it was really good. The ramen was chewy and there were a lot of fresh clams. Soup was a clear shiitake mushroom base I think.

Sushi! We ordered the Pressed Mackerel Sushi ($12.00), which was supposed to be lightly seared, but I couldn't see it. It was really good though. Not as good as Miku's was last time, but pretty good. The mackerel wasn't fishy at all! I was pleasantly surprised.

Around this time, we decided we weren't really full (well, ok, except for me), so we ordered two of the Stone-Grilled "Kakuni Bibimbap" ($9.20). When it came, the waitress mixed it up for us, luckily we had two, so I got a pic of it unmixed =P

I thought it was too salty, and it was agreed upon by the others. "Suika does it better" was what my friend told me.

For dessert we ordered their Salt Caramel Tiramisu ($5.80) (front), I didn't like it. It was way too cakey, tasted more like chocolate cake than tiramisu =/

We also got their Frozen Matcha Creme Brule ($6.80) (back). I really liked this! It was crunchy on the top, and the ice cream bottom was so creamy and smooth. The green tea flavor was well balanced with the cream.

They also gave us frozen grapes on a sticks, looked pretty, and well... they were frozen grapes. That's all =)

Overall, I was disappointed, besides the hilarious "Happy Birthday song" they sang for us. But that's the staff, and not the food. I'd have to say lunch was wayyy better.