I've actually eaten there a couple years ago and what I remembered most was the classy ambience. The food did not have much lasting impression on me and I was ready to give it another try.
The restaurant is located on Macdonald Street and West Broadway, nestled among two hairdressing salons, a convenience store and a pizza shop. We pass by it all the time when we buy groceries at Safeway, but never gave it a thought because it looked too high-class for our liking. Finally this week, I was craving for sushi and we decided to give it a try because oh no, there are 42489524 sushi nubs all over Vancouver but we cannot decide on one! (Seriously, that was such a dilemma!)
We got there around 6:15pm or so, and it was rather busy for a Friday evening. We were quickly ushered to a table by a cheery waitress with a radiant wide smile. It was just like the last time I came here; it was dark with very minimal candlelight and small ceiling lamps. We settled into our seats and decided on an appetizer of yam fries, which came in about 10 minutes.
Given the low price of $4, I was expecting a delicate portion of fries that was barely enough for one person. Surprisingly, it was rather big! It may have looked big because of the way they had stacked them up together like a bonfire of some sort, but trust me, my belly was already half full after we shared the plate of fries.
The fries were strips of yams fried with some sort of batter resembling tempura, drizzled with black and yellow sauce. The black sauce might have been vinegar, but I tasted a little kick of spice; the yellow sauce could either be cheese or mustard, my tongue could not tell. Either way, it dressed up the fries very sophisticatedly.
The dip that was served was mostly mayonnaise with some other spices of some sort. From its distinct taste, it might have been a homemade mayonnaise instead of those that comes from a jar. It was very tangy and complemented the fries very nicely.
Our entrees came soon after we finished the fries. J.S. got the combo box that came with many items, and I got a sushi roll combo that had 3 kinds of sushi.
A very wide assortment of items, going clockwise, starting with green salad, sashimi, tempura, edamame beans, brown rice California rolls, dipping sauce for the tempura, and chicken teriyaki rice.
Gosh, all those items each have their own appeal I really don't know where to begin!
Edamame beans aside (I suppose they need no introduction), let's start with the green salad. You would imagine they need no specific mention either, but the dressing is really what I remember most! The dressing was like a vinaigrette consistency, and it had a distinct taste. It was like oyster sauce, sesame oil, and ginger all blended in with some sort of Western taste to it. Actually, J.S. was the one who tasted the ginger in it, my tastebuds do not fancy ginger. However, it tasted so good that at the end, I asked the waitress what was in the dressing, and she replied me, "It's our 'miracle' homemade dressing; there is ginger in it." Definitely worth going back for!
Next, the tempura! There was so many unique kinds! Apart from the usual shrimp, they had zucchini, eggplant, lotus, squash, and possibly yam (?).. The zucchini and eggplant had absorbed a lot of the oil so it was kind of soggy, but everything else seemed fine. I was impressed by the variety in the tempura alone!
The brown rice in the California rolls made not much difference to me, but notice how the brown rice with the chicken was shaped into a little pyramid! The teriyaki chicken was large strips of succulent meat accompanied by white mushrooms. The whole dish had a grilled taste to it, which could be appealing to the Western customers. Very nice fusion of Western and Asian, if that's what they are trying to achieve. J.S. really liked the flavour of the mushrooms, but the only downside was that the little pyramid of rice was not enough to feed a grown man.
Lastly, the sashimi! The combo box with sashimi was a few dollars pricier than those without, but J.S. knew I liked sashimi so he got that. So we were surprised with a generous portion of 3 pieces each of salmon and tuna. The tuna looked rather pale and the taste was not very distinct. I much prefer salmon to tuna, because tuna sashimi usually makes me feel like I'm biting into a previously frozen piece of bland fish. The salmon was not disappointing. Very thick slices, smooth and firm with full body and flavour.
And then on to my sushi roll combo! I chose the combo that came with salmon, tuna, California roll and dynamite rolls. Here's a picture of it:
The first thing you would notice is the interesting shape of the salmon and tuna roll pieces; they are shaped like a teardrop to form a flower shape on the platter. Very thoughtful on their part regarding presentation. The California rolls and dynamite rolls were also displayed in a friendly manner.
I had opted for the regular old white sushi rice instead of their highly advertised brown rice. The sushi rice was fresh and not lukewarm like I've tasted at other places. The dynamite roll had a generous chunk of tempura shrimp and three little yam cubes complemented with creamy avocado and refreshing cucumber strips. The fresh shrimp left a pleasant taste on my palate. By this time I was already stuffed and had to take home six pieces of the sushi.
J.S. wanted dessert and they only had mango ice cream, matcha ice cream, or matcha brulee. He chose the last one because because it sounded the most exciting; the waitress called it "matcha bru-la-lee" and said it was green tea pudding with sugar on top.
When it came, I finally realized what the waitress was talking about. It was a matcha (Japanese green tea) version of the popular custard dessert creme brulee. I've personally never tried creme brulee myself and I was excited to try this. The surface was rock hard from the flamed sugar. We cracked into the dish and it was a great combination of thick green tea pudding and caramelized sugar -- a vast contrast of texture in your mouth.
This was also a decent-sized dish that satisfied our sweet tooth nicely, and it only cost $3.50! A very creative dish on their part, except the presentation lacked the oomph that was shown in all their other dishes. The brownish-green colour of the pudding might not look very appetizing but the taste definitely made up for it.
Over all, our unexpected full-course meal (appetizer, entrees, dessert) came up to only $31 including tax! I definitely enjoyed the food and their whimsical touches on the outlook of the dishes. The only "bad" experience of the evening was that the soy sauce bottle was leaking whenever we poured some into a dish. But that's a minor problem, other than that, everything was delightful!
I would recommend this place to anyone looking to take your date for a nice dinner, and fresh sushi. Next time I'm going to try their noodle soup -- I saw they had LAKSA on the menu! I will definitely be back!
Iki Sushi is located at 2756 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C.
♥ Nikki
No comments:
Post a Comment