Sherman's Food Adventures: Hibiki

Hibiki

It's not often that I say this... but it was a long and hard day at work today. Yup, I was mentally exhausted. Due to a meeting, I wasn't going to get home in time to take my son to his skating lesson. However, with some help from my parents, Viv was able to take him. I ended up making it in time to meet them at the ice rink. It's quite amusing to watch the kiddies learn how to skate. If it were me, I'd just give up after 20 minutes of falling down over and over again. He was a good sport and kept trying. If that weren't enough, once he was done that, we had to boot it over to Bonsor for his floor hockey session. Luckily he's full of energy. Too bad he thinks picking up the puck and chucking it across the gym is a legal move in hockey. We'll need to work on that... After such a long day, I was not in the mood to do anything more. Thus, we headed over to a restaurant that we have avoided up until now. Actually, there was no good reason for us to avoid it other than that their parking spaces never seem to be full. They are in the same complex as #1 Beef Noodle House and Tasty Village. I guess no restaurant would have the crazy double... I mean triple-parked cars in front as #1 Beef Noodle.

Today, we took advantage of the available parking for Hibiki and decided to give it a try. The interior of the restaurant is indeed interesting with painted murals on most of the walls. I see they tried to spruce up the sushi bar with a curtain covering some white Christmas lights. I also though the aquarium at the front with a water-breathing dinosaur was a bit... interesting. Overhearing the server speak to one of the chefs in Mandarin, I knew this was not a Japanese-run establishment. But once again, it's not important who prepares the food if it ends up being good. Time to order and time to put this theory to the test. We started off with a small order of Salmon Sashimi. The slices were quite thick and the fish was indeed fresh. However, what is up with the presentation??? Let's take a slab of salmon and put 5 cuts into it and slap it on a plate and presto, we have salmon sashimi! Uh... I don't remember that I have ever received sashimi presented in one long piece before. Moving on, we got the Tempura Udon for my son. Served separately from the udon, the tempura was both generous in size and well prepared. The batter was not too thick and it was crisp. The udon itself was al dente; but I personally felt the soup was a bit weak and thin.

We wanted to order something a bit more substantial and agreed on the Katsu Don. It came with a Miso Soup and *gack*, it was bordering on cold! Would it have hurt them to nuke it or something? I hate cold soup! Even when it's supposed to be cold! The don itself was quite large with plenty of tonkatsu on top. I also liked the rice, it was a bit chewy and each grain of rice was discernible. Lastly, we got a sushi combo which consisted of 1 California Roll, 1 piece each of salmon, toro, tai, hamachi, amaebi, tako, unagi, tobiko, chopped scallop and shark's fin nigiri. The nigiri wasn't too bad; but the California roll was not very good. It was a bit loose and for some reason or another, the imitation crab meat looked and tasted unappetizing.

We didn't dislike our meal at Hibiki; in fact, we thought the prices were pretty reasonable for what we got. Yet, it wasn't all that exciting either. Was it the poorly presented sashimi? The cold miso soup? Or was it the California roll? Well, one thing is for sure, there is better Japanese food to be had elsewhere.

The Good:
- Reasonable prices
- Good portions
- Fairly fresh ingredients

The Bad:
- Like the other restaurants in this plaza, there is not enough parking spots
- Food is a bit average

Hibiki Sushi on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

KimHo said...

I agree with your thoughts. With #1 Beef hoarding most of the business in the strip mall, it really surprises me they are still there. (Caveat: I haven't eaten there yet, though). Also, since most likely you have to drive to get there, if the parking lot is full, chances are you will be driving to Kingsway to place like Sushi Garden or Oyama Sushi, etc.

As a silly note, I remember some time ago, they had a banner saying something on the lines of "15% discount on Monday to Thursday" and "10% discount on the weekend". Won't it be easier if you discount everything or just make it cheaper to start of? XD

Sherman Chan said...

Yah, that's right, don't understand the discount thing. One thing is for sure, with so many sushi restaurants nearby, I wonder who actually eats there.

Chris said...

Definitely lacking in the salmon presentation; but if it's good, I'd be willing to overlook certain things. As long as the price is reflective of this of course.

trisha said...

i hate when they screw up the miso soup. part of me wants to boycot any japanese restaurant that does so. it's such a simple, yet important thing. but shark's fin nigiri? wow... was it real?

Sherman Chan said...

Unfortunately not real shark's fin. More like vermicelli made to look and somewhat resemble shark's fin.

Anonymous said...

My family and I went to the New Hibiki Sushi last night and everything was so yummy! The restaurant apparently has new owners and new menu's...hence "New Hibiki Sushi" We had P1 Party Tray, it was so good and fresh. We also had the Hibiki Roll & Mango Roll. Both were yummy but the Mango Roll was my favourite!!!

Definitely will come back for more!!!

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