Sherman's Food Adventures: Yama Sushi

Yama Sushi

If you haven't already noticed, I've reduced the amount of posts back to every other day rather than every day.  The reason for this is that I just want to spend more free time with the family and take advantage of some down time.  Hence, when I do go out, I tend to go with convenience rather than the hottest new restaurant.  So, I've been frequenting Sushi Town (near my house) quite a bit.  Yes, please do not give me a hard time as I realize it is hardly great Japanese food.  With that in mind, I decided that if I was already spending money on eating out, we should try something different.  We traveled all the way to Lynn Valley to a small little spot called Yama Sushi.

When I say small, think of 7 tables for 2.  That's it.  So for a Friday night, we had to wait a bit.  Once seated, we were treated to really warm and attentive service.  We began with an order of the Assorted Sashimi (reasonably priced at $13.00).  It was neatly plated and was generally good with Sockeye and Atlantic salmon, Tai, Mackerel and Albacore Tuna.  Textures were good, but the tuna was still partially frozen and icy.  We ended up ordering 2 rolls including the Mango Crunch and Chopped Scallop.  As neatly prepared as these rolls appeared, the rice itself was far too wet and gummy.  That was a shame as the ingredients were well-portioned and fresh.  I thought the mango roll had a nice mix of tang to go with the ripe avocado, but the large amount of cream cheese was not the best accompaniment.

As per usual, my son had his fill of Nigiri including Tamago, Unagi and Smoked Salmon.  These were pretty standard and did the job.  I liked how the rice-to-topping ratio was pretty even, so each piece ate nicely.  However, the curse of the gummy rice struck again, creating a heaviness to each bite.  We got our usual filler dish in the Chicken Yakisoba served on a regular plate.  We wished it was served on a sizzling cast iron plate because it ate rather wet.  Furthermore, there was a noticeable onion flavour that took over the dish.  Beyond that, the noodles were nicely chewy and well-seasoned.  The ample chunks of chicken were tender and almost juicy.

Served in a long oval bowl, the Assorted Tempura was pretty solid.  It featured 2 pieces each of ebi, broccoli, yam and sweet potato.  Although the batter appeared to be thick, it didn't eat heavy nor doughy.  The outside was crispy and easy on the grease.  Everything was cooked properly without being soggy nor underdone.  Lastly, we had the add-on Gyoza with our specialty roll for an extra $1.75.  These were pretty average with a mushy pork and cabbage filing while the dumpling skin was a bit hard and dry from the cooking process.  We would've preferred only the bottom to be seared rather than the whole thing.  So how does this lil' sushi spot stack up?  For the neighbourhood, it does well with very reasonable priced.  However, the gummy sushi rice was not that appealing (maybe it was a one-off?).

The Good:
- Nice people
- Reasonably-priced
- Okay for the neighbourhood

The Bad:
- More of a takeout spot, seats are limited
- Sushi rice too gummy and wet

2 comments:

Mishaela said...

That's the charm of your blog, Sherman - you don't focus on going to the hottest new restaurants. Other bloggers don't cover the neighbourhood spots, so that's why I prefer this blog to most others based in YVR.

Sherman Chan said...

@Mishaela Thanks for the compliment! :)

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