Kazuhan

Several days after this year's version of Snowmageddon, it was snowing again pretty heavily.  Well, that didn't prevent Jackie and I from our visit to Kazuhan in Richmond along Alexandra Road (where all the restaurants are!).  We were here for their Gold AYCE menu for $59.00.  In addition to various Japanese dishes and sushi, the main focus of the menu is yakiniku or Japanese BBQ.  We ended up ordering practically everything to get a good overview.

Before we got to the food, we were quite impressed with the selection of Sauces on a ledge at our table.  We ended up trying a few of them and the Spicy Miso went quite well with the meats with a balanced saltiness and heat.  I also liked the Fruity sauce as it provided a nice counterbalance and sweetness.  It looked cool, but the Ume sauce lacked impact.  The Kazuhan sauce was their house sweet soy dip and it would be good for those who just wanted something defaultish.  One item wasn't even a sauce, rather, it was BBQ Powder which you would see with some skewers at other places.

Onto some small dishes, we had the Miso Soup, Japanese Tofu, Seaweed Salad, Avocado Salad, Vinegar Eggplant, Sour Cucumber, Tako Wasabi, Kimchi and Edamame.  Nothing out of the ordinary here and in reality, they were decent.  I thought the tako wasabi was pretty good with tender nuggets of octopus that weren't chewy.  Japanese tofu was quite smooth while the cucumbers were crunchy and tangy.  I wasn't a huge fan of the kimchi as it was a bit sour.

Onto some of the Japanese dishes, we had the Smelt Karaage, Teriyaki Chicken Rice, Curry Beef Rice, Ebi Tempura, Gyoza, Chicken Karaage, Takoyaki, Tonkatsu, Chicken Wings, Salt & Pepper Corn and Squid. For AYCE, these were acceptable with the tonkatsu and the corn as the highlights.  I found the thick pork cutlet to be tender and not dry while the outside crispy.  The corn ribs were plump with plenty of seasoning.  Crispy with a nice snap, the ebi tempura was also good.  I also enjoyed the soft and fluffy takoyaki as well as the fried smelt.

We also got a selection of sushi that included Salmon, Ebi and Roast Beef Oshi.  These were pretty decent, especially for AYCE.  The mayo sauce on top was flavourful and not greasy with the one for the ebi having some brightness.  There was some decent charring on the top with the roast beef one being more robust in flavour.  I found the sushi rice to be decent as well with a chewiness bordering more on the drier side.  In addition, we had the Kimchi Beef Roll and Beef Teriyaki Roll that were okay.  I'm not a huge fan of fully-cooked rolls, but I did like the kimchi on top that added some tang and spice.

Onto the meats, we had Kazuhan Steak, AAA Sirloin, Beef Plate, Short Rib, Beef Finger Meat, Chicken Leg, Chicken Heart, Pork Neck and Shrimp. For an AYCE, we thought the meat quality was quite good.  We especially enjoyed the beef finger meat and short rib.  They were fatty and had a pleasant bite to them.  Nice meat flavour too.  The other cuts of beef were also good with the sirloin being the most tender (without the fat of the beef plate).  Chicken was well-marinated and charred up well while the pork neck had its usual bouncy fatty texture.

For an extra $5.68, you could add a side of Sukiyaki in a hot pot.  This was jammed-packed with Napa cabbage, mushrooms, fish tofu, crab stick, sea urchin fish ball, mushroom and beef plate in a sukiyaki broth.  This slowly cooked on the side and was a nice break from the BBQ Meats.  Was very comforting and warm especially on a snowy night.  The fatty meat was good compliment as it added depth to the broth as well as being tender once cooked-through.

To end things off, we were served some Neapolitan Ice Cream.  Nothing mind-blowing, but it was decently creamy and not icy.  This was what we needed after dining on hot meats off the grill and more hot things from the sukiyaki.  Overall, for an AYCE, Kazuhan offers up a wide selection of dishes and meats (for our Gold menu). The meat quality is good and the rest of the dishes are more-than-acceptable.  Nice selection of sauces and the decor is pretty.  Would come back.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Wide selection of things to choose from
- Good meat quality
- Decent dishes for AYCE

The Bad:
- Naturally, it is AYCE, so have reasonable expectations
- Nice to have a parking lot, but it gets full real quickly