Tozen Sushi Bar

With so many Japanese restaurants in town, it is sometimes hard to wade through the mediocre to find that superior spot.  Now we aren't talking about the higher-end places such as Okeya Kyujiro and Masayoshi.  We are referring to the ones that are less pricey than the aforementioned restaurants, but also more premium than the value, mass-produced places such as Sushi Garden (nothing wrong with eating there, just using it as an example!).  Tozen Sushi Bar is one of these spots where they offer more premium ingredients, but still accessible to many.

We started our meal at Tozen with some more usual dishes in the Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki and Corn Karaage.  These were all very good with the okonomiyaki featuring a slightly crispy exterior giving way to a soft and fluffy interior.  There was a balanced amount of cabbage that was not overdone.  Yakoyaki was pretty typical, but the corn karaage was the star of the 3 dishes.  The clusters of corn niblets had pops of sweetness.  It was only lightly battered, being crispy.

We were presented with 2 platters of sashimi next including the Assorted Sashimi and the Tozen Special Sashimi.  Obviously, the latter of the 2 was bigger and cost more.  The first platter featured salmon, tuna, hamachi, amaebi and madai.  The larger platter consisted of akami, chutoro, otoro, hirame, kanpachi, shima aji, salmon belly, hotate, amaebi, and saba.  By looks alone, you can tell this was fresh and vibrant.  Naturally, the 3 types of bluefin sashimi stole the show, but the rest were sweet and texturally on point.

Moving onto our next few dishes, we had the Salmon Jalapeno Aburi Hako as well as 3 different Chawanmushi (mushroom, madai and dungeness crab).  The aburi was nicely seared where the sauce was creamy with a touch of tanginess.  Jalapeno was sliced thin enough so it wasn't too intrusive.  Rice had a nice texture, being chewy but not dry.  Silky and slightly briny, the chawanmushi was delicious.  I liked the dungeness crab version the most.

Continuing on with more sushi, we had the Negi Kanpa Hama and the Tuna Bomb.  I found both of these to be very appealing and tasty.  Bright and fresh-tasting, the kanpachi was complimented by the balanced amount of chives.  Now that was good, but the tuna bomb was my favourite with its flavourful and buttery mix of tuna.  There was nice spice to it and spreading it onto the crispy rice, it created a nice textural contrast.  There was also a good mix of warm and cold.

Okay, the tuna bomb was well, bomb, but the Bluefin Nigiri Set was truly the best thing we ate.  It consisted of Akami, Chutoro, Otoro and Negi Bluefin.  Similar to the one found at Sushi Hil, this was every bit as good.  Naturally, the best piece was the buttery and melty otoro.  It had the unmistakable umaminess and natural sweetness.  Of course the other pieces were good in their own way with the akami being meatier, but still soft and full-flavoured. 

Featuring some more akami, chutoro and bluefin negi, the Premium Nigiri Set also had hamachi, amaebi, tamago, saba, hirame, kanpachi and anago.  Neatly constructed with a balanced amount of chewy seasoned sushi rice, the nigiri was good.  Particularly enjoyed the large piece of buttery eel (and of course the bluefin).  For our roll selection, we had the Saba Bou featuring house-marinated saba with rice and shiso.  Loved how the saba was mild-tasting but still full-flavoured.  Rice was on point and the shiso added its usual herbaeousness.

We finished off the meal with 2 beef dishes.  The more luxurious of the 2 was the A5 Wagyu Nigiri.  This was served with a lid and once removed, it revealed the smoke.  Hence, beyond the butteriness of the meat, it was also slightly smoky.  Super delicious!  Last item was the Beef Yukke Salad that was quite the big portion.  I thought the beef was buttery and well-seasoned, however, maybe a bit too salad?  I prefer my yukke as it is with some crunchy vessel of some sort.  However, that is a personal preference and I'm sure others would like this as the meat was excellent and it was a fairly light dish (despite the generous amount of beef).  Overall, the food at Tozen was really good.  Things were fresh, prepared properly and visually appealing.  Yes, the food was delicious too.  Sure, the pricing will be more than the usual neighbourhood restaurant, but Tozen is not that.  Splurge a little and you will notice the higher quality of ingredients and attention to detail.

*All food was complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Quality ingredients
- Careful preparation
- Nice dining space

The Bad:
- Parking in the area a little difficult due to Skytrain construction
- You will be paying a bit more than the usual neighbourhood Japanese resto, but well worth it