Toshi Sushi

If you can believe it, I've not been back to Toshi Sushi in 17 years!  This is despite the fact I walk past it on a regular basis since my hairdresser is nearby.  Finally, after getting my haircut, I decided that we pay them a visit.  Actually, it was my son's idea since he was in the mood for sushi...  So for those who do not know, Toshi was popularized in Vancouver by Mia Stainsby.  Even before that, the little sushi bar had lineups upon opening every night.  It became even more so after she mentioned she loved the place.  In 2026, the lineups still exist but maybe not as extreme since there are many more options to choose from.

We were able to snag a table for 2 at around 5:00pm and soon after, it was full and there was the usual lineup.  So what makes Toshi "special"?  First of all, the place is Japanese-run and authentic.  Now, that may not mean anything, but they do a good job in being a true sushi bar with the freshest of ingredients.   We began with the Assorted Sashimi consisting of hamachi, sockeye salmon, albacore tuna, butterfish and hotate.  Presented in manageable slices (not giant ones), these had a nice sheen and smelled fresh.  Texturally, the hamachi was buttery while the albacore was soft but not mushy.  Salmon had a firmness to it and was super sweet.  Butterfish was slightly seared and firm, but had a tenderness to it.  Scallops were buttery and delicate.  Really great plate of sashimi.

Next, we had the Kaisen Roll stuffed with ahi tuna, tuna, Atlantic salmon, sockeye salmon, oshinko and cucumber.  Fully-loaded but not gigantic, the pieces were also manageable by either being a one-biter or two-biter.  The layer of sushi rice was balanced in quantity while the texture was on point with a firmness that wasn't too hard or dry.  Much like the sashimi, the fish quality was high with natural flavours that only required just a touch of wasabi and soy.  Crunch was added by the cucumber and the lightly pickled oshinko.

We went for a selection of Nigiri off their regular menu and featured menu.  The Tamago was only okay for me as I would've liked to see more discernible layering.  Flavours were great though with a natural sweet egginess.  Loved the Unagi Shirayaki as the grilled eel had a firm butteriness.  It was topped with a shiso miso which was both rich in fermented saltiness and herbacousness.  Buttery and sweet, the King Salmon was a real treat.  Unlike the Atlantic and sockeye, this was more delicate and flavourful.  Lastly, we had the Bluefin Otoro and of course it melted in our mouths.  A bit of a chew on one side of the cut, but great nonetheless.  Had a bright taste of the sea.

We debated over ordering the assorted tempura or just the Sweet Potato Tempura.  The latter won out since we both love sweet potato!  This was good with fairly thin slices of sweet potato that were not cumbersome to eat.  However, at the same time, there a robust texture that was tender and soft.  The tempura batter was medium-thick being crispy and not greasy.

Last item was the Chicken Karaage which featured large pieces of leg meat.  With the skin on, it added extra fat, and hence added flavour.  The skin was fully rendered and crispy.  Chicken meat itself was juicy and slightly gelatinous.  Super tender and fully-seasoned.  Overall, I felt this visit to Toshi was solid and satisfying.  Despite the increase in competition, I believe it is still a great place to get authentic sushi at a reasonable price.

The Good:

- Authentic and well-made food

- Excellent service

- Does one thing and does it well

The Bad:

- Super cramped inside and you will probably have to wait for a table

Kosoo (AYCE Korean BBQ)

It never fails.  When we asked my son what he wanted to eat for his birthday, his reply was like every other birthday: "Korean BBQ".  That would be a great choice as it is never a bad idea to go for Korean BBQ.  Well, unless you needed to go somewhere after and not smell like grilled meat...  Anyways, this time, we ended up at Kosoo in Coquitlam.  They have added AYCE to the menu and there are several tiers starting from $29.99.  We went for AYCE C (for $48.99) since it had different cuts of short rib, as well as scallops and shrimp.

I was happy to see that they offered nearly the same Banchan as their a la carte menu.  We found pickled daikon, sprouts, stewed potatoes, kimchi, corn salad, quail's eggs and fried fish cake (in addition to the usual garlic, peppers and bean paste).  Only thing missing from prior visits was the anchovies and dried shredded squid.  Mind you, it could just be rotating daily items as well.  All were good and of course, refillable.  We also got a spring mix salad too.

We ordered the sides that came with the AYCE in the form of Fried Mandoo (Yangneom, Soy Garlic & Original), Japchae and Kimchi Pancake.  We thought the dumplings were good with a crispy thin exterior with juicy and tender meat inside.  The japchae was decent with a nice chewy texture while mildly-seasoned.  There was some fish cake mixed into it.  The kimchi pancake was fine, but was a bit doughy and thin.

One of the more surprising dishes we had was the Cheese Fries.  Those fries were pretty crispy and totally covered in cheese.  They were tasty on their own and if we weren't so full, we would've ordered more of them.  Included in the meal was both the Cold Noodles and Spicy Cold Noodles.  Sure, these were missing the egg and possibly meat, but whatever, we had enough food already.  Otherwise, they were solid with chewy bouncy noodles.

Of course we have to talk about why we were here in the first place...  The meat!  For our first order, we loaded up on Shrimp, Beef Short Rib, Beef Tongue, Beef Rib Finger, Chicken, Marinated Beef Short Rib, Marinated Beef Rib Finger, LA Galbi, Scallops and Mushroom.  We felt the meat quality was not any different than a la carte.  Nicely marbled, the short rib was tender while the marinated galbi was equally good.  Even the notoriously chewy beef tongue was nicely textured.  Although the scallops were thinly sliced, they were great and came with plenty of butter.

Round 2 of meat consisted of Pork Belly, Pork Jowl, Marinated Pork Shoulder and Marinated Chicken.  We added more scallops and mushroom for good measure.  Nothing amiss with these meats either with the pork belly being at its fatty best.  Pork jowl came in large slices and were buttery and bouncy.  We weren't shy about getting more scallops too.  However, to ensure they sear up nicely, we could only cook a few at a time, otherwise, the moisture leaking out of each scallop made it boil in its own juices.  Other than that, the AYCE at Kosoo was solid, well-priced and featured quality ingredients.  I will be back!

The Good:

- Pretty good quality meats for AYCE

- Although hurried, service was solid

- Lots of tiers of AYCE for everyone

The Bad:

- Some cold spots on the grill, so have to move meats around to ensure searing

- Scallops have too much moisture and are hard to sear

The Victor (Mother's Day Brunch)

Normally, we don't celebrate Mother's Day on the actual day.  Being practical people that we are, we tend to avoid the crowds and the inflated prices that are generally found at restaurants.  Hence, we do it the day before or maybe even the week afterwards.  However, there are perks to do it on the actual day.  One of which is the elaborate brunches available at many of the hotel restaurants in town.  This year, we did do a proper Mother's Day at The Victor located in the Parq Hotel.  I've been to the Sunday Disco Brunch here before and it was great.  So we knew what to expect this time around.

To facilitate the Sunday brunch buffet, they have to spread out the food into different sections.  The main part of the spread is near the sushi bar, with the bar itself being the main focal point.  The "lineup" starts with some smaller items and Salads.  I didn't include the romaine and mesclun greens but they served as the base for the rest of the items and the salad dressings.  One item of note was the devilled eggs, they were really salty.

 

Once past the salads and little bites, we moved onto the Sushi Rolls as well as some Poké.  In general, the rolls were pretty typical, yet did feature some chewy sushi rice and fresh ingredients.  I thought the poke was quite good with large chunks of either salmon or ahi tuna mixed with their respective sauces.  I wished there was some rice to go with it.

 

Onto the showstopper section, we found a selection of Oysters on the half shell, Cocktail Prawns and split Snow Crab Legs.  Even though I would've preferred king crab, that would've put the cost up by a lot.  With that being said, the snow crab legs were pretty large and meaty.  Not bad.  Oysters were shucked well and they weren't too big, hence they went down easy.

 

Over at the Carvery, we found BBQ pork which was decent and BBQ Salmon, which was a bit over and dry.  The Ham was great being baked until super tender and buttery.  As much as it wasn't really a carvery item, the Shakshuka was tasty with silky eggs in a earthy, tangy and slightly spicy tomato sauce.  Right beside it, the Prime Rib Roast was tender, juicy and mostly medium-rare.

 

Adjacent to the Carvery was a selection of Breakfast Items that featured sausages, bacon, smashed potatoes and scrambled eggs.  As you can see, the eggs were completely runny and not cooked to oblivion.  Hence, they were silky and soft.  The bacon was lean and crispy while the sausages were meaty and well-seared.  Potatoes were crispy with a soft interior while tossed with peppers and onions.  Although I didn't have one, you could get a custom omelette as well.

 

Over at the bar, we found a Dessert Spread with different cakes, cupcakes and cookies.  I particularly enjoyed the carrot cake as it was moist, nutty and sweet.  Back across the sushi bar, we found a Power Bowl station with the usual ingredients as well as a bunch of fruit such as orange slices, green & red grapes, strawberries, pineapple and watermelon. 

 

Finally, one cannot leave any buffet brunch at The Victor without hitting up their famous Candy Bar.  Now the picture you see above is from their Disco Brunch because the one at the Mother's Day Brunch was super busy and some items were getting empty (although they were constantly refilling).  So this is a much better picture.  Overall, the brunch was quite good with quality items that were generally well-prepared.  Sure, it is pricey, but you must take into account the service, Downtown location, quality and selection of food as well as the beautiful dining space.

The Good:

- Generally solid eats

- Nice dining space

- Excellent service

The Bad:

- Since they have to makeshift their buffet stations, sometimes there is a bottleneck at the start of the lineup

- Dessert selection is fine, but could be more refined

The Lodge Steakhouse

Did you know, one of the least known steakhouses in the GVRD is located in a facility that hosts both an ice and curling rink?  Yah, that in itself would make it a bit obscure.  To top it off, it is found in the Brookswood in Langley.  For those who live in the area or nearby, The Lodge Steakhouse might be actually familiar.  However, to everyone that doesn't live there, they never know what the heck I'm talking about when I rave about the place.  I've blogged about the place before and have been back many times after that.  After my latest visit, I decided to combine 2 dinners into one post.

I normally do not order a lot of appies because their steak and main dishes are large and include sides.  I did end up trying their Calamari though and the best way to describe them was "fine".  They were uniformly crispy and the the squid itself was tender with a slight chew.  Batter was a bit bland though and the light drizzle of yuzu sambal aioli was not enough to flavour the dish.  It was tasty though with a tangy spice.  I think the solution would be to ask for it be served on the side.

We always get the ribeye here since it is always prepared right and it is reasonably-priced.  Well for our most current visit, they replaced that with a 14oz PEI Ribeye for $85.00.  I guess the 12oz for $56.00 is long gone...  However, I felt the PEI ribeye was worth it as the meat was tender with an appealing meatiness.  The steak was charred and prepared a perfect medium-rare.  This was served with vibrant crunchy veggies and creamy mashed potatoes.  We added the Peppercorn Sauce on the side for $3.50.  It was creamy, salty enough and slightly peppery.

For the previous visit, we got the Lobster Flambee prepared tableside.  This was seared in brandy along with white wine, cream, garlic and herbs.  The lobster was fresh and cooked to perfection maintaining its moisture and being at its bouncy best.  The natural brininess was well-accented by the creamy sauce that was aromatic with a touch of brandy.

Back to the current visit, we tried their Maple Bacon Scallops, also prepared tableside (and flambeed).  Despite being seared and prepared properly, the scallops themselves were the reformed variety.  No, these scallops didn't go to the big house and come out for the better.  Rather, these were a selection of smaller scallops formed into perfectly and uniformly-shaped "scallops".  Personally, I'm not a fan of these and wished the menu would've indicated this.  With that being said, they did taste great though with a smoky and salty sweetness.

Although the Lodge Bacon Cheddar Burger is one of the least expensive items on the menu, don't sleep on it.  Sporting a well-charred fresh beef patty with all the produce and charred onion relish on brioche, this ate really well.  There was a good combination of smokiness, meatiness, saltiness and fresh crunch from the veggies.  On the side, we got the Truffle Fries and they were crispy and nicely seasoned.

We also had the Chicken & Gnocchi sporting a blackened chicken breast.  As the picture illustrates, the chicken was nicely seared but not truly blackened.  Despite that, it had a smokiness and earthiness.  Chicken was tender and not dry.  Underneath, the large gnocchi were pillowy soft and light.  It sat in a creamy sauce that was not overly heavy with hits of herbs.  Some fresh ricotta helped add extra creaminess.

One of our favourite dishes at The Lodge is the Brown Butter Sablefish.  We had this dish on both visits and the first time was definitely better than the second.  For some reason or another, the flakes of salt that usually finishes the dish was either missing or there wasn't enough of it.  Hence, the dish ate a bit too mild.  However, the sablefish was still excellent being buttery and flaky.  We actually had to ask for more brown butter since you can see that the plate was lacking it.  That totally makes the dish as it provides a aromatic nuttiness and saltiness.

As for sides, we got the Creamed Corn and the Scalloped Potatoes.   Either I'm dreaming things up or they changed the recipe for the creamed corn.  I found it was still sweet and lightly creamy, but we found chunks of garlic in it that made it a bit different in texture and taste.  Still decent though.  As for the scalloped potatoes, it was more like a potato pavé in my opinion.  Definitely could see the layers of potato with butter and cream in between.  Pretty decent if not a bit dense.

Had 2 different desserts for the both visits with the Warm Brownie coming up first.  This featured a soft and chewy brownie with salted caramel chocolate ice cream on top.  Sure, a pretty simple dessert, but a well-prepared one at that.  The brownie was rich, but not incredibly dense.  Lots of chocolate flavour which was enhanced by the salted caramel.

The best of the 2 desserts was definitely the Salted Caramel Cold Brew Bar.  Yes, we found the flakes of salt here and it definitely elevated the flavours of the coffee (and coffee crisp).  Some dulce de leche added some creamy sweetness.  Really balanced dessert and we dusted this off quite quickly.  Overall, these 2 visits further reinforces my belief that The Lodge is a sneaky well-priced steakhouse hidden in an ice rink in Langley.  If you are in the area, go check it out!

The Good:

- Well-priced for what you get

- Excellent service everytime

- Overall solid eats

The Bad:

- Um, those scallops were "reformed", need to say that on the menu

- Too bad they got rid of the $56.00 ribeye, but things are expensive these days... 

Tozen Sushi Bar

We all are aware that there are a tonne of Japanese restaurants in the Lower Mainland.  Most of them are not Japanese-run and many are your typical average neighbourhood spots.  Then you have the upper end of the spectrum where you find predominantly Omakase-focused Japanese restaurants.  Let's not forget about the bigger, great value places such as Sushi Garden, Tentatsu and Nanaimo Sushi.  Those serve a purpose and whether you think they are good or not would be subjective.  In the past 5 years, we've seen another class of Japanese restaurant emerge to fill that gap between really high-end and middle-of-the-road spots.  Sushi Hil is an example where the quality is definitely above-average, but it doesn't reach the level of establishments such as Okeya Kyujiro.  Prices reflect that too.  Another one is Tozen Sushi out on Broadway near Oak Street.  I've been there before, but decided to do a revisit recently.

We got a variety of deluxe and regular items beginning with the Bafun Uni.  Yes, this was the good stuff that comes from Hokkaido.  We much prefer this over local uni due to its more intense sweetness and to me at least, less fishiness (or none at all if it is fresh).  The one served to us was exactly that being creamy and custardy with an intense sweetness.  No need to add anything as this was delicious all by itself.  However, it did include nori strips as a serving vessel.

Onto a more typical item, we had the Assorted Tempura for $17.00.  Considering smaller, less fancy spots charge roughly the same or just a bit under that price, this was a great example of the generally reasonable prices at Tozen.  It was also a good portion size consisting of 2 pieces each of yam, kabocha, green bean, lotus root and prawn.  I found each item to be at its optimal texture while the tempura batter to be fairly thin, crispy and light.  It wasn't too greasy either.  I would've liked to see a bigger dish for the dip as it was far too small.

Going for something also regularly found at most sushi bars, we had the 4 pieces of Tuna Toro.  Although the presentation was a little lacking, the toro itself was excellent.  Each piece was super buttery and soft.  Practically melting in our mouths, the toro had a clean smell and taste (as fresh as flash frozen and then defrosted can get).  We found the brightness of the sea to be present and also a wonderful natural sweetness.

Unlike my previous visit, the Corn Karaage was terrible.  They were in very large pieces, which hindered the deep-frying from making them uniformly crispy.  Rather, the whole thing was soft and doughy with barely any any crunch from the outside.  I did enjoy the pops of sweetness from each corn niblet, but that didn't help things much as the mushiness of each piece was off-putting. 

We moved onto 2 orders of the Bluefin Nigiri Set featuring 1 piece each of negi bluefin, akami, chutoro and otoro.  If I had to compare this to something similar, I've had this at Sushi Hil (where they no longer offer this combo) and the one at Sushi Hil is superior.  With that being said, this particular offering at Tozen was still very good and we were satisfied.  All the different cuts of bluefin were fresh and clean with a nice sheen.  Naturally, the otoro melted in our mouths while the chutoro wasn't far behind.  Nice sweetness on them too.  Akami was meaty of course, but still plenty tender.

Okay, I hate to be so negative, but really, there was no other way to describe the Scallop Motoyaki and the Oyster Motoyaki...  They were awful.  I've never had a motoyaki like this before where the overcooked scallops and oyster were mixed with onions and mushrooms while topped with an inordinate amount of melted cheese.  There was no mayonnaise sauce to be found.   If this was called a gratin, that would've been more accurate.  Not sure why this was prepared in this fashion.  We even let our serve know this.  I've had superior versions at AYCE places, no joke.

Thankfully, our 2 versions of Chawanmushi turned out to be excellent.  We chose the Dungeness Crab & Ikura as well as the Mushroom.  Served hot, the egg was silky, smooth and not watery.  It was tasty too with an impactful sweet smokiness from the dashi and soy.  With the mushroom, it added earthiness and plenty of umami.  As for the crab and ikura, there was brininess, sweetness and a touch of sea.  We really enjoyed this.

Getting back to the deluxe items, we went for the 2 piece Seared Miyazaki A5 Wagyu Nigiri.  Love how they presented it in a box with smoke.  Once the lid was lifted, our senses get the smokiness from sight and smell.  Popping the nigiri into our mouths, the smokiness hit our palate first and then the richness of the beef came next.  With nicely textured sushi, rice, it helped cut the heaviness of the A5.

We ended off our meal with a sneakily delicious Beef Yakiudon.  For $18.00, we felt it was a fair price for the portion size and overall execution of the dish.  Noodles were textured how we would want it to be, tender but with a rebounding chew.  This was also seasoned properly with a certain meatiness with sweetness from the mushrooms and the onions.  They weren't skimping on the ingredients either.  Overall, we enjoyed our visit to Tozen, but the corn karaage and motoyaki were real downers.  It was confusing to us since all of the other dishes were done right and genuinely delicious.  How could they mess up so badly on these as opposed to everything else?

The Good:
- Well-priced for a bit more premium Japanese experience than the usual
- Modern and upscale decor
- On point service

The Bad:
- Corn Karaage and Motoyaki were legitimately terrible
- We informed our server, but no one from management spoke to us