Kumo Sukiyaki

Almost 2 years ago, I had visited the original location of Kumo Sukiyaki out on Anderson Road in Richmond.  It was a decent experience and the 3-level AYCE pricing was fair for what we got.  For those who are unfamiliar, Japanese Sukiyaki refers to sliced beef (sometimes pork), vegetables, tofu and noodles cooked in a shallow iron pot with a broth consisting of shoyu, sugar and mirin.  We checked out their newest location on Alexandra Road taking over from the shuttered Kazuhan.

The first order of business is to choose your AYCE menu from 3 options: $28.99, $38.99 and $54.99 per person.  There is also a soup fee of $9.90 per table (which is less than they charged at the old location).  We got the top tier which included more premium meats and also a wider choice of small dishes.  These included Wakame Salad, Tako Wasabi, Kimchi, Fried Chicken Wings, Takoyaki and Ebi Tempura.  All of the orders was through a tablet on the table.  All orders were sent directly to the kitchen.  This is a major improvement over the system we experienced at the Anderson Road location.

Onto the beef selection, we got all of them which included Pork Belly, Angus Beef Short Plate, AAA Top Blade Eye, Wagyu Beef Chuck Flat and Wagyu Beef Short Plate.  We had many orders of these since they were sliced thin.  That also meant they were quick to cook and super tender to eat.  Every one of them were good and the ones with more fat had more of a meaty flavour.  My personal favourite was the Wagyu Beef Short Plate.

There was also a selection of veggies, noodles and tofu to choose from too and we got them all.  Really enjoyed the mushrooms the most as well as the noodle bundles since they soaked up the broth.  Naturally, we also cracked some eggs so that we could dip our cooked meats into.  That's right, you dip the cooked meats into the egg.  This gives the meat extra butteriness and also cools down the meat.  Don't forget a bowl of rice too as it goes real well with the sweet and savoury meats coated in egg.

For dessert, there was some sliced Pineapple, but also a choice of one Melona fruit bar.  We had one each of the honeydew and the mango.  Actually, the Melona reminded me of my visit to Gyubee out in Ottawa.  Such a nice thing to finish with after subjecting our mouths to hot food.  I found the overall experience at this location of Kumo to be superior to my initial visit to the Anderson Road spot.  I liked how they addressed the ordering accuracy by employing tablets and also reducing the setup fee.  However, I think they should just add that into an all-inclusive price.   Although we had the highest tier of AYCE, I feel you can still have a satisfying meal with the $28.99 menu.  With that, it is a great value and of course you will be stuffed!

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

The Good:

- Meats were tender

- Nicer setup than the original location

- Ordering system is efficient

The Bad:

- Should include the setup fee in an all-inclusive price

- Parking lot is insufficient for the amount of businesses