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

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

Kingyo

Here is one of the classic spots in Downtown Vancouver - Kingyo Izakaya.  It all started here and it has spawned into a restaurant group that encompasses Raisu, Rajio, New Fuji, Toyokan Plaza, Toyokan Bowl and Takenaka.  They also have locations in Toronto, Seattle and Tokyo.  But here we were to grab some food at the original located on Denman. 

Before we even ordered anything, they started us off with a complimentary item in the Deep Fried Nori.  Yes, they coated the sheets of nori with tempura batter and dropped it into the deep fryer.  If you've ever had something similar in a snack bag, this was much better as it was fresh, crunchy and benefited from the umami from the seaweed.  Served on the side was a tomato dip with some fried garlic.

Our first actual dish was the Deep Fried Fresh Corn.  I was only mildly happy with these as the coating was a bit gummy and dense.  However, the corn itself was excellent being plump with pops of intense sweetness.  The addition of soy butter helped add saltiness as well as the nuttiness of butter that paired well with the corn.

On their featured menu, they had both Aburi Pressed Bluefin Sushi as well as the Wagyu Pressed Sushi.  These were quite solid with chewy sushi rice more than enough topping to balance things out.  I enjoyed the buttery bluefin more than the beef.  The beef was a bit chewy.  Loved the combination of yuzu kosho, teriyaki sauce, ikura and tobiko on the tuna as it offered sweetness, brightness and saltiness.  For the beef, there was some spicy mayo with a small piece of seared foie gras, sliced black truffle and ikura.

We ended up with a dish that would be found on almost every Japanese restaurant menu outside of Japan - Chicken Karaage.  Sure, it is merely fried chicken, but not all are made equal.  This one was definitely better than most.  It consisted of chicken leg meat that was nicely marinated with hits of saltiness and ginger.  The coating was thin and fried until crispy.  It was served with a lemon wedge, which we squeezed onto the chicken.

One of the other daily features was the Beef Croquettes.  These were doused with a homemade gravy that was thick and starchy.  It had sweetness and tang which helped lighten up the dish.  By no means was it heavy though as the creaminess of the potato was light and airy.  Mixed into it was of course the tender beef and also a good amount of melty mozzarella.

One of my favourite cuts of pork is the cheek (and also the jowl).  So I ended up ordering the Grilled Pork Cheek.  This was at its buttery and fatty best with a classic rebound texture.  Since this was marinated in miso, there was a rich umaminess to it with a background saltiness.  This was served with a 7-spice blend on the side for dipping.  However, I didn't even need that.

Back to the featured items, we tried the Grilled Duck Breast.  I was a bit so-so with this dish as the duck fat was pretty flabby.  It wasn't surprising though as most Izakayas I've been to do not render the fat much (and also the type of duck has a significant layer of fat).  The duck itself was juicy but a bit chewy.  It did have a measured saltiness to it.  On the bottom, there was some creamy foie gras potato and on top, some fried carrots, arugula and Japanese pickled plum.

The most stunning dish was the Deluxe Sashimi Bowl.  The small amount of sushi rice was topped with tuna tataki, bluefin chutoro, sockeye salmon, Atlantic salmon, akami, hamachi, hotate, uni, ikura and spot prawn.  Very nice selection of sashimi that had a nice sheen and was nicely textured.  There could've been much more rice to go with the bounty of fish though.

One of my all-time favourites when it comes to Izakaya dishes is Ebi Mayo.  This version here was solid with large tiger prawns that were meaty with a sweet snap texture.  They were lightly battered and fried until crispy.  Unlike some other places, the amount of chili mayo was balanced where each prawn was coated on the bottom, but not drenched.

We finished off our meal with the Uni Miso Udon topped with crab and ikura.  Coated in a silky and naturally sweet miso cream sauce, the slippery and chewy udon noodles were fully flavoured.  Nice taste of the sea from the uni, crab and ikura.  As you can see, the food is pretty appetizing at Kingyo and they continue to have high standards in terms of food quality and execution.  Sure, not everything was perfect, but overall, it was good.  One of my go-to Izakayas in town.

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Good quality

- Good service

The Bad:

- Bill can add up if you are hungry, but things are expensive all across the board right now

Mauna

As often as I visit Mauna out in Surrey, I don't think I've posted about them in quite some time.  Ironically, prior to this visit, I had eaten then 5 times in the last few months!  Anyways, this post will mostly focus on their new meal sets as well as some new maki sushi rolls.  Of course, I had to get some of the classics as well!  For those who not familiar with Mauna, the chef used to work at Minami and his menu features quality renditions of Aburi Oshi and many other delicious dishes at prices that are truly affordable.

In this economy, it is not easy to find food that features quality ingredients for reasonable prices.  However, their Set Menus for $28.95 include a bounty of dishes that reflect many of the best items on the regular menu.  With a bounty of dishes, the Botan Set includes 6 pcs Sashimi, Chicken Karaage, Miso Tofu Salad, Fried Brussels Sprouts, 3 pcs Aburi Nigiri, 2 pcs Oshi Bites, Mini Poke and Miso Soup.  Yes, the amount of food shown in the picture is an accurate representation.  This is more than enough for one person and worth every penny of the $28.95.  All of their set menus include the same sides, but only rotate 2 of the mains.  In this one, the Chicken Karaage and 6 pcs of Sashimi are the unique dishes.  I've always love the karaage here as it has a flavourful marinade with a nice hit of ginger.  Chicken is tender and juicy too.  Sashimi is fresh and presented in generously-sized slices.

For the Momiji Set, everything is the same except we find a Mini-Chirashi Don and Ika Maruyaki replacing the aforementioned karaage and sashimi.  If you were feeling a little bit more hungry and also wanted more rice, this is the set for you as the chirashi don is essentially the sashimi, but with rice added.  As for the squid, it is grilled beautifully and is completely tender with a nice rebound texture.  

The Sakura Set features Kaisen Soba and 3 pieces of Ebi Fritter in place of the other main items.  As much as I enjoy the seafood with the chewy soba noodles and the crispiness of the ebi fritters, I feel this is the least amount of food in comparison to the 3 set menus.  But I understand the combination as it features much less raw items than the other sets.  Good for those who want cooked food in their combos.

Before I get to the classics, I will discuss the "newer" specialty rolls including the Medford Roll.  It doesn't have anything to do with the town in Oregon, so no reference to the mountains even though there is a mountain of deep fried baby scallops on top of a what is essentially an oversized dynamite roll.  Yes, you will normally find this type of roll at a Korean-run Japanese restaurant.  For the record, I don't mind these types of rolls, it just depends on my mood.

Another large specialty roll is the Hinderer Roll consisting of a deep fried "dynamite-like" roll with a mound of spicy sashimi in the middle.  Since the roll is fried, the centre is slightly warm and has a softer texture.  Outside, the tempura batter is crispy and not greasy.  As for the spicy tuna sashimi, it is slightly sweet with a bite.  Crunchy cucumbers add some texture to this.  For $19.95, this is a considerable amount of food.

So this is the "New" Galaxy Roll and I guess the new part is the crumbled wasabi peas on top.  It adds a crunch that has a mild bite to go with the spicy prawn, hotate and red tuna in the middle while hamachi wrapped around the top.  The roll is almost juicy and eats a bit wet, but the peas do add a textural contrast.  To top it off, we there is some spicy powder for more heat.

Striking in its appearance from the fried lotus root chip on top, the Wataru Roll features real crab, hotate and asparagus in the centre with tuna tartare, slightly seared red tuna and nikiri on the top.  The fluffiness and moisture of the real crab meat is unmistakable while the tuna does the heavy lifting with texture and the spice from the tartare.  It is a bit awkward to get the full lotus root chip in every bite, but when you do, it is crispy and airy.

Onto some classics, we cannot forget about the big daddy of the bunch in the Explosion Roll.  With a good amount of imitation crab, spicy tuna and cucumber, the whole thing is wrapped with tobiko and topped with torched aburi sauce.  Fantastic pops from the tobiko and smoky sweetness from the aburi sauce.  Secondary layers of buttery soft and spicy tuna give this roll extra impact.

We cannot forget about their other "must order" item in the Mauna's Aburi Tart.  Sporting with sushi rice, ripe avocado, spicy tuna, sockeye salmon and seared aburi sauce, this has all of the best things in one package.  Buttery and flavourful with hits of spice and sesame oil, the spicy tuna anchors the dish but gives way to the creamy smokiness of the aburi sauce.  It has a little bit of tang that helps keeps things from being heavy.  Love this dish.

A visit to Mauna isn't complete without ordering their Aburi Oshi.  Two of my favourites are the Wild Salmon Oshi and the Ebi Oshi.  Comparing it to the pioneer of these dishes (Miku/Minami), these ones here at Mauna have more content (as in fish and components) to go with the sushi rice.  Aburi sauce is creamy and tangy without being greasy.  The lime zest on the ebi oshi really adds brightness.

We also go for the Saba Oshi and Hotate Oshi.  If you are a fan of the briny fishiness of mackerel, then the Saba Oshi is for you.  It has just a touch of miso aburi sauce on it.  On the other hand, the scallop oshi has quite a bit of sauce that is slightly spicy.  Since scallop is buttery and sweet yet subtle, the sauce adds some impact.  However, it doesn't overwhelm the delicate scallop though.  The texture of the sushi rice is more on the moist side with an appealing chewiness.  In the end, a visit to Mauna is always a treat since the food is great and affordable.  Definitely a surprise given its location.  Now with the meal sets, there is a wider selection of dishes to share if you have a smaller party.

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

The Good:

- New meal sets offer a great variety of their best items

- Large portions at a reasonable price

- The classic aburi oshi is excellent and much less expensive than other places

The Bad:

- Being a small neighbourhood restaurant, the place gets slammed at times, so you'll have to be patient

Kitano Shokudo

So here we go with another restaurant in Canada's 100 Best Restaurant list in Kitano Shokudo.  From the outside, it wasn't very apparent what we were looking at.  Walking in, you would still be a bit confused with all the eclectic items from DJ equipment with records to a print of Monarch butterflies.  Formerly Otto Bistro, this small Japanese restaurant is run by Chef Hiroshi Kitano.  Sure, the menu features supremely high-quality sashimi that you can also get on top of rice in a chirashi don or maguro (bluefin) don, but there are some fusion dishes that are equally as good.  We stopped by for lunch to see what it was all about.

Starting with the 8-piece Sashimi, we were treated to 2 each of the Bluefin Akami, Ora King Salmon, Hotate and Shima Aji.  It might sound like an easy way of describing the sashimi as excellent, but it really was.  The quality of the fish was top-notch and served at the right temperature.  Cuts were precise and presented in the right size.   I particularly enjoyed the scallop as it was buttery soft and super sweet. 

As if you weren't eating enough bluefin these days (should stop because high-mercury levels), we had the Bluefin Futomaki.  This thing featured a thin layer of soy rice and equal amounts of akami and chutoro.  This thing was stuffed full of bluefin and well, need I really have to say it was delicious?  The picture itself tells the whole story.  Supremely sweet with the taste of the sea and also that classic soft texture with the chutoro being fatty and buttery.  Just a bit of real wasabi and a dab of soy was enough.

We tried 3 of their noodle dishes including the Duck Confit Mazemen.  It featured a massive duck leg that had the crispiest skin.  Nicely salted too.  I thought the duck meat was trending towards the drier side, but it was still quite good and not overly seasoned.  The al dente noodles were great and the combination of dashi and onsen egg made for a smoky, silky and aromatic flavour profile.  The wealth of green onion and red onions wasn't really my thing, but it did add brightness and some sharpness.

The most fusion dish of the bunch was the Mushroom "Pasta" as it combined sauteed mixed mushrooms, butter and chives with an egg yolk.  There was pecorino as well, but we opted for it to be on the side because it can be pretty overwhelming.  This was delicious with the earthiness of the mushrooms and silkiness of the butter.   Extra creaminess was thanks to the free-range egg yolk.  Al dente with a nice bite, the noodles were fully seasoned by the components.  After I added in the pecorino, there was a nutty saltiness which as brightened up by the ample chives.

Our last noodle was the Shoyu Ramen with chicken, clam and fish broth.  Really nice sweetness with certain silkiness from the slow and long cook of the chicken.  I noticed there was quite a bit of umaminess to the broth due to the combination of components.  Once again, the noodles were beautifully chewy and held up until the end.  We found a beautiful runny seasoned egg along with a few slices of medium-rare duck breast.

We ended off our meal with 2 scoops of Sorbet including Passionfruit and Strawberry.  These were really refreshing and quite creamy despite it being all ice.  Flavours were pretty natural-tasting and the sweetness was measured.  Great finish to a solid meal that featured high-quality ingredients that were honoured in their preparation.  Although I've had better in Vancouver, it is still a nice little spot in Montreal that offers delicious eats at a reasonable price.

The Good:

- High-quality and fresh ingredients

- Carefully-prepared

- Quaint

The Bad:

- Enjoyed it, but I've had better though

 

Shinya Shokudō

As many times I've been in the Seattle/Bellevue area, I do not recall ever doing something late night.  That would include activities in addition to eats.  This was about to change as Jackie and I were checking out some Japanese Izakaya at Shinya Shokudō.  Located right in the heart of Bellevue, it is open late until 1:00pm and offers up a full menu of share plates and also an array of drinks.  

About those drinks, we had a few of them including the Chillchee, Osmanthus Breeze and Shinya Choco Cloud.  Definitely on the sweeter end of the cocktail spectrum with these, but at the same time, they didn't skimp with the alcohol.  Hence, it still packed quite a wallop.  I loved the Chillchee the most as I love lychee and that definitely came through.  I thought the Shinya Choco Cloud was more of a boozy milkshake.

We a great selection of chicken parts (mostly offal) in the Tori Horumon Combo.  We got 2 each of the cartilage, heart, upper heart, gizzard and liver.  This was more about textures than anything else.  There was the crunch from the cartilage, chewy bounciness of the hearts and gizzards while we had the creaminess of the liver.  They were lightly grilled where we had some smokiness.  I would've liked a bit more char on everything but the liver.

To compliment our first set of grilled skewers, we added the Seafood Combo consisting 2 each of Shrimp, Salmon, Hokkaido Scallops and Eel.  I thought the shrimp were perfect being bouncy and still juicy.  Although not looking like it, the salmon was fairly moist.  Couldn't say the same about the scallops as they were overdone.  Eel was perfectly buttery and smoky.

To get a taste of some appies without ordering every one of them, we opted for the Small Dish Set.  This featured Chicken Karaage, Tamagoyaki, Salmon Sashimi, Takoyaki, Wakame Salad and Hotate.  Nothing particularly amiss with this as things were pretty standard and serviceable.  I did think the salmon and hotate were texturally on point and tasted fresh.

On that note, it wasn't a surprise that the Chirashi Don was good since it featured the same salmon and scallop sashimi.  It also added salmon toro to add a rich butteriness to the bowl.  A big dollop of ikura provided pops of briny sweetness.  That same ikura was great with sweet and creamy Hokkaido uni in the Temaki.  The Foie Gras Temaki was rich and buttery but nicely tempered by the chewy sushi rice.

Honestly, we weren't going to order the Spicy Vegan Ramen, but it came highly-recommended.  Well, I do have to say it was pretty darn hot!  Yah, it was spicy and kept my tongue busy for awhile.  Now I like spice, so it didn't bother me.  That was probably the best part because there was not meat for me.  LOL.  Noodles were al dente while bamboo shoots, corn and tofu were there to compliment.

Not that we didn't have enough food already, but we also had the Curry Katsu Omurice.  This was a fairly large dish with plenty of rice underneath a thin blanket of egg.  I would've liked it less cooked but it worked for this application as there was plenty of moisture from the earthy and sweet curry.  The pork cutlet on top was lean, but still tender with a crispy panko crust.

One of the best deals we found on the menu was the Sukiyaki for $20.00.  Served in a small hot pot on a butane burner, we found sliced beef roll with vegetables, mushrooms, tofu and shrimp.  We added udon for an extra charge.  Nothing complex about this dish, but it was a lot of food cooked in a rich soy dashi broth.  Beef was buttery tender while the shrimp had a meaty snap texture.

We had one more rice dish in the Unagi Don, that featured 2 large pieces of soft and buttery glazed unagi.  Rice was chewy and dry enough to withstand the moisture from the eel.  Again, for $21.00, this wasn't bad for so much unagi.  Overall, our experience at Shinya Shokudō was good considering the portions sizes and reasonable pricing.  I wouldn't classify it as a classic Izakaya as the menu trends more towards bigger dishes and Kushiyaki.  But it is good for what it is and is open until 1:00am to satisfy your late night cravings.

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

The Good:

- Ample portions

- Inexpensive

- Decent eats

The Bad:

- Not really an Izakaya in the authentic sense, but it is good for what it is

- More aggressive char on some of the skewers