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

Pokerrito (Morgan Crossing)

Back in 2012, when the Poké craze initially began to take shape in North America, I was trying to keep up with all the new spots opening all over the place.  Seeing how it was growing exponentially, I decided to give up as I couldn't maintain the pace.  Predictably, many have come and many have gone as the market did get saturated.  However, quite a few have survived and are still doing well.  One particular chain is Pokerrito, which surprisingly I've never had a chance to do a visit.  With a menu tasting in hand, I finally got my chance at the Morgan Crossing location.

For those who aren't familiar, Pokerrito offers up classic poké bowls as well as some fusion bowls.  But as the name implies, they are known for their Poké + Burritos = Pokerrito.  Think of it as a really large sushi roll with all the goodness of poké inside.  In the picture above, you will find the Diamond Head   It was particularly impactful with the combination of spicy tuna, spicy seaweed salad, crab meat, ginger, masago, jalapeno, furikake, crispy onion and sweet chili.  Lots of spice with sweetness and tang.  This was the most flavourful of the ones we tried.

As for the Hawaiian Classic, it was much more subtle with marinated tuna, seaweed salad, sesame, radish, pineapple, sweet corn, pea shoots, tempura bits and shoyu.  As you can imagine, this was mostly sweet with some saltiness from the shoyu.and Hawaiian Classic Pokerritos.  In this picture, you will notice the nori casing and a thin layer of sushi rice. That meant we could totally taste the ingredients even more so than the bowl version.  Also, the textures were more apparent.

Now we had two different Pokerritos that resided at each end of the spectrum.  With the the Hanauma, we found something that fell somewhere in the middle.  We had it in both pokerrito and bowl form and they ate very differently.  The bowl version had much more rice, which in turn made each individual ingredient less apparent than the pokerrito.  Now it wasn't as if there was no impact.  In fact, it still tasted great with the buttery salmon, sweet imitation crab salad, ginger and wakame salad. I personally ate less of the ginger as it was sharp with a spicy and tangy bite.  In the pokerrito form, it was harder to pick out and that overshadowed the fish somewhat.  But then again, it was further enhanced by the lack of rice.

The North Shore Bowl had some elements from the Hanauma Bowl as well as the Hawaiian Classic.  Instead of salmon, we found fresh tuna with wakame salad, radish, edamame, pineapple and masago.  This was fresh-tasting with subtle flavours.  The addition of pineapple added sweet brightness and the imitation crab salad provided creaminess.  I think this would be good in pokerrito form since there would be less rice.  The tuna and pineapple would stand out even more.  Also no ginger would allow the other components to shine more so.

Onto something that was a bit different than the previous bowls, we had the Torched Ahi Tuna Bowl with soba.  Naturally, this added smokiness and varied texture within the tuna itself.  We had some slightly cooked bits while most of it was still raw and buttery.  By virtue of employing soba and seared tuna, this ate much more like a composed restaurant dish rather than quick service.  Really enjoyed the chewiness of the noodles combined with the crispy tempura bits.

If raw fish isn't your game, they also have some cooked bowls too including the Torched Miso Glazed Salmon Bowl.  If you are wondering, yes, this piece of salmon was fully cooked.  Despite that, it wasn't dry though, so it was flaky and moist with a sweet and salty sauce on top.  Nice smokiness due to the torching and lots of bite from the ginger on the side.  That was the only competing flavour in the bowl since everything else was mild.  Personally, I would've liked a more rare piece of seared salmon for this bowl, but not sure if that could be done?

Here is where we start to see some Korean fusion with the bowls.  First, we had the Torched Bulgogi Bowl.  This was aggressively sauced and then torched, which further intensified the sweetness.  We really had to mix this into the rice as it packed quite the flavour punch.  The ample beef was sliced thin and tender.  Some kimchi on the side provided some tang and mild spice.  Another variation was the Beef Bul-Dog.  So essentially bulgogi in a hot dog bun with some greens and crispy tempura bits on top.

Our last bowl was the Torched Spicy Pork Bowl.  This was just as saucy as the bulgogi bowl while adding the element of spiciness.  Once again, we had to mix this quite well to distribute the sweet and spicy sauce.  There was ample amount of pork that was tender and moist.  To compliment, we found some edamame, cubed tamago and kimchi as well as spring mix.  Great alternative for people who don't eat raw fish.

We had one more thing at the end and it was their Matcha Tiramisu.  Sure, it was a prepackaged item, but it turned out to be quite good.  The masacarpone was creamy and light while purposefully sweet.  With just a slight amount of bitterness, the matcha flavour was present but not overpowering.  Overall, the stuff at Pokerrito is solid and there was so many options available.  I love how you can have your poké as a large roll too since it not only allows for a different flavour and texture experience, you can actually have your poké and eat it too while on the go.

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

The Good:
- You can have your poké as a handheld
- You can also have it classic style too
- Cooked items available

The Bad:
- The sauces for the bulgogi and spicy pork were rather aggressive, best to ask for it on the side 

Gamamaru Shokudo

Normally, late night spots dishing up eats that go well with beers and the sort are reserved for Downtown Vancouver or small enclaves of restaurants on Main and Fraser Streets as well as Central Richmond.  So when we found out that Gamamaru Shokudo is doing that very exact thing, but in Fleetwood, it piqued our interest.   In addition to soju and beers, they have a menu that is a mix of Japanese and Korean late night favourites.  We ended up trying a bunch of dishes to go with our soju.

On the topic of Soju, we had a bit of a sampler consisting of peach, grape and mango.  Really dangerous as these went down easy.  I liked the mango the most as it was lightly sweet and tropical.  This went well with the Kushikatsu including baby crab, cuttlefish nugget, snow crab, pork belly, garlic beef, scallop, cheese menchi and teriyaki menchi.  These were really good with the 2 menchi skewers being the most flavourful.  The meat was tender and hey that slice of processed cheese!  Made it taste like a cheeseburger.  Crabs were crispy and briny while the snow crab was delicate.  Scallops were buttery soft despite being fried.

We had 3 different Oshizushi including Saba, Salmon and Unagi.  The one thing that they all had in common was the generous amount of the main component.  They were sliced a bit thicker than usual which resulted in more impact and texture.  The rice itself was a little on the denser side, but it wasn't a deal-breaker.  Nice torching on the top and for me, the salmon was my favourite with smokiness and sweetness.

On the menu, they have a section of share plates that included the LA Galbi.  This was a decent portion of meaty shortribs.  I really liked how they had marinated these so they were tender but still retained a considerable amount of chewiness (in a good way).  Too often, these are over-tenderized and hence, are too soft.  In terms of seasoning, they were a good combination of savoury and sweet with good caramelization from the grilling.

One of my favourite items was the the Clam Nabe.  The broth was so clean and pure tasting with the natural sweetness and brininess of clams.  The clams themselves were plump and buttery.  They were just barely cooked through.  All of them were open and the broth was not sandy.  We also had the Tako Bomb which was colourful with its combination of green onions, octopus, salmon, garlic chips, diced tsukemono and quail's egg yolk.  As expected, there was varied texture and flavours when mixed together.  We ate this with strips of nori.

We got a bunch of carbs to round out the meal including the Mentaiko Yaki Udon.  This was a good version due to the perfect texture of the noodles.  They were prepared properly where each strand was chewy with a nice rebound.  Beyond the great mouth-feel of the noodles, the creaminess of the dish was also on point.  It was creamy without being too heavy.  Of course the cod roe was at its fishy briny best completely flavouring the dish.

So I'm sure you've heard of Omurice before, but how about Omusoba?  Same concept but with noodles instead of rice!  The yakisoba was covered with a soft omelette while aggressively drizzled with yakisoba sauce and kewpie mayo.  As much as it looked like to much sauce, it was actually not that noticeable after mixing everything together.  The soba, much like the udon, was perfectly cooked with a springy chewiness.

We got the Sukiyaki Nabe for good measure and being a nabe, it was not as salty and sweet as the regular version.  Hence, the soup was drinkable and lightly flavoured.  The beef was marbled and hence was tender while the veggies added some relief from the heaviness of the other items.  Last dish was an Unagi Don and yah, they loaded up with so much buttery unagi, that we couldn't see the appealingly chewy rice underneath.  The unagi was evenly seared and drizzled with just enough sauce.  Simple, but well-executed.  As you can see, the food is pretty solid here at Gamamaru.  The prices are also quite reasonable, so you can order lots to share without breaking the bank.  Nice addition to the Fleetwood neighbourhood of Surrey.

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

The Good:

- Well-prepared eats

- Reasonable-pricing

- Open late and lots of parking

The Bad:

- Sushi rice could've been less compacted in the pressed sushi

Mala King Hot Pot

You just know when something gets super popular, there will be copycats.  Now, I'm not trying to say that in a derogatory manner.  In fact, as things evolve, newer versions of the original often become better and come up with new ways of doing things.  We've all seen that with bubble tea and its never-ending metamorphosis from what it was in the 90's.  You'd think that the market would be saturated (well, maybe to a degree), resulting in a collapse of sorts.  Well that hasn't happened.  Now take the DIY hot pot craze that started with Big Way locally.  There have been a slew of imitators but Big Way itself was a copycat of something that started in Australia.  We have the latest one in the GVRD in Malaking Hot Pot out in Surrey.  The name seems to mirror Malatown out in California.  So everything is a mish-mash of everything else.  Jackie and I checked out Malaking to see their version of this current craze.

Located in the former Pho Tam spot (so sad its gone), Malaking's setup is pretty typical of the genre.  Upon entering, there are bowls and tongs ready for you to pick your items.  There is a varied selection including seafood, meats, veggies, tofu products, meatballs and noodles.  Like I've said before, do not load up on meatballs, things with shells and heavy noodles.  You might have a nasty surprise in terms of cost otherwise.  But if you stick to lighter items, you can have hearty bowl for around $20.00.  You proceed to the counter and have your bowl weighed, then pick a broth (which is included).

In case you didn't only want to drink water with your hot pot, there is a selection of drinks available.  We sampled a few of them including Mango Slush, Avocado Slush, Piña Colada Slush and Thai Iced Tea.  You can choose your sweetness and add things like coconut jelly and pearls.  I really liked the piña colada as it was fruity and aromatic.  Nice tang on the mango and the avocado was smooth.  Of course the Thai iced tea   was sweet, but it was still balanced with enough tea flavour.  Right next to the counter is the Sauce Lab where you can create your own dip.  Pretty standard ingredients here.  They have self-service to go containers and paper bags underneath.

We sampled a nice selection of their broths including the Classic Ma La Tang.  Unlike some versions I've had at other places, this one was definitely spicy, yet not mind-blowing.  It had a nice viscosity where it wasn't thin.  There was some pleasant sweetness to compliment too.  I normally do not combine seafood with this, but I did this time and it was good.  The brininess of the razor clams, scallops and abalone paired well with the spicy broth.  The buttery snakefish was especially good with the spice.

Another delicious broth with aromatic creaminess along with some spice, the Laksa paired well with seafood (as expected).  The combination of the natural sweetness of the seafood and the broth made each spoonful delicious.  Soaking up the broth, the non-fried noodles were properly cooked where it had some chew left.  I think the fatty beef we had in this was good, but maybe some chicken would pair better with this broth.

The most impactful broth, other than the spicy mala, was the Japanese Black Garlic.  Resembling a rich tonkotsu ramen broth, this had the silkiness of collagen and fermented pungency of black garlic.  This was the best example of their 8-hour broths as it showed depth and thickness.  This an excellent compliment to the meats I chose (pork and beef) as well as mushrooms, veggies and quail's eggs.

One broth that we though needed something extra was the one-note Coconut Curry Broth.  It was definitely creamy with the goodness of coconut milk, but it did not have enough curry flavour.  We decided to combine the Mala with it and boom, it was so much more impactful.  Maybe next time we'll just ask for Coconut Mala mix.  We went for a predominantly seafood forward mix of items and although it added more sweetness to the broth, it all turned out to be quite muted.

The last broth we tried was the Tom Yum and that was another fantastic option.  It really did exhibit all the great flavours in Tom Yum including lemongrass, the tanginess of lime and some spice from the peppers.  The broth was pretty concentrated and held up to the excess moisture released by the veggies.  It helped flavour the noodles as well as the meat.  I would say this was right up there with the mala and black garlic.

Of course at the end of the meal, we were served the complimentary Soft-Serve Ice Cream in a waffle cone.  Like everywhere else, this was not the creamiest soft-serve, but definitely appreciated after hot pot.  Overall, Malaking Hot Pot fits in quite nicely into the DIY hot pot landscape in the GVRD.  I think their broths are some of the best (Coconut Curry withstanding) where they are impactful and do not dilute with the moisture of the components.

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

The Good:

- Impactful broths that are concentrated enough to stand up to the moisture from the components

- Solid drinks

- Free parking (albeit very narrow spots)

The Bad:

- Coconut Curry broth needs more spice

- As mentioned, there is free parking, but those spots are incredibly tight

Skye Avenue - Kitchen & Lounge

For awhile, I knew that Skye Avenue had replaced the long-standing Central City Brewing at Surrey Central.  However, I just never made it out there to see what it was all about.  It wasn't until Executive Chef Bal (of Desi Lounge in Downtown Vancouver) raved about the burger at Skye Avenue, that piqued my interest.  So when Nikita and Bluebeard wanted to meet up for some eats and they suggested that Skye Avenue be one of the options, I totally agreed to meet them there. 

We arrived in time for their Happy Hour and in addition to getting some drink specials, we also started with a few food specials as well.  Instead of the usual ball shape, the Mushroom Arancini arrived as a rectangle slab.  I thought it was nicely crispy, but the inside was rather mushy.  It did have good flavour in the earthiness of mushroom and smokiness of eggplant puree.  In actual balls, the Smoked Salmon Croquettes were also a bit mushy inside too.  Yet, most croquettes are made with potato, so that was to be expected.  There was a smoky saltines to them and there was a bit of tartar sauce in the middle.

We got 2 more specials in the Wagyu Carpaccio and Prime Rib Slider.  We found the carpaccio to be a competent plate with thinly sliced and tender beef.  It was topped with flaked salt, aged pecorino, truffle aioli, arugula and some aged balsamic.  Again, it as pleasant enough but the focaccia that came with it was horrible.  It was hard and very dense.  As for the slider, it was excellent with a soft toasted bun, horseradish aioli, fontina cheese, crispy onions and au jus.  The beef itself was super tender and there was no absence of flavour and texture.  Should've gotten a few of these!

Onto the mains, Bluebeard and I shared the Lobster Cobb Salad as well as the burger.  As you can see with the salad, there was no absence of lobster meat.  It was at its bouncy and springy best with natural sweetness and brininess.  It featured tender butter lettuce, ripe avocado, cherry tomatoes, custardy soft-boiled egg and gorgonzola cheese.  I thought this was a very good salad with excellent components.

Now for the Chef's Burger, it was comprised of an 8oz organic grass fed house-ground patty.  That way, it could be prepared so it wasn't cooked to a crisp.  It was super juicy, meaty in flavour and of course tender.  It was topped with fontina, truffle aioli and crunchy onions all on a brioche bun.  Chef Bal was right, this burger had it all, a juicy patty, texture from the onions and a soft brioche bun.  Even the side of fries were really good being crispy with lots of creamy potatoness inside.

Viv wasn't very creative and also ordered a burger in the Fresh Sockeye Burger.  This featured a 5oz chermoula-marinated salmon patty with mango salsa, pickled coleslaw and tartare sauce on a charred leek bun.  So with all those tasty ingredients, the flavours were impactful.  We had sweetness, tanginess and brightness on the crispy and smoky bun.  However, the main ingredient, which was the salmon, was rather dry.  Being sockeye, I wasn't surprised as the meat is leaner and would dry out easier.  It did taste good though.

Lastly, Nikita had the Gluten-Free Margherita Flat Bread.  For a gluten-free crust, it was pretty good being crispy and not too dense.  The tomato sauce was bright and tangy while there was more than enough fior di latte on top for impact.  We also found some fresh basil, but would've preferred it added after the fact.  Overall, Skye Avenue is a competent restaurant with some real highlights.  The decor is quite nice and the service is top-notch.  I do believe a few refinements are here and there.

The Good:

- That burger!

- Nice decor

- Great service

The Bad:

- A few refinements needed