Tenhachi

*Restaurant is now closed*

Our team made it to the finals and despite putting in a great effort, we lost 5-3. Disappointing? Yes. Although, we still had lots of fun and once again, some of us went to eat afterwards. That is a win in itself! But where? We decided to do something a bit different. How different? How about a Japanese restaurant on the ground level of an apartment complex. You might be wondering whats so special about a Japanese restaurant on the ground floor of an apartment building. What if I told you it was predominantly senior housing? Still not convinced? Alright, how about a Japanese restaurant that looks more like a cafeteria from the 1970's and serves up traditional food such as sushi, donburis, tempura and lasagna. Wait a minute, Lasagna??? Yah, the restaurant of choice was Tenhachi. Think of it as very similar to Hi Genki, but not. I think it's in a category all by itself.

Joining me for dinner was Milhouse, Mr. Blueberry, Gadget Girl, Boss Woman and Kim. Kim? Again? Yah, I think we made him an honorary member of our team. Maybe he can be the waterboy next time we play... LOL... Once again, much like at King Sushi, we separated into the sharers and the non-sharers. Well, it was only Kim, Milhouse and I sharing... We started with the Wakame Salad and honestly, I haven't had many that were bad. Essentially, it's just seaweed with soy, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. It's pretty hard to screw up; but then again, I'm sure I'll run into that eventually. This one was well balanced and had that "snap" chewiness we look for in wakame. We also got an order of the Red Tuna Sashimi and it was served with dark soy. We tried the tuna with both types of soy and figured that the dark soy (being less salty) allowed the tuna flavour to come through. Kim thought the fish was a bit disappointing in terms of texture and taste. I have to agree with him there. The tuna was on the softer side and didn't exhibit much flavour at all. I've had better red tuna sashimi, namely Tokachi.

Seeing that there was Takoyaki on the menu, I went ahead and ordered it as usual. What can I say, I like octopus balls! Uh... well, it's actually more like a small slice of tako in a fried flour ball. Initially, that scared Milhouse until we explained it to him. These were not bad, maybe a tad on the stiffer side and definitely in need of more bonito flakes (and possibly more sauce). Kim thought we should go a different route for tempura and ordered the Mushroom Tempura. Consisting of shiitake, masutake and shimeji, this was definitely different. I thought that the batter could've been more crisp; otherwise, it was pleasant to eat. I personally love mushrooms and especially these ones since they have quite a nice meatiness to them. Served on the side was tempura dipping sauce with grated daikon and ginger.

To satisfy our sushi roll requirement, we went for the Mango Roll. At only $4.95, this was a pretty good value considering that there were 8 fairly large pieces. As Kim remarked, the mango was ripe and sweet; thus we could really call this a mango roll. Too many times, the mango used is not ripe and it becomes an afterthought. The sushi rice was not bad, not as firm as I would've liked it; but solid nonetheless. We also picked a random cooked fish as well deciding on the Hamachi (yellowtail). Even when raw, hamachi is quite meaty and firm. Thus, cooked, you can only imagine it being even more meaty and firm. This was definitely the case here and honestly, I'm not a big fan. Nothing to do with the execution of this dish in particular.

Now for something really traditionally Japanese! Lasagna! WTH??? Yah, there are a few items on the menu that seem to exist for the buildings clientele. Kim thought it would be a great idea to try and viola, we ordered lasagna. Yes, the Caesar salad was generic and the garlic toast was exactly white bread with garlic spread. However, you know what? The lasagna was pretty decent! Definitely homemade with plenty of beef, ricotta and mozzarella, this lasagna had body. A little on the bland side with the tomato sauce tasting quite sweet rather than tart, I wouldn't mind eating it again. And that pretty sums it up. Tenhachi is a homey restaurant. From it's 70's decor to the friendly staff with name tags the size of flash cards, this place is tacky. However, that is where Tenhachi gets its charm. Not conforming to modern restaurant standards, you really can get a home-style Japanese meal here, even if it is lasagna or a Salisbury steak.

The Good:
- Honest food and staff
- It's tacky, but it's comfortable and homey
- Some interesting items on the menu (and I'm not talking about the lasagna either)

The Bad:
- Not as cheap as you would think
- Other than the weekend, there is no parking around

Pattaya Thai

*Restaurant is now closed*

After winning our first game in the hockey tournament on Friday, today was the day to show our mettle. The objective was clear. Win both games and we'd make the finals. Lose even one of them and so long farewell. With the lure of more eating if we did make it to the Sunday final game, my goal was clear. Win! The first game today was relatively easy as we won 5-1. After a short break, we went into our second game of the day. Nothing better than putting on wet equipment... Well, at least its our own sweat. I guess we were a bit too happy with ourselves as we started the game since we were down 2-0 by the 3 minute mark. I guess my mind was elsewhere (guess where it was?). We had already made reservations at Pattaya Thai the night before as we walked past it after we finished up at King Sushi. My mind was wandering... However, we re-focused and ended up coming back to win 4-2. Woohoo! We made the finals! More importantly, we'd eat again tomorrow!!! Woohoo!

Odd as it may be, Kim joined us for dinner tonight. No, he's not part of our team. In fact, he doesn't even play hockey. But it was on our "to try" list and I thought that it would be a good opportunity for him to experience it with us. The rest of "us" were Gadget Girl, Mr. Blueberry, Boss Woman, Emilicious, Milhouse and Lionel Hutz. We started with the Larb Moo, which is a salad consisting of minced pork, onions, mint, roasted rice powder and lime juice. This was a relatively decent dish. Only thing I would have like to see was a bit more lime. Since Pattaya Thai is famous for their Prawn & Crab Rolls, we were obliged to order them. We actually got 2 orders since there are only 4 rolls per dish. They are famous because Vancouver Magazine named it the #1 food item in the GVRD for their Best Things to Eat and Drink edition. That is indeed a bold statement. This is where it gets interesting. We had 8 people at the table and none of them thought it deserved that distinction. However, I personally didn't mind it. In terms of being a spring roll, it was pretty solid. Crunchy, non-oily exterior and crisp veggies on the inside. Not really sure about the cream cheese though. I thought it hid what little crab there was. For $9.99, there really needs to be more crab and prawn in these spring rolls. Definitely not #1 in my books, especially in the GVRD. Now while I was okay with it, Gadget Girl and Emilicious really didn't care for it. The combination of cream cheese and other ingredients didn't work for them.

Next up was the Pad Gra Prao which, in this case, was chicken with garlic, onions, Thai chilis and sweet basil. I'm guessing that the dish was on the bland side due to us asking for everything to be mild (not everyone can stand the heat at the table). Thus, it's a bit difficult to assess the "real" flavour of any dish really. However, many people do choose mild, so it's not a stretch. If we look at the individual components, the veggies were still crisp and the chicken was not overcooked (sauce was slightly sweet with some basil aromatics). As for the Pineapple Fried Rice, it was curiously thick. Was it the egg? Was it too much sauce? The texture was a little off in terms of fried rice since it was soggy. Tastewise, it was predominantly sweet with extremely minor hints of fish sauce and chilis. Despite this, I didn't mind eating it for some reason or another. We were really hungry from our 2 games, maybe increase hunger results in lessen expectations?

We ended up with 2 curries with the first being the Chicken Green Curry. Once again, for a mild curry, it was decent. Within the coconut curry, there were nice pieces of eggplant, peppers, peas and basil. What was missing was the chicken. Well, there was chicken, just not a whole lot of it. The Beef Red Curry suffered from the same problem. Plenty of bamboo shoots, basil and peppers. Not much in the way of beef (which was decently tender). It's too bad that it was not spicier, which is our own fault. Had it been, it would've been much more flavourful. Rather, it became a smooth coconut curry once again.

Strategically, I think we made a mistake when we ordered both the pad gra prao and the Pad Cashew Nuts. They were quite similar. Other than a slightly darker sauce (probably due to more oyster sauce), it tasted practically the same as the pad gra prao, except with cashew nuts. Hey, don't get me wrong here, it wasn't bad. Definitely pleasant to eat again with crisp veggies and slightly dry chicken. In another episode of "a dish that everyone orders" is the Pad Thai. Yes, I know it's over-represented as a Thai dish; but we all like and ended up ordered 2 plates of it. As you can see, it is a decent portion with nice big shrimp. However, to me, it was bordering on the bland side. Despite the colour, it wasn't afflicted with the "ketchup" sauce problem. Rather, it looked more flavourful that it turned out to be. Not terrible in any stretch of the imagination, it just need a bit more flavour.

Where the pad Thai was lacking in flavour, the Pad See-iew definitely didn't have that problem. Well-seasoned with soy sauce, this was a well-executed dish. Noodles were still a bit chewy while mixed well with crisp broccoli, carrots and cabbage. This was probably my favourite dish of the meal. Several people concurred with that sentiment. Our last dish for the meal was the Garlic Pork and I kinda liked it as well. The pork was tender and cooked nicely with a sauce consisting of garlic and black pepper resting on a bed of cabbage and carrots. The flavourful sauce went well with a bite consisting of both a piece of pork and some veggies. If we look at the meal as a whole, it was actually alright. If we had requested spicy, I'm sure the food would've had more pop. With that being said, it was sorely lacking flavour despite this. Now if we focus purely on the spring rolls, I'm a bit torn. I really didn't mind them; but for the price, it's not worth it. If this is the claim to fame according to Vancouver Magazine, there is a certain level of expectations. I expected crab and prawn in the spring roll, as per the description. But honestly, there was not much of that at all, especially at $2.50 each. For others at the table, they just plain didn't like it, period. And you really can't argue with 8 individuals with different tastes who actually agreed on one thing.

The Good:
- Decent portions
- Friendly service
- Reasonably-priced (except for the spring rolls)

The Bad:
- As a consensus, the spring rolls are not worthy of the hype
- Food is generally quite bland (and that's taking into account the lack of spiciness which was our choice)

King Sushi

After our first game victory of the Easter hockey tourney, we were in need of eats. Actually, I was in need of eats before the game, it only served as a conduit. Yah, I'll admit it. I often daydream while playing hockey, softball and golf. The thoughts of a bakudanyaki often replace a softball, a crab cake doubles as a puck and a juicy meatball for a golf ball. What can I say, I have a one-track mind! It probably explains the crappy goal I let in through the 5-hole in the last half of the game. Oh whatever, we won 5-1, now time to eat! We tossed a few ideas around and it always seemed to come back to Japanese. The question was where? Being in Coquitlam right next to the Port Mann bridge presented many options; yet none of them exactly close. Finally, Lionel Hutz suggested an ol' New West favourite - King Sushi.

Yah, sushi and New West doesn't elicit much promise, other than Ki Sushi and if you prefer AYCE, Top Gun. Everyone thought it was a good idea, especially Groundskeeper Willy, since he lives only a few blocks away. I liked the idea too since I'd never eaten there before and it is on my very long list of "to visit" places. We were given an interesting table that had a built-in leaf which essentially could be expanded into one large table. However, no need for that since half of the people wanted to share and half didn't. Guess which side I was on??? So we exiled the non-sharers (Gadget Girl, Silent Bob, Holmes & Groundskeeper Willy) from our delightful sharing table of me, Lionel Hutz, Picachu, Milhouse and Emilicious. Strangely, we had to make sure we ordered some cooked items since Picachu doesn't really prefer Japanese food, particularly the raw items. Not exactly a weird situation, other than the fact that Picachu is Japanese! LOL... Anyways, we went ahead and ordered a whack load of items and started with Wakame Salad. It is a type of seaweed that has a slightly chewy, snappy texture much like jellyfish. And similar to the preparation of jellyfish, sesame oil and soy are primary flavouring agents (in addition to rice vinegar in this case). The wakame salad here exhibited the aforementioned qualities and we tried to share it amongst the 5 of us. LOL...

If that was hard to do, try sharing a Spinach Gomaae as well! Not a problem because it was terrible. First, look at it. Way too much sweet sesame dressing, you can't even see the spinach! Furthermore, what you can't see is the huge pool of water underneath. Definitely a turnoff. I much prefer the type of Gomaae with a simple shoyu dressing and toasted sesame seeds. Fortunately our meal got back on track with the Agedashi Tofu. A crispy exterior revealed silky tofu which rested on a light tentsuyu sauce which consists of dashi, mirin and shoyu. Too bad Picachu doesn't eat raw fish because the order of Deluxe Assorted Sashimi was quite visually appealing and fresh. By its appearance alone, it's quite evident that the fish is fresh (well as fresh as flash frozen can get). On the plate was wild salmon, salmon, hamachi, tai, ebi, tako, uni, tuna, ika with tobiko, toro and hokkigai. Nothing that could be mushy was mushy except for the tuna. That was a bit mushy. To my surprise, the uni was quite fresh and sweet. Viv thinks it tastes like garbage. I'm not sure where she gets that idea from...

"Hey, who ordered the chicken nuggets?" was the initial question when the Chicken Karaage arrived. Well, unlike its AYCE version, chicken karaage is not necessarily fried chicken wings. More often than not, it'll be pieces of leg meat. These were pretty good (green salad on the side) with juicy meat and a crispy exterior. We got more raw stuff in the form of the Chef's Choice Assorted Nigiri. Luckily there was one item that Picachu could eat - the unagi. Also on the plate was tako, tobiko, scallop & tobiko, tuna, salmon, toro, ika, wild salmon and ebi (with 2 pieces of tamago). Once again, everything was quite fresh and neatly presented. The sushi rice was actually quite good exhibiting a nice chewiness without being undercooked.

Exclusively for Picachu (well, not really, we ate some too), we got the Teriyaki Beef Donburi. When it arrived, I was a little concerned. Look at it, there seems to be quite a lot of sauce. Mind you, there is a generous amount of beef as well. After a couple of scoops, it was indeed too saucy and thus overly sweet & salty. That's really too bad since the beef was quite good while the rice was properly prepared (being slightly chewy). The sauce also counteracted the rice by softening it up. And what is a visit to a Japanese restaurant without a few rolls? Well, we all agreed to not order anything remotely close to a California Roll. No offense to the CaliRoll, in fact, I don't mind it; but we just want something a bit different. So we got a Red Dragon Roll and a Spider Roll. The red dragon is essentially a BC Roll topped with smoked salmon, tobiko, unagi sauce and sesame seeds. Nothing Earth-shattering here; but a solid roll nonetheless. What I particularly liked was that the smoked salmon didn't overwhelm all the other flavours. As for the spider roll, it is not a bunch of creepy crawlers from the corner of your basement. Rather, it is a roll consisting of fried soft shell crab, avocado and cucumber topped with mayo, special sauce and tobiko. Once again, a solid roll with plenty of filling and minimal amount of rice. I would've preferred the crab to be a bit crispier; but that is a minor issue.

To fulfill our deep fried quota, we got both the Vegetable Tempura and the Prawn Tempura. It would've probably been more cost efficient to get the assorted tempura; but there would've been only 2 pieces of prawn to split among 5 people. Thus, we had to order both to get a bit of everything. Normally, I'm not a big promoter of AYCE Japanese; but if you prefer items like prawn tempura (since 6 pieces already costs us $7.25), it is a good value (assuming it's good). And about that tempura, it was pretty decent. It was crispy, not very oily with properly cooked veggies and prawn. Possibly, the batter could've been a bit lighter; but again, not a major issue. The non-sharers also enjoyed their meals and as a consensus, King Sushi is a decent choice in New West. Once again, if it was located in Vancouver, it would be hard-pressed to compete. As we were dining, we noticed that the staff were not Japanese, which leads me to believe it's not Japanese-run. No real biggie since it didn't make a big difference in food execution (well, except for the Gomaae and Beef Don).

The Good:
- Good for large groups
- Items generally fresh
- Service is efficient, if not a bit stoic

The Bad:
- Decent food; but some misses
- Good for New West, average for the GVRD

Tong's

*Restaurant is now closed*

With the Olympics over, the ice rink at Brit is once again open for rec hockey. As much as I love sleep, I should take any hockey that is available. After all, with so much eating, I need exercise to balance it out. So tonight we resume our 11:30pm hockey on Wednesday night. Throughout the entire game, all I could think of was a nice hot bowl of Pho. Yah, it's not exactly uncommon for me to think of food, especially during a sporting event I'm directly involved in. It doesn't make for good performances... So my thoughts were to try out Pho English out on Broadway despite all the negative votes on Urbanspoon. Somehow, I must've misread the late night hours and assumed it applied to every day when it really was only for Fridays and Saturdays. Ah zut! Plan B. Wait, I had no plan B! That's when Polka King suggested we merely drive up Kingsway in search for late night eats. Sounds like a plan. Traveling East on 12th towards Kingsway, I noticed a restaurant open on Main called Tong's. It used to be another Chinese restaurant; but the name escapes me.

I wasn't planning on turning left onto Main, especially in the right lane; however, at 1:30am in the morning, there is not much you cannot do with not a car in sight. When we walked in, there were a few diners scattered at various tables with not a server in sight. Seems like the entire staff (including the kitchen staff) were playing Mah Jong at a back table. Our presence seemed to have interrupted their game. We were quickly seated and since I was completely famished at this point, we decided to split a dinner for 3. Relax, I planned to take home leftovers for Viv since she didn't have a lunch for the next day. With the set dinners, there is a choice of soup (wonton, cream of corn or hot and sour), choice of 3 dishes and spring rolls. Feeling adventurous, Polka King suggested we try the Wonton Soup. That MJ game must've been important because the food came out lightening fast and all at once. Everyone resumed their MJ game after that.

The wonton soup was both good and bad. I really liked the whole shrimp; but the pork was a bit soft and basically ruined a good wonton. The soup was curiously dark, it tasted strange. As for the Spring Rolls, they were crunchy spring rolls filled with veggies. They were a bit oily on the bottom. I thought the BBQ Pork and Shrimp fried Rice was done quite nicely. The rice was firm (albeit with a few clumps), shrimp was just cooked and pork not too fatty. However, I specifically asked for no green onions and it was ignored. I guess someone was going to "sic gai woo" in the MJ game... The Broccoli Beef was decent with crisp florets and tender beef. However, the Szechuan Chicken was a bust. I didn't realize that black bean sauce with a few chili flakes constituted Szechuan cooking. I know we shouldn't expect too much at 1:30am in the morning; but overall the food was mediocre. And in Vancouver, mediocre Chinese food doesn't cut it.

The Good:
- Good portions
- Friendly server, when not busy playing MJ
- Okay prices

The Bad:
- Some of the flavours were a bit off...
- For freshly made food, it was lukewarm

The Dogfather

As you know, I love playing hockey, even if it means that I don't get any sleep. However, after 6 games in 8 nights the previous week, I think it may be catching up with me. Late night Brit hockey has started up again since the Olympics are over. We were chatting with the maintenance technician and he said that Team Canada had practiced here. Wow, I might've been sitting in the same seat at Crosby, Luongo or Iginla. That's when Polka King exclaimed that they might've farted in that exact spot. That's a pleasant thought... Anyways, I played like crap tonight. I don't think my body is able to survive playing so many games in so few nights. But with eating as a by-product, it is very hard to resist!

Knowing that I had to play 3 more games in 4 nights after this one, I knew going out to eat at 2:00am on a weekday was not really a good idea. But, but... food... I can't miss that! I had to think of a quick bite to eat. Okay, it struck me that we could just go grab a hot dog. Remembering Kim's post on The Dogfather, we made our way into Downtown. Essentially, a hot dog is a tube of who-knows- what sandwiched between a bun. However, there are 3 major components (bun, wiener and toppings) make or break a tube steak.

Although there are a few choices of dogs here, don't expect to find a "Japadog"- type hot dog. Rather, you'll find only the classics. For me, nothing is more classic than a Chili Dog. When I got the darn thing, it was smokin' hot (temperature-wise). It's quite apparent that there is no absence of toppings, I somehow managed to keep everything in the bun as I finished it off. The dog was pretty decent; but it didn't make me do the "mmm" face. You know, that face. The one that looks like you're having an orgasm eating food. Oh, like the word coined by Kevin - "foodgasm". No, I didn't get one of those. Although it is a interesting thought... foodgasm from eating a sausage... Anyways, Polka King got the Pizza Dog and his thoughts were the same. Decent; but nothing special. He did like the bun though, pillowy soft from being grilled/steamed. But let's be serious here. It's a hot dog joint. It's open late. It is decently-priced. The food doesn't suck. It did the job. End of story.

The Good:
- Big hot dog with lotsa toppings
- Soft bun
- Open late

The Bad:
- Nothing special, they were hot dogs
- Relatively small selection

Kamal Sweets & Tandoori

Alright, the first time I visited Kamal Sweets and Tandoori, my mission was to get a whole whack of samosas. I make the drive out there, get out of the car, take my camera out, turn it on and *click*... Hey, WTH? For the love of... I forgot to put the battery pack in! The horror! Fine, my bad. I still got the samosas and they were pretty darn good. You know what made them even better? The veggie ones are only 2 for $1.00. Yes, this is not a misprint. For the price of a Snickers bar, you can have 2 freshly made samosas!

Since they also are a sweets shop and restaurant, I made my way out there once again to try some of their food. I was there at the start of lunch; but apparently, the cook wasn't in yet and thus, no lunch! Ack! No battery last time and no lunch this time. Fine, I inquired about getting samosas once again and yes, they have someone who could operate the deep-fryer. Approximately 10 minutes later, I was presented with my order of 20 veggie samosas. It only cost me $10.00! Relax, they weren't all for me. I was sharing them! One particular individual who was lucky enough to get some of these tasty treats is Indian and confirms their authenticity and deliciousness.

What makes them so good? Well obviously the price first of all. Moreover, as you can see, they have a nice colour to them and are not overly oily. Also helping the cause is that the pastry is quite thin, making it easy to eat. Inside, there is plenty of potato and peas spiced up by curry. Not packed too tight, otherwise it would be a clumpy mess. Dipped into the provided tamarind sauce and you have so darn good eats.

The Good:
- Cheap samosas
- And those samosas are good

The Bad:
- No chef to make lunch?

Koto Izakaya

That's it. Rich Guy is heading back to Asia. It's a sad, sad day... I have lost a willing eating companion! It's not often you have someone who is willing to eat anytime, anywhere (well, almost) and at any cost. Talk about a foodie's dream come true. Fine, so be it. He'll be back. He always comes back. Then the eating begins once again! But to take advantage of his eating prowess one last time, I offered to drive him to the airport. Being a 10:00pm flight, I suggested we go eat first. And yes, he was all up for that. For some reason or another, every time I have dined with him, we've ended up at an Izakaya. There was Guu with Garlic, Nan Chuu then finally Guu Garden. So to keep the streak going, I suggested we try Manzo. So after checking in at the airport, we headed off to Alexandra Road to find that Manzo was not open! Luckily for us, while we were turning onto Alexandra from Hazelbridge, we noticed another Izakaya on the corner. We ended up going to Koto Izakaya as a result.

Honestly, we knew nothing of the place and took a chance. Upon entering the place, it sure looked nice and Japanese. However, I did notice the owners speaking in Cantonese. No matter, again, it's not important who makes the food, as long as it tastes good. At the suggestion of the owner lady(?), we started with the Ankimo (or Monkfish Liver). I've had it once before and in this particular case, the colour was a very dark orange (rather than the pale foie gras colour). I'm not exactly sure why that is, possibly due to the cooking process? It was topped off with cavier and bathed in a dark ponzu. Rich Guy was a bit nervous to try it; but he ended up liking it. Having similar properties as foie gras, there is a certain creaminess and slight hint of the sea that sets it apart. We really enjoyed eating this dish.

Next up was the Jellyfish Shark's Fin Salad. Both the jellyfish and "shark's fin" had the snap texture that makes it a joy to eat. Lightly seasoned with sesame oil and soy, this was pretty good, if not exhibiting a "Chinese" flavour. Of course Rich Guy chose the Salmon Carpaccio again. This particular version is a bit different since there is no ponzu; rather it's a vinaigrette with mayo, onions and fried taro. The salmon was fresh and the flavours worked (a bit sweet, tart and some saltiness); but we felt that it could've been sliced a tad thinner.

Another recommendation was the Pork Belly with lettuce and raw garlic slices. Tender slices of pork belly were grilled with some nice colour and charring. We couldn't help but noticed that it tasted a whole lot like Korean BBQ being a bit sweet and tad salty. Whatever the case, once wrapped in the crisp lettuce and accompanied by the sharp taste of raw garlic, this was quite tasty. Since Koto is not exactly a true Izakaya (they offer sushi too), we decided to try 2 of their many specialty rolls. The first being one of the most expensive - the Black Dragon. Essentially a dynamite/California roll with unagi, avocado, tobiko, mayo, unagi sauce and black sesame seeds on the outside, the roll was pretty good. We would've liked to see more bite in the sushi rice (on the softer side); but all-in-all, a tasty combination of textures and flavours (it was pricey though at $12.95). Another roll that caught our eye was the Volcano Roll. Another California roll topped with real crab mixed with sweet mayo then baked. Although we suspect only the mayo topping was baked, not the roll itself. The best way to describe this roll would be a California roll topped with motoyaki sauce full of crab meat. I was a bit nervous at first since motoyaki sauce is quite rich and overwhelming (in terms of fattiness). However, it was actually alright. I think the plethora of crab meat helped cut the greasiness. Not an outstanding roll by any stretch of the imagination; yet it was interesting and didn't offend.

Despite the fact that Rich Guy was nervous once again, I went ahead and ordered the Salmon Yuuke anyways. He wasn't that keen on the raw quail's egg on top. I explained once mixed in, he wouldn't even notice it. I have to say that the presentation of this dish is one of the nicest I've ever seen. It made for a great picture! The portion was also very good with lots of fresh salmon, avocado and tobiko on top. Nori was served on the side as eating vessels. In this particular case, I wished it were shrimp chips since they provide a nicer texture contrast to the soft ingredients. When the Beef Carpaccio arrived, we were a bit confused. It resembled Beef Tataki with it's slightly cooked sides. Topped with the same ingredients as the Salmon Carpaccio, this was an okay dish. Again, a ponzu type dressing would've probably provided more zing and impact than the vinaigrette. The beef itself was fairly tender, if not a tad stiff.

Interesting, despite our initial concerns that Koto was not an authentic Japanese Izakaya, the food turned out to be pretty good. Sure, some of the flavours were not the familiar ones we'd expect from a Guu or Gyoza King; but they mostly worked. If we look at it from a purely dining enjoyment point of view, we liked our meal, especially with the decent portion sizes and reasonable prices. The friendly lady made it even more enjoyable.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced (except for some of the specialty rolls)
- Decent portions
- Food is actually quite good

The Bad:
- Some of the flavours are a bit different
- Some of the specialty rolls can be pricey
- Not a true Izakaya