Friday nights have not been the same lately due to my knee injury. Not only do I miss playing hockey with my team, I don't get to eat out afterwards! However, Gadget Girl wanted the whole gang together after the last game before the Christmas break for dinner. She suggested I come out despite not being able to play. Now that works for me! No hockey, yet still get to eat. Since location was of prime importance (everyone lives in a different area in the GVRD), we ended up going to Osaka Sushi in North Burnaby. Located in the former location of
Yummy Yummy Sushi, this was as central of a location we could decide on. With s
ome subtle tweaks in the decor and the addition of booth seating, the place has gone somewhat more upscale. Yet, the menu prices seemed quite reasonable at the same time. Because we had a group of 18, we pretty much took over the whole restaurant (the place is not very big).
Making a cameo appearance was Polka King, who was able to escape the grip of marriage to join us for dinner. He ended up with a
Salmon Tuna Sushi Combo that included maki and nigiri. I was able to try one piece of the tuna nigiri and I have to say it
was pretty good. The rice had a good chewy texture and some hint of sweetness while the tuna on top was fresh and soft in a good way. He also had the
Dragon Eel Roll and it was very reasonably-priced at $6.95. Normally, specialty rolls run in the neighbourhood of $10.00+. He was pretty happy with it. Mr. Blueberry decided on
Combo 10 (yes, there are a lot of combos here) which included a small Unagi Don. This was the star of the box with chewy rice and an abundance of unagi. He liked it so much, he ordered a
2nd box! Gordo decided to share the Sushi Boat for 2 with Emilicious,
however, he got a few single items for himself including an
Ebi Sunomono. As you can clearly see in the picture, this was not a crappy sunomono you'd find at most other Japanese restaurants. Large cold water ebi lay atop chewy noodles in a balanced dressing. The
Sushi Boat for 2 was pretty impressive when it arrived. It was visually appealing and the items were fresh including the uni. Emilicious and Gordo were pleased with their order. I tried one piece of the Rainbow Roll and Uni. I would have to agree that the food was well-made.
For myself, I ordered 3 things starting with the
Appetizer Sashimi. When it arrived, we were impressed with the size of the slices. Furthermore, the salmon had a nice texture and tasted quite sweet. As mentioned, the tuna was fresh. For my main, I opted for the
Tonkatsu served on top of rice with a side of green salad. This was a really large pork chop which literally covered all of the rice. Look, you can't see the rice! Moreover, it was fried perfectly crisp and was not greasy at all. What I liked best was the meat itself. It was moist and tenderized enough that it was easy to chew while not losing any meat
texture. The tonkatsu sauce served on the side was thick and flavourful (probably the jarred stuff, which is fine by me). Lastly, I had the
Assorted Tempura which consisted of ebi, yam, squash, carrot, broccoli and an imitation crab stick. Although it was fairly dark in colour, the tempura was crisp and not too oily. The veggies and shrimp were cooked properly with nothing overdone nor soggy. However, when I got to the crab stick, this is where it all went wrong. One bite and... hey, why is it so hard to chew? Is there a seaweed wrap around this? Wait. No. Can it be? They friggin' forgot to remove the plastic wrap
around the crab stick! They fried the damn thing in its plastic!!! So I pondered for a moment. Honestly, I'm not the type to make a big fuss in a restaurant. Typically, I like to eat and then leave as discreetly as possible. Yet, I really needed to let them know on this one. I waved a waitress down and showed her the large piece of plastic. She apologized and then took off. Uh... Then, another waitress comes by and asks how was our food. Emilicious took it upon herself to indicate that there was plastic in my food. She also apologizes and asks if I want something else. I really didn't want something else since I
practically finished my tempura already. In my mind, what I really wanted was for the tempura to be taken off the bill. Guess what? It wasn't. When I was up paying my bill, I showed my displeasure and they still didn't clue in. Whatever, I left it at that.
It's really too bad about the plastic and the non-response by the staff. Overall, the food was actually pretty decent and reasonably-priced. If we don't look at the plastic incident for a moment, the staff was actually very friendly and did their best to accommodate us (especially for such a big
group). The food came out in a relatively expeditious manner and everyone was pretty much satisfied. I realize that nothing can be perfect and in fact, with such large group, I thought that the restaurant did a very good job. So the "plastic" incident was the only real blemish. To be fair, the staff did apologize. However, by not taking it off the bill was not acceptable. I don't really care about the $6.95, it is all about the principle. Whoever made the tempura was not careful with the prep and fried a crabstick still in its plastic. It is akin to making a grilled cheese without removing the cheese from
its wrap. Not good. Either they train their staff better to deal with such situations or have a policy in place. Osaka is a smaller operation, so it is pretty obvious they do not have any protocol in place. In the end, it was all about bad luck. It was bad luck that I got the plastic and that it ever happened at all. If the plastic thing never happened, I would be singing the praises of an above-average Japanese restaurant in North Burnaby. Yet, what happened - happened. It left a bad taste in my mouth literally and figuratively.
The Good:- Above-average food
- Well-priced
- Good portions
The Bad:- Tight seating if not in a booth
- The plastic in my tempura incident was and is still troubling
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Being out at the West Van Rec Centre for a meeting was nice. The place is a sight to behold. Big flat screens everywhere! I guess that is what money can buy in this neighbourhood. Now the bad thing about being in West Van late on a weeknight - it is not conducive for good eats. We tried to find something open in nearby Dundarave... no dice. West Van becomes a ghost town of sorts after 9:00pm. So we had no choice but to head across Lion's Gate over to Downtown Vancouver. Originally we considered going for a pulled pork sandwich at the Greedy Pig; but apparently arriving slightly before 9:30 (closes at 10:
00), we had already missed last call. Hence, we decided to walk over to something nearby which turned out to be Nuba.
signature dish - Najib's Special. As simple dish consisting of fried cauliflower or what they term as crispy cauliflower, it is a interesting combination of crunchy cauliflower with several layers of textures. The taste is unmistakably pungent in a cauliflower type of way naturally with a touch of lemon. For me, I'm not a huge fan of Falafels. I am, by nature, a "meatatarian". But that is not the reason I don't like falafels. I don't particularly like the dense filling and the overly crunchy exterior. I did enjoy the ones at Ben Laila and that made me crave some more. That is probably why I ordered it here. Bad idea. They were exactly what I don't
like about falafels. Very heavy filling and too crusty on the outside. Call it a personal dislike.
plate had it. Since we weren't that hungry, we didn't get the bigger plates and that is really too bad. The appies were okay, not much to write home about other than their famous crispy cauliflower. But they must be doing something right as they have expanded to 4 locations.
