This restaurant has been around for many years, and has been the early establishments of Japanese cuisine in Vancouver. A few years ago, their old location was shut down, and moved over to their new location on West Pender and Broughton. It’s been modernized and bumped up with more energy and jazz.
All the staff seemed to be Japanese, and many of the customers looked Japanese as well. The interior was interesting, ranging from curved funky red booths, sushi bar to talk directly with the sushi chefs, back room, regular seating, and high chair+table seating. There was something for everyone. I wanted to sit in the round comfy looking red booths, but it was full at the time we arrived. In fact, the entire restaurant was hustling and bustling.
We were instead, taken to the back room, near the kitchen. Although the interior seemed out of place for a real Japanese restaurant in Japan, the Japanese pop music playing in the background (which was 8-10 years old…) and the chance to order the Melon Soda Float felt like I had arrived in Japan. I was a bit disappointed that the menu (if I recall correctly from the old one) hadn’t been redesigned. They made all the effort into changing the interior, so why not the menu?
Since moving to Vancouver 2 decades ago, I have searched everywhere for the Melon Soda. What made it harder to get a hold of even those canned/bottled ones you can now find at Japanese supermarkets here in Vancouver is that our family moved to Calgary. Good luck finding even some seaweed over there back then! So my grandparents sent a box of Japanese food by sea every month. It was like Christmas, getting Japanese snacks that were not available in Canada or were way too expensive.
Because it was inaccessible to drink them here, it became my brother and I’s favourite drink whenever we went back to Japan as we grew up. It’s been almost 8 years since I’ve gone back to Japan, so it’s been that long since I’ve tried some real Melon Soda!! I was pretty excited.
We ordered – of course, the Melon Soda Float $3.75 (carbonated melon-flavoured soda with vanilla ice cream)
餃子 Gyoza (6pcs) $4.75 Spinach in sesame sauce Pan fried Japanese dumpling
まぐろ山掛け Tuna Yamakake $5.50 Raw tuna with grated Japanese yam
寿司盛り合わせ Assorted Sushi $14.95
サーモンバター焼き Salmon Butter Yaki $12.50 Salmon, Broccoli, Mushrooms cooked in foil with Aki’s butter sauce
First came the gyoza. It looked authentic. The taste was good, but found it to be a bit too greasy.
Then came my float! Yay! Ah~ such a nostalgic feeling…it was good…I’ll definitely be back again for the melon soda!!
The Tuna Yamakake was a bit of disappointment for the both of us. It was really small and it didn’t have any flavours, although I guess it was a dish to savour the raw taste of the tuna and yamakake – which I think was a yam that’s grated, and it’s super slimy. Slimy is not my thing, but I’m sure my dad would have loved it.
The assorted sushi was presented beautifully, and there was wasabi on the rice, underneath the fish, like an authentic sushi in Japan. (a lot of the restaurants do not put wasabi on the nigiris to accomodate for those who are not accustom or dislike wasabi here in North America).
The fish was fresh, and the size of the fish were cut just right. Not huge and thick like many non-Japanese run restaurants.
The Salmon Butter Yaki was really good. I ordered some rice to go with it, and glad that I did. The salmon is super soft. The butter and white wine taste is a fabulous combination.
All the food was very authentic, and delicious! I can’t wait to go back and try other dishes! Highly recommend!
Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30am-2pm
Dinner: Mon-Thurs 5:30pm-10:30pm | Fri-Sat 5:30pm-11pm | Sun & Holiday 5:30pm-10pm
Food Taste: 
Price for Value:
Atmosphere: Service:
Location:
