Kimu Japanese Restaurant opened up about 2.5 years ago, and I surprisingly have not yet written a review about it! There was a period of time in 2016 when the boyfriend and I came here quite often, as the replacement to Uomo Sushi when it started going downhill (increase in price, decline in quality and quantity).

I’m not sure why we stopped coming here in 2017 and 2018, probably because we don’t have Japanese as much as we used to. Or because lately, we have been getting Osaka Sushi.

But I’m glad that Kimu hasn’t changed much from our last visit!

Salmon sashimi: Pretty standard salmon sashimi, nothing much to complain or rave about here. It was fresh tasting and satisfied my sashimi cravings that night.
Beef teriyaki roll: Teriyaki rolls aren’t something we used to order until the past year, upon discovery of Osaka Sushi’s delicious chicken teriyaki roll. Now we like to compare different restaurants and their teriyaki rolls.

At first, the thin drizzle of teriyaki looked disappointing. Luckily, the beef was seasoned and it was a bit sweet. I wouldn’t really call it a beef teriyaki roll, more of just a cooked beef roll but it was good nonetheless.
Negi Bluefin roll: The negi bluefin sashimi was rich, soft and fatty. Delicious!

Negitoro roll: The negitoro roll was pretty decent, no complaints about it.
Crunch roll: This roll came with crunchy shrimp tempura and tempura flakes, which is fitting for the name. The tempura was fresh and the flakes were tasty too, although I’m not too sure of what it was made of.

Kimu was not disappointed us yet, and our break from Kimu made us realize how much we enjoyed it before. It is a decent option for cheap and quick Japanese food. In a city like Vancouver where Korean-run Japanese restaurants are super abundant, Kimu is a good choice.

There is also a parking lot which usually has lots of spaces, and free street parking!

Yay!

Every summer for the past 5 years, the boyfriend and I have been doing this thing where we bike from East Vancouver to downtown, along the seawall, and then have ramen. We usually go to Santouka or Kintaro, but this time, we decided to try out Marutama Ramen since we’ve been hearing and seeing it a lot on social media. We are also huge fans of chicken broth and Marutama Ramen makes all their ramen with chicken broth!

When we got there around 3pm ish, we waited about 10-15 minutes outside. Walking in to Marutama, it was so nice to find that they had the AC blasting! It made the meal much more comfortable because it was really hot that day. The servers also came by often to refill ice water, and kindly refilled my water bottle too.

Tamago ramen, $11.25: I requested for my broth to be leaner since my stomach does not handle rich foods well. Despite it being ‘lean’, I still found it to be deliciously creamy. It was the first time having a chicken broth ramen and it did not disappoint.

The pieces of chashu was not too dry either. The noodles were bouncy and cooked perfectly too. The seaweed was a nice addition as well.

They’re pretty well known for their Ajitama egg, and I must say it was delicious! It was perfectly seasoned and the egg yolk oozed out.

Zenbu ramen, $18.75: This is the largest size ramen that you can get here and it also has the most meat. It came with cha-shu pork, seasoned pork belly, and an Ajitama egg.

The boyfriend had no complaints about his bowl. He said it was very satisfying and the pork belly was delicious.

I’m glad that we finally tried Marutama Ramen. It definitely did not disappoint!

Yay!

Tofu was in town and had some limited time to catch up with me! Since Tofu’s city does not have Uniqlo yet, she wanted to check it out while in Vancouver. Also, she wanted to try Uncle Tetsu’s but we only had a couple hours so sadly, couldn’t make it.

Anyways, since she mostly wanted to just go to Uniqlo and we only had a couple hours, we grabbed a quick dinner at Sekai Udon Bar inside the mall. Sekai Udon Bar makes their own udon so I was quite curious as to how it would taste.

This restaurant used to be an AYCE sushi place which wasn’t that good. It was so long ago since I went to the AYCE place so I can’t remember if it was renovated after Sekai opened up.

Spicy tuna roll, $4.00: We ordered a couple of rolls to share. The first was a spicy tuna roll. The spice was not marinated inside the roll. There was just some hot sauce put on top which isn’t as good. Anyways, the roll was pretty average.

Salmon avocado roll, $4.00: There was a generous portion of salmon inside, while the avocado was ripe and buttery.

Nothing special or super appealing about the rolls, but for $4.00 each it was pretty decent!
Niku udon, $7 (small size): There are two different sizes of their udon bowls – either small or regular. Since we were sharing some rolls, we both got a small size. Portion wise, it was perfect!

Now, the star of the show… the udon! The udon was chewy and denser than most places. Noodles are my favourite food ever (apart from chicken strips) and these get an approving yes! They also have frozen udon that you can buy.

The broth was light and clear, as you can see from the photo. This dish was simple yet comforting and delicious.

Curry udon, $8 (small size): Tofu ordered the curry udon. Compared to mine, the sauce was pretty thick. The menu described it as a soup but I think it was more like a sauce. She didn’t have any complaints about it.

I’m glad I tried Sekai because I found it to be pretty decent. The prices were on the low end too, which is always great. I wouldn’t drive here just to eat it, but if I was at Metro and wanted some food, I wouldn’t mind coming here.

Yay!