Sangria and Lager had planned a laser tag night in Richmond, and we were looking for a Japanese restaurant that could accommodate a large group of 9 people to eat dinner at afterwards.

Cocoa came across Matsuyama, which was across from Lansdowne Mall. We made reservations after laser tag and were all absolutely starving by the time we finished! The food items were pretty hit or miss, as you’ll soon find out below.

Service was really good throughout our visit, especially for a Chinese-owned restaurant. If you’re Chinese, you know what I mean. We surprised Sangria with a birthday cake and they were very accommodating about it!

I called a few times before our reservation, and they were very friendly on the phone. I also wanted to drop off Sangria’s cake before around 4:45pm, and they were able to accommodate despite opening at 5pm. 

Matsuyama was pretty spacious, and good for big groups. They had 3 large tables which could fit 14 people each. We took up one table, and the other two were reserved for birthday parties that night. The rest of the place was pretty spacious too, with plenty of booths and tables.

Since we were a large group, I didn’t take a photo of every single dish that people ordered! That would get too hectic and this review would get too long.

Yakisoba: To start, Macaroni and Cheese split a yakisoba. It smelled wonderful and made me even hungrier. They had no complains about this dish. 

Ika karaage: Some people split the Ika karaage, aka calamari. They had no complaints about this dish.

Chicken udon: I was wanting something warm that evening, and the chicken udon hit the spot. The broth was light but still flavorful. I was surprised that it was only $7.25, you can’t really find noodles at that price in 2019. There was a good portion of juicy chicken too.

Mentaiko udon: This was perhaps the most disappointing dish of all! Sangria, Lager, Cocoa and Dumpling shared this, and all of them noted how it lacked the creaminess that mentaiko udon was supposed to have.

Cocoa joked that even I could eat it because that’s how little cream there was! LOL! It was quite dry and they noted the only flavour they could taste was soy. 

Okonomiyaki: When this arrived, it looked pretty small and measly. However, those who shared it had no complaints and it was a lot better than the dry mentaiko udon. It probably could have used more bonito flakes too! When the boyfriend and I make this at home, we load up on the bonito!

Salmon avocado roll, yam roll: Macaroni and Cheese got their rolls first…. And noted how vinegary the sushi rice was! The rice was too vinegary to enjoy, but Cheese liked how fresh the salmon was.

Assorted sashimi: Lager, Sangria, Cocoa, and Dumpling shared this as well. They didn’t have any complaints about it.

Salmon and tuna appetizer sashimi: I also wanted to try their sashimi. It was a great choice because both the salmon and tuna were fresh and flavourful! 

Titanic roll: Bleh… This roll sounded great on the menu. Prawn, tuna, avocado and cucumber… But it was not good at all. There was not much flavour from the roll and all the boyfriend and I could taste was the sushi rice drowned in too much vinegar. Macaroni was wanting this but glad she didn’t order after hearing my disappointment. 

Tuna tataki: Another disappointment! The boyfriend loves his tuna, but this fell short. They probably pre-seared all the tuna tataki beforehand because there was no smoky, grilled taste at all. It seemed to be refrigerated because the cooked part was firm. Would not order this again. 

Assorted rolls and nigiri: The boyfriend went with his usual rolls, and I had a few pieces as well. Just like Macaroni and Cheese, we were very disappointed with the sushi rice…. It was waaayyyy too vinegary and distracted from everything else. Seemed like the chef accidentally poured 10 bottles of vinegar into the rice. 

Assorted rolls: Sangria, Lager, Cocoa and Dumpling all split the Matsuyama roll, paradise roll, chopped and spider roll as well. 

Phew, this post is getting quite long so I will just end it here! The dishes at Matsuyama were either hit or miss… Seemed like half the dishes were good but half were bad. At least service was nice.

I would recommend this place if you have a big group and just wanted a cheap sushi meal. I wouldn’t come here with less than 6 people because there’s better out there. As you can tell, the items were either hit or miss.

Meh…

Ebi Ten… One of my favourite restaurants ever! I discovered this place about 8 years ago, and would come pretty often if I wanted a quick bite in downtown. They used to have Twitter specials so I remember walking here after class to take advantage of it!

It’s been a few years since I’ve come here, because I’m not in this area as much anymore.

However, we recently decided to start Japanese lessons (woohoo!!!) close to Ebi Ten, so we stopped by for a quick dinner beforehand. The days beforehand, we were so excited to have Ebi Ten again!

Ebi Ten is a small, quick service Japanese restaurant like what you’d find in Japan minus the salarymen. I love this place because it is consistently delicious, quick, cheap, and the quality is great for what you get.

You order at the counter and then wait for your food to be cooked. I find that the staff do not speak English that well, so it may be hard to order if you have questions or special requests. I guess we just have to work extra hard with our Japanese lessons now 😉

Pork katsu curry: For authentic, comforting, Japanese-style curry, Ebi Ten is definitely the place to go. The boyfriend really enjoyed his curry and ate it all up. His pork katsu was also very fresh and crunchy.

There was also a small side of sliced marinated beef with onion.

Chicken teriyaki: I ordered mine in a take out box because I wasn’t super hungry yet and knew I wouldn’t be able to finish. The chicken was tender and marinated in a soy/teriyaki sauce.

It was delicious, although I was really thirsty afterwards. I love Japanese mayo, and would have loved to seen more drizzled. If you haven’t tried Japanese mayo before, give it a try – it’s much tastier than regular mayo!

I have no doubt we will be back more, now that we are starting to take Japanese lessons in this area.

If you are wanting a filling, delicious, and relatively cheap meal for downtown prices, head over to Ebi Ten – you won’t be disappointed.

えびてんはおいしいです！：）

I conveniently found TonTon Sushi while scrolling on Instagram one day. Why conveniently? Because I was meeting Cola the following week in the Cambie area and was looking for a place to have lunch! TonTon Sushi opened about 3 months ago, and replaced Sushi Aria.

I enjoyed it and brought the boyfriend here a week later since we were in the area! It was either here or Sushi Hub, which is also a great choice.

TonTon Sushi wasn’t super busy when we went, I guess it is still a bit under the radar. We were quickly seated and service was friendly throughout the meal although it was hard to get the bill at the end.

Hamachi oshi: Oshisushi is something I haven’t had for awhile, because I find that restaurants often out a lot of sauce (eg. pesto) on it that could possibly contain dairy. Cola was too full to finish, so after checking with the waitress to make sure it was dairy free, I had a piece! 

The oshisushi was sooo good. It was lightly torched so there was a delicious grilled and smoky flavour to it. There was a miso sauce on top that added some subtle flavour. Inside the sushi rice, there was a small piece of tamago! I’m so glad I tried a piece. 

Ikura inari: This was something unique as well! Cola decided to try this because she hasn’t seen it at other restaurants. It was essentially a big inari nigiri topped/filled with ikura.

She quite enjoyed this dish as well. Normally, she doesn’t order inari by itself because it is too sweet. But she said that the salty ikura helped balance it out and the two flavours complemented each other well. 

Negitoro roll: One of my go to rolls! The negitoro was fatty and fresh. They were very generous with the portion filling.

Salmon avocado roll: There was a mix-up and they brought me a yam tempura and avocado roll. I would have just ate it but I can’t really eat deep fried foods these days and wasn’t trying to ruin the rest of our afternoon, so I told them about the mistake. 

Just like the negitoro, the salmon and avocado was bursting with ingredients! There was so much fresh salmon sashimi inside that it was overflowing. Just look at this picture from the last two pieces! In addition, the avocado was ripe and creamy. 

Tuna and salmon sashimi: We also split a sashimi. The plate was a bit watery from defrosting, but the fish itself tasted fresh and delicious.

California roll: This is sad…. I ordered the California roll, but ended up being pretty full from the other 2 rolls, sashimi, and the oshisushi. So, I packed up the entire California roll…. and realized I forgot it at the restaurant a few hours later. BOO!

On the second visit with my boyfriend, we ordered most of the same things (hamachi oshi, ikura inari, salmon avocado roll, and negitoro roll) so I won’t review them again, because the taste and quality was the same.

Ocean Pacific Roll: Since we love tuna, the boyfriend wanted to try this roll which is a tuna lover’s paradise. It was fresh, however, for the price of $10, it was not worth it.

TonTon Sushi was delicious and everything was really fresh. It would be a good option if you were craving sushi in the area.

A couple of weeks ago, I met up with Biscotti for dinner! Last time, we had an enjoyable meal at Hachi Hana in North Vancouver. This time, I came across Sushi Umi which was a few blocks up from Hachi Hana! 

There is free parking in this area, but it may be hard to find depending on the day. One thing great about this area is that parallel parking has marked lines so it’s easier to park! 

Walking in, I was glad that I made a reservation because it was pretty busy! I was acknowledged and seated pretty quickly, which set the service tone for the rest of our meal – quick and attentive. 

I quite enjoyed the modern, woodsy theme in here. It gave the restaurant a relaxed, warm vibe and the hanging light bulbs were a nice touch too. 

Miso soup: Biscotti started off with a small miso soup. It came with a good portion of tofu and green onions inside. 

Agedashi tofu: The agedashi tofu looked delicious, I wish my stomach was able to tolerate oily foods! Biscotti had no complaints. The tofu batter was crunchy and fresh, and I noticed some steam coming from the dipping sauce too. 

Chirashi don: It isn’t something I normally order, but was feeling like it that night. The don was a bit smaller than I expected, but it packed a lot of freshness and flavour!

All of the sashimi tasted fresh and delicious. There was more rice than it appeared at first. It also came with a side salad and an onion sauce. 

The onion sauce was surprisingly really good! It was made with creamy mayo and some sort of onion mix? I enjoyed it a lot and would not mind getting a jar of this for home if it existed. I love mayo because it doesn’t contain any dairy, so it’s safe for me to eat. 

Assorted sashimi: We split an assorted sashimi, and it’s safe to say I met my sashimi quota for the week. 

Just like my chirashi don, all of the sashimi was very fresh and flavourful! My favourite was the fatty salmon in the back. It was rich and very flavourful, it’s hard to find salmon this flavourful in Vancouver! 

Blue fin tuna: I noticed they also had some specialty tuna nigiri! The blue fin tuna tasted very fresh and had a soft, melt in your mouth texture. So good! 

Funky veggie roll: Biscotti enjoyed this role as well! It came with 4 different types of vegetable tempura, avocado, flakes on top, balsamic sauce and onion sauce. She didn’t notice that much of the onion sauce though. 

All in all, we left very satisfied with Sushi Umi and I have no complaints about this place. The sushi was fresh and service was attentive and friendly! This place used to be a Fatburger and another sushi restaurant, I hope that Sushi Umi can stay because it was great!

You ever have one of those meals that was so good, you couldn’t stop thinking about it the next day? That was Zakkushi on Main for the boyfriend and I!

I had heard of Zakkushi before but kind of forgot about it until my uncle recommended it one night. Ever since going to Tokyo and having delicious yakitori, we have been craving it sooo badly again.

I’m happy to say that Zakkushi surpassed our expectations and brought us back to Japan!

What is so special about yakitori, aka grilled meat? The meat is cooked using special Japanese charcoal, called binchotan. The charcoal is much higher quality and hard to find, but it produces amazingly grilled meat.

Tofu skewer: I love my tofu, so naturally I wanted to try it here! The tofu was grilled perfectly and full of smoky delicious flavour. After trying this, we were so excited to see how the meats tasted, if the tofu was already so good!

Chicken thigh w/ sea salt: Oh my GOD. The chicken thigh was so incredibly juicy and full of smoky flavour. This one was just seasoned with simple salt, so the focus was more on the smoky flavour. This was my favourite skewer!

Chicken thigh w/ teriyaki: The teriyaki skewer was good too, but the sauce took away from the grilled taste. I would recommend the sea salt one so you can get full flavour of the barbeque.

Kurobuta pork: Kurobuta pork is a type of high quality meat, akin to Wagyu or Kobe beef. It was also simply seasoned, probably only with salt as well? Nonetheless, it was delicious. It was more on the lean side but still very juicy.

Duck breast: The boyfriend’s duck breast skewer! He loved it and had no complaints about it.

Pork belly: The boyfriend’s favourite skewer of the night, pork belly! The pork belly was fatty and also came with some Japanese leeks to balance it out.

Garlic beef: For our second round, we tried the garlic beef with teriyaki sauce! The garlic beef was amazing as well. Very juicy with crispy garlic flakes.

Oropon beef: The boyfriend really likes ponzu sauce, so we were intrigued with this beef skewer that came with daikon and ponzu sauce. The flavours went well together and the juicy beef also had the grilled, smoky taste.

Edamame beans: There was a special deal on Yelp, where you can get a free appetizer if you check in! The appetizer that night was the edamame beans. No complaints about the edamame beans.

Saikyo miso beef: We wanted to try this due to the miso sauce. The miso was a bit sweet and went well with the beef, but it was nothing special. The beef was still delicious though.

Cheese tsukune: Tsukune is a chicken meatball! I was going to order one without cheese, but was too full after many chicken thigh skewers. Since I wasn’t going it, the boyfriend ordered it with cheese! He said it was delicious and had no complaints about it.

Needless to say, we left extremely satisfied and happy. I should warn you though, that it can get pricey real quick if you’re ordering many skewers! We came with a budget price in mind and went over. Also, they are a cashless restaurant and only take card.

Zakkushi reminded us of the yakitori place we tried in Tokyo, and we are so glad that we finally checked this place out! I’m sure we will be back.