Curiously Carmen

A couple of years ago, Sangria and I randomly went to Hiro Sushi on Hastings and Boundary. It ended up being pretty decent, so I suggested it to my parents for our weekly lunch outing.

I’m not really sure why this place has such a low rating on Zomato because I found it to be alright – does this lower my reputation as a food blogger 😉

Hiro Sushi is easily missed and not as popular as the other sushi restaurants in the area, such as Tentatsu, Uomo, or Osaka (just to name a few, there are a lot more in the neighbourhood!). Throughout our visit, we noticed many delivery people so that’s probably where they get most of their business from.

It is located under the apartment complex on Boundary and Hastings, with plenty of free street parking near by.

Special lunch combo: I remember the lunch combo was a pretty good deal, so I ordered it again. It comes with your choice of a rice/udon/cooked dish, 3 pieces nigiri, and 1 roll… all for $12! See below.

Beef udon: Despite being a small, I would describe it more as a medium? I was really impressed at how much fresh veggies were in my bowl… zucchini, cabbage, and carrots.

California roll & tobiko nigiri: The California roll had ripe avocado, and a good ratio of imitation crab meat to avocado. Meanwhile, the tobiko was delightfully crunchy.

Bento box: My dad ordered the bento box. He had no complaints about it and was quite full from it too.

Special lunch combo: My mom’s roll combo, whoops, she already ate some of the salmon roll! It came with 8 pieces of each roll which is quite generous, so she had trouble finishing and ended up taking half of it home.

Scallop roll, BC roll, negitoro roll: The boyfriend did not go with a combo unlike the rest of us. He ordered his usual rolls and had no complaints about any of the rolls.

Overall, I wouldn’t mind coming back to Hiro Sushi again. It’s decent enough if you want some cheap sushi and want a quieter place to eat.

Yay!

One of my favourite childhood movies growing up was Matilda! During our mom and daughter trip to NYC in 2016, we watched Matilda the Musical on Broadway and it was amazing. When I heard that there was a Vancouver production, I jumped at the chance and bought tickets immediately!

Why is this relevant? Prior to our show, the boyfriend and I were looking for a restaurant to eat around the theater, on South Granville. The Arts Club partners with select restaurants and offers 15% off on the day of the show, but they probably would be super packed with other guests so we decided to skip that and go somewhere else nearby.

So, I found Masa Japanese Restaurant on Yelp which was a 5 min drive from the theater. It had good reviews, but we found it to be meh.

The restaurant is on the second floor, with the bottom floor being a Mac’s convenience store. It was quite spacious inside and would be suitable for large groups. We came at 6pm so it wasn’t very busy yet, there was only one other table.

Chirashi don: I’ve been enjoying my chirashi dons lately, so I wanted to try Masa’s take on it. I found it to be alright and unmemorable… nothing special, nothing super bad about it. It was a bit on the smaller size.

Chicken katsu: The boyfriend was feeling like a cooked dish that night, and went with the chicken katsu. The price was cheaper than most places, $10 for a dinner dish is pretty good!

He found it to be meh as well, pretty unmemorable but filling. Chicken breast was used instead of chicken thigh.

We left neither impressed or unimpressed… it was alright. I wouldn’t mind coming back to Masa if I was in the area. At least we left full and ready for the Matilda musical (which was great, btw!).

Meh….

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…