RestoReview: Sushimoto

Sushimoto (UrbanSpoon)

2221 Holdom Avenue, Burnaby, BC
(near Holdom Station on SkyTrain Millenium Line)


Sushi Moto is quite a drive away for me from Richmond, but I was definitely more than satisfied with the food and would have no issue with driving that distance again for the amazing food that they serve.




The friends I dined with tried a wide variety of dishes though we were a little bit disappointed because the restaurant had to turn down some of our orders as they were out of stock on oyster motoyaki, hamachi sashimi, and uni sashimi. :(



Verdict
Highly recommend
For anyone who loves to try unique Japanese flavors. It's not the cheapest place for sushi, but for the quality of the food, the price is more than worth it.

Although I think the owners of the place are Korean, the ambience definitely has a Japanese vibe with an interesting collection of action figures that populate the sushi bar as well as the vehicle models on the walls. The Hobby Japan magazines in the washroom is a nice touch. Staff was very friendly and were nice enough to give our party a few free dishes to try out.

Highlights and favorite dishes

Best dish: Aburi Ika
This was the most interesting flavour from the meal. I've never had Aburi sushi 炙り寿司, roasted sushi, before and I really loved this new take. The crispness of Ika with the roasted flavor and underneath that interesting texture is the minty after taste of shiso leaf.

Aburi Ika

Other highlights: All the sashimi dishes were super fresh and most of the other dishes were delicious in general and so here are a few of the ones I liked the most.

Aburi Toro Steak

Tuna sashimi

Seared Tai Flower

Takoyaki

Failures
Avoid: This was the one dish that was totally unappetizing and tasted bland. The wasabi tobiko sushi needs to be taken off the menu.

Wasabi Tobiko sushi

Notes
When I go back to Sushimoto I already have a list of things I want to try that I wasn't able to hit on this trip. I'm definitely wanting to try more of the aburi sushi, fresh oysters and Oyster Motoyakis (hopefully they have oysters in stock next time), Moto Orange, and the Takowasabi.

The journey for Japanese noodles at Narita Airport

I was strolling through one of the many food booths at Tokyo Narita Airport's Terminal 2. This lady was bouncing along to the counter ecstatic at the opportunity to try Japan's national food of ramen noodles.

She puts her finger down on the menu card on one of the choices"Japanese noodles?".

The vendor replies "Yes. Japanesu noodles. Hai!" The woman bubbles in glee and beams a smile at her fortune.

"Pork?" The vendor shakes her head, "No pork. Beef"

The woman takes a slow breath in disappointment rethinking her options. Then she points to another picture on the menu card. "This one?" The vendor nods, "Japanese noodles and beancurd."

The woman cracks a smile again. Success! She hops in excitement. "Yes! Do you take Canadian money?" The vendor again shakes her head, "No, we accept US dollars."

The woman's smile disappears and morphs into an expression of eternal sadness and disappointment. Crestfallen at her final defeat she whimpers and trudges on in search of another chance for a bowl of Japanese noodles.

(I never did figure out if she got to eat noodles. The irony here was that there was a currency exchange centre about 50 feet down the concourse of the terminal from the food mart)

Mesmerized by this roller coaster of emotional crescendos and falls I was almost as excited as the lady watching her experience the tumult of excitement and disappointment.

RestoReview: Trattoria

Trattoria or Trattoria Italian Kitchen is a contemporary lounge restaurant targeting a relaxed atmosphere. The restaurant has its own spin on the trattoria style establishment by being less formal but also being a vibrant lounge having a large selection of wines and various delectable Italian dishes with modern twists. It is part of the Glowbal Restaurant Group and most likely an offshoot of Italian Kitchen. Trattoria is located at 1850 West 4th Ave in Vancouver rooted in the heart of Kitsilano's dining district.

We started out with a pitcher of the Sangria Bianca, or the White Sangria. Light, but well balanced. Cranberries give it a slight pink color also adding a hint of fresh fruitness.

Antipasto Plater(eggplant parmigiana, kobe meatballs, tiger prawns
osso bucco crochette, forno roasted clams, caprese salad
forno roasted asparagus and mushrooms
calamari with spicy tomato fonduta) - this was a delightful teaser and sampler of the different vegetables, seafood and meats.

Pasta Platter(spaghetti and kobe meatballs with tomato fonduta
penne pomodoro, linguine pesto and lasagna) - Delicious sampler of the various pastas. This is a MUST order. The Linguine Pesto is superb.

Torta di Mascarpone Pizza (fingerling potatoes, roasted garlic, caramelized onion) - I'm a little conflicted on this one. I'm pretty sure they served the wrong cheese since it was very strong and smelled more like Gorgonzola, than the supposedly Mascarpone. The cheese tasted bad, but the rest of the pizza was delish. Very tender roasted potatoes. Yum, and the dough was an oven fired masterpiece. The cheese issue might have just been a little kitchen mix-up.

Trattoria (Italian Kitchen)
1850 West 4th Ave, Vancouver, B.C.


Service & Setting: 4.5/5
Taste: 4/5
Cost Level: 3

Dining in San Francisco

I just got back from San Francisco last night. My little 3 day vacation was a nice break, I spent most of it stuffing my face full of good food.

Arrived in San Francisco on Sunday. Met up with Cam for lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then headed up to Sonoma Valley for a scenic drive. Cam rented a BMW 325i zipcar and we had an adventure trying to figure out how the car worked. We went for a wine tasting at Kunde Estate. The vineyard was beautiful! It was a massive estate of well-manicured vines sprawling across hills. There were also some interesting caves on the estate, but we didn't get a chance to. They also had a patio with a small lake with some decorative fountains. It was amazing!
After that, we headed over to St Helena in the Napa Valley and went to Tra Vigne by Cam's suggestion. Their pizza was excellent. The Arctic Char I ordered was damn excellent. I actually think it was salmon since it was pinkish. It was so soft it practically melted off my fork.

Went for lunch on monday at Scala's Bistro. Their lunch menu includes their staple "Earth and Turf" appetizer which is one of their popular dishes with a delish calamari. The Salsiccia pizza and Lamb Risotto we got weren't as stellar as usual. This trip to Scala's was a letdown.
Mmm dinner however, on the other side of town, also by Cam's suggestion, we dined at Foreign Cinema. The food was absolutely exquisite. I think this was my most favorite dining experience for the whole trip. The restaurant is a very expressionistic display of art and architecture. The dining area was split into 3 wings. The first is a standard indoor area with beautiful walls lined with classic paintings and a relaxed atmosphere. The second is an open air patio surrounded by concrete buildings giving it an artsy-urbanesque motif. Lastly, the third wing, which I didn't really get a chance to see, is an art hall with modernist paintings. The name of the restaurant stems from the fact that the hallway of the entrance leads up to the restaurant as if it is like a movie theatre; they also have a foreign film which they play(The English Patient, for that night) during the evening on one of the walls in the open dining area.
The oysters were a little on the small side, but sumptuous. We ordered a combination of Buckley Bay, Kumamoto, and Malpeque. We also tried the Steamed Mussels with Thai coconut curry sauce. The green curry sauce was very refreshing, I'm used to eating curry that's either creamy so that it's flavorful, or it's too watery and bland. The curry they served though, was a very light and mostly watery mixture, but gave enough flavor to give it a distinct kick without being creamy. It tasted great with the bread too.
I obviously had to go with the Hawaiian Tuna. I give their Seared Ahi a 9.5 rating. The sauce didn't have enough kick and wasn't at all flavorful. The slices of tuna also had just a bit too much seared. However, the slices were big enough so that the very soft Ahi could still be enjoyed with the its tender flaky texture.
Damn... the dessert! Lavender creme brulee is just a classic. The "Chocolate pot de crème with crinkle cookies" was chocolate diabetes in a cup, and boy was it MMM MMMMMMM good. I forgot what kind of crumble pie Cam got, some type of berry.... boysenberry? was just right. A little bitter, mixed with the vanilla ice cream and the crumble of the pie, is out of this world.
10/10 for Foreign Cinema. DAAAAAYMNNN!

I'm falling asleep here, I'm not done yet and i'll add on later.
Continued:

We went for lunch on the following day at the food court in Westfield San Francisco down on Market St. The choices were excellent. It had a good variety of different cuisines, but also the quality was above average. This is a more upscale, higher-end food court with good food. The steakhouse, Buckhorn Grill, gives out free samples and if I hadn't already ordered my BBQ Ribs from Asqew Grill, I probably would have gotten their Tritip Sirloin.
The food isn't all that's high quality, the rest of the mall is pretty upscale with a Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, and other smaller name brand boutiques.
OH YES! They have Beard Papa too! Best cream puffs anywhere!

Feelin good

I'm ecstatic.
This was an awesome weekend.
I'm really lovin these new shoes my sis got for me at Aldo.

I'm havin a blast in general. I went for dinner with friends at Banana Leaf on Friday, dinner at Mad Greek with family on Saturday. Went sorta shopping with my sis this afternoon. Just chillaxin and relaxin for my b'day. I'd post some pics up of my shoes, but I can't find a pic of it online, and I don't have my camera on hand to take a shot of it. Urgh. I'll do it tomorrow! (if I remember to bring my camera home)

Who says bosses are nice?

I do! From buying pastries to doughnuts on a semi-daily basis, the boss(es) at our office are always buying stuff for everyone to eat. Just today, our boss brought in Tim Horton's Iced Cappuccino's for everybody!

Haha, hooray for bosses who like to feed! Too bad my conscience isn't smiling, it's going "tsk tsk tsk. Calories". Oh, did I forget that I mentioned that out loud? I said "Thanks!" to my boss. I then began shaking my head and actually said "Calories!" and my boss had a good laugh. =D