Yuji's from Japan

We decided to visit Yuji's because it was well reviewed and comments were that they were authentic Japanese.

We made reservations for 5pm on a Friday night and were told that there was a two hour seating limit because it was the weekend. When we arrived the restaurant was empty. So if it's ever busy when you want to visit, just go back at 5pm.

I loved the decor, it was like a little sushi hut on the side of the road.

Started with some sashimi and sushi omakase.

The sashimi omakase was $25 and for two to share. It came with: 2 Big eye tuna, 2 Yellowtail, 4 Sea bream, 2 Amberjack, and 2 Toro. They were all good, but really, really small. The big eye in particular was a lot creamier than when I had it at Sushi S. The Yellowtail was really strong and oily. The toro was less creamy than I expected.

Then we each had 1 order of the sushi omakase, which was also $25 each. From left to right: Big eye, Sea bream, Yellowtail, Flounder, Striped Jack, Young Yellow Tail, Scallop, and Spanish Mackeral.

The yellowtail, in my opinion, tasted a lot better and more balanced with some rice to tone down the fat and fishy taste. I barely tasted any fishiness. The flounder had a very interesting texture- I can't decide if I should say it's creamy or crunchy. But it tasted like butter. We liked the firm texture of the Striped Jack, but the taste wasn't anything special. The Spanish Mackeral was a lot milder than expected. It was served with a bit of ginger and onion on top and that was all we tasted.

The rice to fish ratio was on point and the temperature of both served correctly. But the size, price, and speed made us miss Seto in Richmond and kind of encourages us to maybe brave Richmond traffic and try more Japanese restaurants there.

Because we were still quite hungry after the sashimi and sushi, we ordered a couple more hot dishes.

We tried the spicy curry calamari, which is just fried calamari, lightly tossed in salt and curry. I could smell the curry as soon as it arrived. With no batter, it was more refreshing than calamari at other places. The texture was chewy and tender at the same time and the salt and curry flavour were very well balanced. Nothing overpowered the other. It was really good (and not spicy at all, despite what the dish is called).

We also had the grilled beef tongue- which caused the table next to us to cringe. But honestly, this was the best beef tongue I've ever had. The beef was sliced so thin and was very tender. The beef flavour was strong and though you can taste the salt and pepper, it did not overpower the meat at all. The only down side was that it was so such a small plate I felt like I didn't have enough.

Together with our bottle of hot Kome Dry Honjozo sake, our bill came out to $125. Although the food was good and we enjoyed everything, we thought the price for good sushi was better at Seto- maybe rent is cheaper in Richmond. Tim Kang lookalike sushi chef was also a lot quicker and seemed more skilled. We will likely return to Richmond before returning to Yuji's, but for those who don't want to travel across the bridge because they want to enjoy a bit of sake, I would recommend visiting Yuji's.