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.

Maruyama

So my favorite go-to sushi restaurant, Kimura, closed down and another sushi restaurant opened in its place: Maruyama. Apparently the chef used to work at Blue Water in Yaletown.

Decor is about the same, the benches were changed, bar table was changed, and the seating painted white. Other than that, everything was pretty much the same.

We started with the shisoleaf tempura, which was really just fried tempura batter because the leaf was so thin and light. It was a little too much and made me feel nauseous. It was also served with a cold sauce, which kind of helped cut the richness of the batter.

Of course I couldn't resist ordering the Grilled Saba. Which was pretty good. It didn't really feel as rich and oil-forward as the one from Isami at first, but after eating more (along with the shisoleaf) it was a bit nauseating.

We all ordered the $25 Omakase, which comes with 7 pieces of nigiri. Then we added two orders of 2 Blue Fin O-Toro nigiris. It came with a flounder, two types of toro and several other random fish I have forgotten the names of. The second one in the second row (I think it might be Yellow Tail) was very crunchy, but I also had the taste of something like eating butter.

I thought the normal Toro was actually creamier than the O-Toro, even though it was half the price. I thought the O-Toro was quite fishy and didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. If I had to order again, I would probably skip the O-Toro.

Overall the fish was properly prepared. The rice was a good small size. I enjoyed the fact that the cheaper Omakase didn't include Tamago, which I dislike, a lot. I like the fact that they even had a cheaper version of Omakase, which you don't normally get anywhere.

I will likely return with B despite the price tag. But I'm not sure how often I would visit as it is quite expensive. It's worth at least trying once.