Zipang Provisions

We had dinner at Zipang Provisions on Main and 14th last weekend.

We ordered salmon and tuna sashimi, tako sashimi, Philadelphia roll, yam tempura roll, ikura nigiri, unagi nigiri, and chopped scallop nigiri.

The sashimi were ok. It didn't melt in your mouth, but it was decent and well presented. 

The tako was good, a bit of a crunch and not too rubbery or chewy. 

There was too much cream cheese in the Philadelphia roll, even for me, and I love my cream cheese, and the nigiri were decent, but definitely not as impressive as the ones from Kimura.

The yam tempura had no crunch, it was on the soggy side. 

On the plus side the wasabi was really good - very spicy. 

Overall it's a decent enough place, but it's a little on the pricey side. Better sushi can be had for cheaper at other places around the city. 

-B

Kimura

I was craving sushi today so we googled a place that was on our way to superstore. Kimura had 4.6 stars of 27 reviews, so we figured it was good enough.

The decor is nice, not the typical sushi place. It has kind of an industrial look, very open.

B ordered the Yam Tempura and Cream Cheese roll. It was good. Good size portion, thin layer of rice. Yam was crispy outside and tender inside. Good amount of cream cheese. Very tasty.

They have smaller portion sizes available for their sashimi, which is quite appreciated on our part because we like a bunch of stuff. We ordered the Atlantic Salmon, Tako, Saba and Hokkigai (next pic) sashimi.

The salmon was served at the right temperature. It wasn't fishy. Nice texture and cut. The Tako was the star. It wasn't too chewy, and had a bit of a crunch to it. Saba is an acquired taste. The fishy taste is strong but very well balanced by the onion sauce it is served with.

The Hokkigai was really good too. It was tender and sweet.

I also ordered a couple ikura and unagi nigiri sushi to finish my meal. The ikura was nicely salted and definitely bursts in your mouth. The seaweed was crisp and dry. The rice was nicely seasoned. The unagi was amazing. The sauce wasn't overwelming at all, it nicely balanced the eel out. The eel itself was like butter and just melted in your mouth.

All in all, this was a great experience. Service was good, food came out quick, and quite delicious. We will definitely recommend and come back.

Shiro Japanese Restaurant

On Sunday we were down on Main Street, and wanted to try a Sushi place we had never been to. We found Shiro Japanese Restaurant on the corner of Cambie and 15th after a search on Urbanspoon, and decided to give it a try.

It is a small, clean restaurant, and we were seated promptly. The waitress was friendly, and the service fairly quick. Unfortunately the prices have increased from the menu we saw on Urbanspoon, although they do have the new prices on their own website. Still relatively reasonable, not too pricey - but no longer cheap. 

We ordered a small tuna sashimi and a large salmon sashimi. 

The pieces are medium in size, and tasted pretty fresh. The wasabi was very good, possibly home made, maybe with some garlic mixed in. 

Then we had the smoked salmon roll and the house roll. The rolls were tasty, but the house roll had way too much rice. 

We also ordered tonkatsu, which was very overcooked and chewy:

Finally we had nebeyaki udon, which was pretty good. 

Overall a decent place, but not somewhere I would go out of my way to go again.

Pecan Crusted Salmon with Butternut Squash

Today's recipe was inspired by Kalyn's Kitchen. Although the salmon was relatively quick to make, the meal took longer because of the squash.

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 2 salmon filets
• 4 tbsp chopped pecans
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper corn
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tablespoon jalapeno honey mustard
• 1 tsp mayonnaise

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.

2. Place the squash cut-side down in a pan with a 1/4 inch water and bake for 35 minutes.

3. You don't need to start this step until you have about 15 minutes left on the timer for the squash. Turn the oven up to 425°F. Put pecan, salt, pepper corn, rosemary, mustard and mayonnaise in a food processor and blend.

 

4. Coat the salmon with the mustard mixture. Remove the squash from the oven and place the salmon in for 10 minutes.

5. Put a tablespoon of butter in each half of the squash, add a tsp of cinnamon powder and drizzle maple syrup on top. When there is 5 minutes remaining in the salmon timer, put the squash back in the oven.

6. At this point, you can probably quickly whip up some instant mashed potatoes.

7. When the fish and squash are done, plate and serve.