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Koiji Restolounge

40 Country Hills Landing NW

www.koijilounge.com

Traditionally located in or near the core, Japanese restaurants have recently been popping up in the north west like pimples on a pubescent teen. Taiyo, Ajisai and now Koiji Restolounge. My latest food adventure (From this summer, I have a huge backlog) takes me to Koiji Restolounge up in Country Hills. Located across the street from the T&T market, it has arguably the best location out of the three that I mentioned above. Asian people love sushi. Ironically, when we arrived that Sunday, the space was mostly occupied by white people. Which, I guess explains the restolounge part.

We were quickly seated upon arriving. The space was beautifully decorated complete with a trendy faux fireplace along the elevated seating area which I never got a picture of.

Browsing through the menu reveals a solid selection of hot and cold appetizers. Those who know me will no doubt tell you that I love appetizers. In fact, I love appetizers so much that I can skip the entree altogether. In addition to the appetizers, there are a bunch of other stuff you can order; tempura, grilled fishes and what not (but no zaru soba, katsudon or tonkotsu ramen).

Oh, and then there's the sushi list.

But that's a given. Except maybe at Ajisai.

The sushi list was decent too; offering a solid lineup of raw seafood, including three types of salmon, the presumably-wild-sockeye-salmon, the no-doubt-farmed-atlantic-salmon and the for-the-people-who-pretend-they-eat-sushi-smoked-salmon. No fancy exotic fishes though. Unfortunately. We ordered our usual favorites plus some; salmon of the sockeye variety, hamachi, scallops, octopus, toro, amaebi (sweet prawn) and botan ebi (Canadian sport prawn). 

The waiter returned shortly after we placed our order to inform us that they had run out of toro. I don't know what everyone’s experiences are, but I don't think I've ever had toro north of 20th Ave. Do they not swim this far beyond of the Bow? But I digress. Koiji Restolounge offers two types of shrimps. Nay! Three types! Amaebi, botan ebi and ebi. Besides being ordered alphabetically, the preceding list is also ordered based on awesomeness. Amaebi is a true prawn served raw. The flavours are sweet. So if you can stomach it, I highly recommend it. What I like most about Koiji is that they pre deep fry the head so you can nibble on the little claws when you please. Points for saving me the trouble of having to ask the server afterwards. Next on the list is the botan ebi. This dinky little shrimp is also served raw and comes as a pair. Flavours are sweet but it's too little and does not come with a deep fried head. And lastly, we have the ebi. Which I never order individually. This oversized cocktail shrimp is typically served cooked and cold. Lame.

Moving on. Sockeye salmon was the preferred choice of the three available. Generally more flavourful, the sockeye salmons exhibit flesh that is typically redder in colour, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the food they eat. The scallops could have been a little fresher. A little too mushy. Nothing special about the hamachi or octopus. 

Oh and we also ordered the "Stampeder" roll. Also known as the rainbow roll at other sushi establishments, this roll consist of a bunch of fish rolled up in rice with strips of avocado, ebi and salmon layered on top. It's missing quite a few hues of the rainbow so many places have opted to rename it the "Stampeder" roll to avoid the confusion. Not sure how that one works elsewhere though as I believe it is named after the Calgary Stampeders. If it's not, then it makes even less sense. How about Truncated Colour Spectrum Roll™. I guess it doesn't have the same ring to it.

The seafood miso soup was the first to arrive. This hearty bowl of soup consisted of shrimp, scallops, crab, mushroom, tofu, wakame and a bunch of other stuff (It was a long time ago). It was really flavourful. Sweet from the plethora of seafood. Very tasty and only 3 dollars more than the regular miso soup… Sorry, organic miso soup. The seafood one is organic too. Definitely worth the money. Regardless of whether they used organic miso or not.

We also ordered two appetizers. After yammering on for a full paragraph about how much I love appetizers, how could I not? The first to arrive was the salmon yukke. Korean inspired, this dish is the tasty offspring of a steak tartare and bruschetta; except it's made with salmon and not beef. This dish basically consist of diced salmon and avocado marinated in a tangy special sauce. This is then served over a slice of garlic toast. This is one of those restolounge-fusion dishes I was talking about.

The final dish to arrive was the chicken karaage. Chicken wings, stuffed with fish roe, is deep fried to the max and served with a dipping sauce. It was ok. The lack of bones in the mid wing section was nice. 

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. Beautiful interiors. It's hip. It's trendy. It's the little details. But the fireplace was definitely a contributing factor. Everyone loves fireplaces right?

Food: 7 out of 10. Food was good. It's definitely more Japanese fusion than traditional Japanese. Especially the none sashimi items. So just keep that in mind when you make a trip out. Don't go leaving angry comments when you find weird sauces on your food.

Presentation: 6 out of 10. My cup was dirty and stained. At the time of visit, they were opened for maybe a couple of weeks? Time to ask for a refund on that dishwasher. A replacement cup was provided with no fuss. Presentation of the food was good. The cup dragged it down.

Price: 7 out of 10. Above average prices. Not sure what everyone is complaining about. I don't think I've ever had "cheap" Japanese food. 

Service: 6 out of 10. Average service. Nothing to email home about. 

Overall: 7 out of 10. Good overall. It is interesting to note that Koiji claims they are the first Japanese restaurant to serve "Japanese burgers" which I’ve coined Jurger™ (Sounds like I have a slur). Not sure what that means. I don't believe the Japanese were known for their burgers. It's probably another one of those fusion things. Maybe they're trying to be the next JapaDog… I may give that a try on my next visit. 

Victorious!

Wa's Japanese Restaurant
1721 Centre Street N
wascalgary.exblog.jp


One of my new favourite Japanese dishes is the Katsudon. This popular Japanese dish features deep fried pork, eggs and sauteed onions over a bowl of rice. It is super tasty. My favorite rendition of this dish is at Wa's. Though to be fair, I've only had it at two places. The other being at Sumo on Tenth. So that's a pretty small sample size. They were both pretty good but Wa's was better.


The breaded pork pieces were juicy and tender. Eggs were beat and mixed in with the pork and onions to fused them together into one giant blob of deliciousness. It is then served over a bowl of rice and garnished with nori, scallions and two wedges of pickled daikon. Mmm mmm good!

What's a visit to Wa's without a plate of my favorite sashimi? Amaebi, toro, hamachi, salmon, scallop and tako oh my!

Atmosphere: 7 out of 10. Despite recent renovations, the interior is still very time worn. It does not feature fancy electric fireplace or designer decor.


Food: 9 out of 10. No. Wa's is all about the food. Tasty, scrumptious and succulent food. Fresh and full of flavour.


Presentation: 8 out of 10. Look at the cute little basket the scallops came in. Aww...


Price: 6 out of 10. A little pricier that other sushi places around town but you get what you pay for so it is well worth the money.


Service: 7 out of 10. Despite being busy, the service was attentive.


Overall: 8 out of 10. I'm jonsing for some Katsudon right now! Did you know "katsu" is a homophone to the verb "win" in Japanese? Now you do. 

I like it Raw

Masuya Japanese Seafood

14 O'Connell St

http://www.masuya.com.au/restaurants/index.html

After a long day of wandering around the Sydney Central Business District, we stopped by Masuya Japanese Seafood for some dinner. Despite being located in the basement of a relatively quieter street, the restaurant was half full when we arrived shortly after 6. We were told that we needed to finished by 8. Pffft... If you can serve it in 2 hours, we can finish it in 2 hours. We quickly ordered some tasty looking dishes (the meal features photos of most items that actually look like the final product, unlike McDonald's).

The first to arrive was the organic tomato and green salad. It came with a separate lightly flavoured wafu onion dressing, which is a vinaigrette-style dressing based on soy sauce. Very refreshing.

The Nasu Miso arrived shortly after. This dish consisted of eggplants cut lengthwise and grilled. To finish it off, it is topped with a tasty house miso paste. The eggplant was very soft and mushy and the sauce was super flavourful.

The next to arrive was the rainbow roll. A California roll is topped with strips of salmon, tuna, white fish and avocado. The fish was really fresh and extremely tasty. 

The last to arrive was the sashimi platter. This massive boat of raw seafood made the small child in me jump and shout with glee (not literally). Packed with salmon, tuna, mackerel, scampi, fresh oysters, surf clams and several varieties of local fish, it was almost too much. Almost. We devoured the entire platter like champs. Not a single piece was spared. The fish was so fresh. The oysters, sweet and creamy. So tasty. *drools*

The we finished around 7 and were out there door by 7:15. Headed back to the hotel for a nap. Or two.

Anyway, here's what I thought of it -

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. Nice restaurant. Very lively. Hard to find though. It's in the basement of some building with a dinky little sign by the entrance. Maybe it's because I'm a tourist? Though I did miss the street completely... Sooo...

Food: 10 out of 10. Amazing! Sooo good! So fresh. No funny fishy taste.

Presentation: 8 out of 10. Above average presentation. The rolls were well made and did not fall apart when you try to pick it up.

Price: 8 out of 10. Maybe a little pricey but considering what you get, I thought it wasn't too outrageous.

Service: 7 out of 10. Average service. Did not stood out as being spectacular.

Overall: 8 out of 10. Awesome! Probably the best sushi I’ve had in a while.

Ra-Ra-Ramen

Muku Japanese Ramen

326 14 St NW

Muku Japanese Ramen is the only place (that I know of) in the city that is dedicated to serving ramen and nothing else. Fortunately for them, it's pretty good. Better than Shikiji anyway. Muku offers the three main variations of the soup: Tonkotsu, pork bone soup; Shoyu, soya sauce based; and Miso, miso based soup. 

I had the tonkotsu chashu ramen. It is the Tonkotsu ramen with extra pork (5 extra slices to be exact). The first time I had ramen was in Japan a few years ago. It was the tonkotsu variety. I loved it because it was so flavourful and I just stuck with it. Unfortunately, I have yet to try out the other variations. One day... 

The ramen at Muku was decent. The extra chashu was a little on the lean and stringy side but there was two fattier pieces that was super delicious. In addition to the chashu, the ramen is also topped with a slice of kamaboko, chopped scallions and baby corn. The texture of the ramen was firm but not too chewy. Soup was pretty flavourful. Not super salty. Decent overall. 6 stars out of 10. Definitely room for improvement. I wish there was a really good ramen place in Calgary. I would be there everyday. 

WAAH!

Wa's Japanese Restaurant
1721 Centre St N
wascalgary.exblog.jp

I did a little blurb on Wa's a while back (You can check it out here). I've been back many times since then and they have yet to disappoint (Thumbs up to the cold ramen I decided to not write about). I've been sitting on this review for a while now wondering how I should do it... Should I update the current post? Or start a new one? I decided to go with the latter (Obviously). Thoughts? Shout out in the comments below.

So anyway, we ordered our typical sashimi plus a couple of the daily specials. I think it was the young yellowtail and horse mackerel or something. I tried googling what a horse mackerel is but couldn't come up with anything. From what I can gather, it's kind of like a large tuna or something. What I can tell you is that it was very tasty. We also got some temaki (hand cones).

In addition to the sashimi, we got the deep fried beef skewers. Apparently it's a new item that they introduced that day. I hope they keep it because it was delicious. Chunks of super tender beef and onions are speared with a giant wooden cocktail stick, lathered in batter and deep fried to the max. A sauce is poured over with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. Delish!



We ordered an extra agedashi tofu because I was feeling hungry. Most places serve it with some grated ginger and daikon and topped with chopped scallions. Not Wa's. Nooo... The bowl of goodness arrived with 4 crispy tofu loaded up with katsuobushi, wakame, scallions, grated ginger and daikon. There's also these other lettuce looking seaweed things but I'm not sure what they are called... They didn't have a heavy oceanic taste to it. Kind of light. A seaweed texture but not like slimy or anything. Not going to lie, it was amazing.



10 stars out of 10. This score might be a little biased because it's one of my favourite restaurants. But it was really good (which is why it's my fav) sooo... yeah. Check it out!

Meh.

Shikiji Japanese Noodles and Sushi
1608 Centre Street N
www.shikiji.ca

I checked out Shikiji way back when they first opened (I don't remember what year but it was a long time ago). My first impression, although a little fuzzy now, was not the greatest. It never stood out as being spectacular and I remember my parents complaining about how expensive it was. Fast forward to 2010, Shikiji is the talk of the town (slight exaggeration). Everyone is talking about how it's the bomb and the ramen and noodles are amazing! Naturally, I had to go check it out...

I had the BBQ Pork Ramen. And as the title of this entry suggests, it was "Meh". The noodles were soggy and the soup was bland. The BBQ pork, although in abundance, was stringy and had no flavour. I would much rather have quality over quantity. 7 PT Cruisers does not equal a Ferrari F430 Scuderia. This bowl of mediocrity was topped with a quarter stock of bok choy of the large variety and chopped scallions (I know, I was confused too). It was a pretty pitiful attempt given the rave reviews by friends and on urbanspoon. The one cool thing I found was they brought out the sesame seeds in a suribachi so I could grind them up myself. It was definitely a cool experience that I've also had elsewhere.

The service was interesting... They were definitely trying too hard, perhaps to compensate for the quality of food. Maybe the owners pay their employees minimum wage and they really need the tip to make a living. My server was a bit of a tool though, asking questions like "Would you like something to drink?" and "Would you like to order something?" Really? No... I'm just gonna sit here and take up space. Of course I want to order something! The appropriate question here would be "What would you like to order?" I'm pretty certain he came by at least a couple of times in a 10 minute span to see if everything was alright. It almost felt like he poisoned my ramen and wanted to see if I passed out or not so he can rob me. With the prices they charge, it sure felt like I got robbed. 2 starts out 10.

Okono-what?

Sushi Kawa
2204 4 St SW

Sushi Kawa is the only Japanese restaurant in Calgary that I've been to that serves the Okonomiyaki. There could be others but I haven't hit them up yet. Shout out in the comment box below if you know of others! Okonomiyaki is a Japanese style pancake made from flour, shredded cabbage and eggs mixed with various toppings and grilled in a pan or teppan. I had the seafood okonomiyaki on Thursday. The batter is mixed with octopus, squid, shrimp, pickled ginger and topped with okonomiyaki sauce, katsuobushi and aonori. This thing was pretty massive. I was done after half of it. Definitely needed an eating buddy for this one. The okonomiyaki sauce is very thick and sweet. The octopus was pretty chewy, more so than the sushi/sashimi variety. It was very delicious but way too big.

One important note to mention about the okonomiyaki, it take them approximately 45 minutes to make it. I ordered mine ahead of time to cut down the wait. Win!

The Village of Japan

Japanese Village
317 10 Ave SW

Went to Japanese Village for Tobi and Chris's birthday lunch today! I love Japanese Village and would recommend it to everybody because the experience is unlike any other place I've been to before. The fork and spatula tossing, the drum beating, the cheesy scripted dialog (Like did you really get your salmon from the bow river? I highly doubt it), the flaming oil, and the singing and dancing, the entertainment's all there! It almost makes the price justifiable. Almost. And that is why I like going at lunch. Cut the entertainment and get to the food, which is just a delicious, except at a faction of the price! Teriyaki beef and chicken combo for less than 10 dollars? You can't get any cheaper than that! This amazing deal comes with soup or salad, one free cup of green tea, veggies and bean sprouts and a bowl of rice. The portions for dinner are a little bigger and I think you get some ice cream, but is it worth twice the price? Not the second time around. Don't get me wrong, the food is still amazing, but given the opportunity to go at lunch or dinner, lunch is clearly the better deal.

Also, always ask for the ever so delicious sesame sauce. You get it when you order the teriyaki beef or the steak but you can always ask for it. It's super yummy. I could probably eat a plain bowl of rice, or two, with just the sauce (It's the dish on the left at the top). So good. And since they cook it all in front of you, you are guarantee to walk out smelling like teriyaki sauce, which may or may not be a good thing.



One more thing to note is, unless you have them cook it in the kitchen, the presentation will never be as good as this. Special thanks to Russ for letting me take a picture of his dish.