Tobiko: Hidden Gem in Surrey

Any sushi place that make special rolls such as Dragon Roll, Spider Roll.. etc, and house-made rolls, deserves some appreciation. This one reminds me of Nagoya, another hidden gem in Surrey and my favorite sushi joint.

Pretty standard, few tables, a lot of pictures on the walls of customers and new menu items.

Ebi Sunomono $3.50. This is part if the reason why I like this place: they are NOT cheap. Many sushi places give mini shrimps or just one small piece but they are every generous here.

Beef Teriyaki Bowl $6.50. Is that cheap or what!?

Unagi Roll $4.75. I love when the avocados and cucumbers taste fresh, just like they cut them to order!

I totally forgot what this one is called. I believe it was one of the dragon rolls. Normally, a dragon roll costs about $9-13 a roll. The dragon rolls at tobiko are only $8-9. Good deal.


Address:
15951 Fraser Hwy
Surrey, BC
Website: http://tobikosushi.com/

Ebisu

Ebisu and Daimasu are 2 places I will probably never stop coming back to. I know, it really isn't anything special but its such a go-to place for me, especially during happy hour. And have I told you guys how much I love the lighting in this place? My iPhone pictures turn out amazing!

Yep, 5pm mojitos. Don't judge me.

Beef Short Ribs $4.99 during happy hour. I like how this comes with pickles on the side. I have got no complaints on flavour with this one.

Royal Miyagi 99 cents/pc. during happy hour.Now, this is what brings me back every time. We order 20 oysters for the 2 of us almost every time we visit. The ponzu is amazing, the oysters are so fresh, its addicting.

Oyster Motoyaki $6.80. The very first time I tried this, I thought it was really good. I no longer have the same opinion. I like how there is a lot of spinach and mushrooms in it, but this dish is quite oily. I'd still order and recommend it once in a while, however I have had better.

Cosmic Gate $18.95. The other combo next to this on the menu is called Above and Beyond, I thought it was kind of funny. I love ebisu for their HUGE menu with pictures with every item. If you're new to sushi or izakaya food, this is the place for beginners.

Link to my first post on Ebisu:
http://eatdrinkreeepeat.blogspot.ca/2012/03/ebisu-dirt-cheap-fresh-oysters.html
Address:
827 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC
Website: ebisu.ca

Ebisu: Dirt Cheap Fresh Oysters!

We are harsh in an oyster phase. Ebisu has the cheapest oysters as far as I know. Its also a good place for a quick lunch at happy hour or late night drinks and sushi.

The interior is pretty modern and spacious.

Mango California Roll. the sauce on this is so good! Its just japanese mayo but with the mango, its seems like much more!

We had ordered 20  Royal Miyagi Oysters at 99 cents a piece during happy hour which is 4:30-6:30pm daily.

Address:
827 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC
Website:
ebisu.ca

Akasaka: The Best Sushi Restaurant in Surrey!

I have lived in Surrey since 5 years old. Japanese is my favourite type of cuisine. You can believe me when I say this is the go-to sushi place in Surrey. It's a little pricy but almost everything on their menu is exceptional. They have the best oyster motoyaki I've had (and trust me, I've had a lot). This visit was just a early dinner with a girlfriend so we didn't order much. I also wanted to try some new things so I strayed away from what I regularly order. I was very pleased.

Ebi Mayo. I've never had this before but I loved it and will be ordering this again. It came in a cute glass too! The ebi was a little on the tough side but it was deep-fried so who's to blame?

Jazz Roll. A great alternative when you cant eat sashimi. The smoked salmon added a very nice kick to this roll.

Popcorn Scallop Roll. This one was a little greasy from the deep fried scallops and tempura prawn inside the roll. We didn't finish this one but I was sure to gobble the rest of it up later that night, so it wasn't that bad.

I would highly recommend this restaurant for someone wanting to go on a nice date with their significant other or friend. They have many booths which are super private and all the servers have very cute personalities.

Address:
15110 101 Ave
Surrey, BC
Website:
akasakasushi.ca

Kingsway Sushi

I was a very happy camper after eating here for the first time. Kingsway Sushi is a very popular all you can eat sushi restaurant in Vancouver. Every time I pass by, it is always super packed here! They offer many menus which you can check out on their website down below. We had the regular Dinner Menu for $24 which is sort of expensive compared to other a.y.c.e. Since we had a table of 11, I couldn't take pictures of everything but heres some of the things I found interesting, and worth trying. 

Scallop Sundae. Raw chopped scallop on a cucumber roll, topped with a lychee! I have never seen, eaten or heard of anything even close to this! The lychee compliments the scallop and mayo surprisingly well. A must-try!!!

Deep Fried Scallops.

Sashimi! The pieces are bigger than most all you can eat.

This one was my favourite. Excuse all the blurry pictures.. I couldn't get any good pictures with the hungry party I was dining with! Before I could get a hold of a plate, it would already be empty. You can imagine how hard it was to snap these pics! This is the beef sashimi. The pieces were very very small but does it really matter? It was AYCE!

Deep Fried Ika.

Their Oyster Motoyaki was okay. Not like I was expecting much. At least they were in actual oyster shells! I was fairly disappointed at the fact that for $24 a person, you don't get a choice of raw oysters. Even on the Deluxe Menu which is $31, you still have to pay an extra 60 cents for one fresh oyster. Ridiculous.

More Sashimi.. mmhm.

The Rolls. They didn't have that big of a selection but they came out pretty big.

Spicy Scallop Cones. Fresh.

The DInner Menu only included 2 desserts. This one is the Mango Pudding, with NO cream! =( The little mango pieces inside made up for it.

Double Boiled Egg White and Milk Custard. Ok, I don't even know what to say for this one. It smelled like boiled eggs whites and tasted like them too. Apparently this is a very popular dessert here but not in my book.

Overall, I had a good experience. The service was pretty bad as expected at a Chinese owned restaurant and the food was good. It was probably even better with the good company I had, this visit. I probably wouldn't come back but I don't regret eating here either. I just can't do without raw oysters!


Address:
#110-3665 Kingsway, 
Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://topgungroup.com/restaurants/kingsway-sushi/

Kawawa Metrotown

My stomach was calling while T and I were at Metrotown after a long day. Indecisive of what to eat, we went upstairs for a quick slice of pizza at fresh slice. However, the sushi place across the hall caught our attention. This place was rebuilt a couple years ago but I never really wanted to try it. All you can eat restaurants are a nono in my book. If you know me, you probably know I can eat sushi anytime of the day, and for all 3 meals if I could, but a ayce, never. We decided to give this place a try anyway and went for the regular menu. And we left very pleased with our decision.

Unagi cone - $5.95. Since I didn't order a roll containing unagi, I got the cone. I usually don't order this but I had to get my unagi fix or I would regret it later in the night. I usually do. Anyway, this came out to be very good. The unagi was very warm, the cucumber was cold and crunchy and they didn't overdo the rice or teriyaki sauce. 

I have really been getting into the whole mango and sushi trend. This is a Mango California roll - $10.95. I would have never guessed this was an all you can eat restaurant. This very much satisfied my taste buds! The sourness of the mango makes you want to eat more. I like how they aren't cheap on giving you a good amount of tobiko. 

Rainbow Roll $10.95.Again, SO much tobiko! My bf and I love this stuff. Their plating is pretty nice too, I love this place!

Ika - $8.95. Good, but I prefer mayo over teriyaki sauce.

Oyster Motoyaki - $5.95. The picture in the menu was of 2 real oyster shells and looked appetizing. This was NOT.  After eating Akasaka's oyster motoyaki, I'll admit I have set a very high expectation for other restaurants but this is truely disgusting. There were 1 and a half pieces of oyster in each cup, it was oily as hell and the sauce isn't even edible. They did not put ANY effort into making this.. like at least mix in some veggies or something geez......  Anyways, at this point, we were stuffed but we had one more dish coming.

Assorted Sashimi for the dude - $12.95. He was only able to eat ONE piece. 

Our total came to $63 which is a bit expensive but we could've had enough food for one or two more people. We were stuffed to the point that we had to share the last roll cause we didn't wanna waste food. Overall rating 7/10 for bad service and oyster motoyaki. I'd probably come here after shopping or something and maybe try out the all you can eat menu.. The reviews on the ayce menu are horrible so maybe not but who knows!

Tengoku Sushi

I was craving for a fix of sushi after dinner last night so T and I drove out to Tengoku which is only like 5 minutes away from my house for a quick bite!

I had a Deluxe California Roll and added unagi on top. Those bitches charged me 8 dollars for the eel when a roll with eel already on it is like 11 bucks.. I was pretty mad when the bill came out but whatever, I'll just find a different way to word it next time.. Unagi roll with california inside? Anyways, I love the Deluxe California because they have real crab inside and compared to imitation, this is awesome.

T got the assorted sashimi. Can't tell you if it was good cause I don't eat sashimi but the plating is nice haha! Our bill came to $45 which is pretty expensive for Surrey. Service is always really good here, they never let your teacup go empty and frequently come to check up on your table. The setting of this place is cute and welcoming as well. Overall rating 8/10. This is my new Akasaka.

EDIT:

I came back here a couple days later with my girlfriend around dinner time. This time the service was horrible. This one girl (younger looking, smiles a lot, glasses with no lens) sits at the bar, on her phone the whole time and it took almost 10 minutes for us to get her to come and take our order.

Ton Katsu. This came out SO much bigger than I expected. I like how they don't put too much teriyaki sauce and LOTS of mayo. It was a little too salty for me but still really good!

This is the first caterpillar roll that actually looks like a caterpillar! It even has the eyes! No complaints about this one. It was basically just a cali roll with avo on top.

Willis Roll. I loved this one, especially cause there was bacon in it. I didn't think bacon would go good with the taste of seaweed but I'm always willing to try anything with bacon in it! I'm glad I did though. My new favorite roll. I love how Tengoku displays their dishes, everything looks so appetizing.

Nagoya Sushi

This tiny sushi joint is sort of hidden in the green timbers neighbourhood. Not much to say about this place other than this sashimi boat was only $20 when it would usually cost 30-$40 elsewhere! They always give way more than what you would expect. My black dragon roll had almost double the amount of eel than what I would get at your regular sushi place. Although it didn't come out looking as appetizing as usual, it most definitely was. What I really love about this place is that they always give you a small dish on the house, even when you're only there for take-out. And its different every time. This time we got  a salmon cheek.

Ambiance and service is great, price is crazy cheap for the amount they give you. Our bill came to $30. Overall rating 8/10.