"Iraashaiiiiiiiiiiii" Jinya Ramen Metrotown Review

Table upon being seated

The moment you walk into Jinya, the first thing you will notice is the decor. Out of all ramen places that I've been to, this place is a bit on the fancier end for decor. You can tell that they have taken some time into designing their shop. They take more of a contemporary style of design compared to other ramen places I've been to.

Vegetable ramen

     This place is very busy by the looks of it. What is cool is that you can leave your phone with them and they can text you when there are seats for you. Alternatively, you can wait there (there is not much of a waiting area though...). The waiting area in front of the host feels more like a crowded elevator as there really isn't much space for anyone to wait. In the summer time, I can see that people can wait outside or on the patio. However, during the winter time, that would be unpractical. If you want to avoid long waits, I suggest coming here before lunch hour or after lunch and before dinner or after dinner times.The seating itself is usually shared (so you are either on the big table with many other people or at the bar). If you are looking for a place to bring your whole family, just be aware you maybe placed with other people due to the nature of the store. 

Wide Angle of the restaurant 

I was here with my mom for lunch, and I decided to order the Chicken Ramen with the kaedama (which was the noodle refill for $1.50) while she ordered the Vegetable Ramen. There were other things on the menu besides ramen such as sides (tempura) and drinks. They also had a very interesting looking kids meal ($12 and it includes tempura and other things in a small boat together with a small bowl of ramen. The pricing of all bowls of ramen were around $12 - $15 - which is slightly higher than average but it was good.  

The Menu

    After we ordered, It didn't take too long for the ramen to come, and the portions were pretty fair. The vegetable ramen looked very interesting... Besides having a vegetable soup base and the ramen noodles, they seem to dump a salad ontop of the ramen. So when the bowl of vegetable ramen came, it looked more like a salad than ramen. The chicken ramen was pretty interesting too. When I got my ramen, I asked for the kaedama to come at the same time. Then I put the kaedama into the bowl and then added three spoons of spicy sauce. The noodles sucked up all of the broth, so I had a bowl of semi- spaghetti like noodles. When I started eating, the three spoons of spicy sauce was wayyy too much. By the time I finished, I was already sweating all over with a runny nose... That aside, it was pretty good. The thing I like about their ramen is the broth isn't too greasy and the noodles (whole grain) and the broth feels real (there are some places that just use powder and you can really taste that.  

The funniest part about this restaurant is that everyone shouts to the top of their lungs Japanese phrases (like they do in Japan). Things like "Irasharimase" which means welcome, and things like how many customers there are coming in and etc... It does feel nice to have such a warm welcoming. However, not being too judgmental or anything (I learned Japanese for a few years while my mom did her bachelor's degree in Japan), the pronunciation of the phrases the waiters and waitresses were shouting were pretty off. I'll give them credit for trying, but I can see someone who speaks fluent Japanese would find the dining experience pretty funny. Overall, I like this place and would definitely come back again. 

One of the most best Japanese Restaurants in Vancouver (Hi Genki Japanese Restaurant Review)

Vancouver is not short of Japanese restaurants. However, many Japanese restaurants are pretty mediocre. They all seem to serve the same kind of sushi (as if they followed a book for dummies called "How to open up a Japanese restaurant"). Hi Genki stands out from the rest and is hands down one of the best Japanese restaurants in town. Don't let the fact that it is located inside of a senior's care home, but don't let that fool you. The food here is authentic, decent, and priced fairly good.

   When it comes to selection at Hi Genki, you won't find things like sushi rolls here. What they are most special for (in my opinion) is for meals and sets. They don't have a huge menu selection here like many restaurants, but maybe that's why it's a good place to eat because they focus on quality. I find that most of the food they serve here are all Japanese homestyle cooking. For example, for their fish combos (like their Mackerel set, it comes with fish, rice, soup and vegetables), or their donburi sets.  

They do have a few selections that are quite special. I find that their tempura and potato croquettes are different than the ones you would find at other food places. It seems like the frying is done with fresh oil (rather than oil that's been recycled for a while) and that the actual quality of the food is fresher.

When I was here, I got the chicken katsu curry. The difference between Japanese curry and Indian curry is the spices. Japanese curry isn't as intense in flavour as Indian curry. The curry comes with a salad, half a boiled egg, a chicken katsu fillet and rice. It was very good in the sense that it didn't taste overly strong or greasy. For $10, it is definitely a very good value and portion.
   Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant. It is authentic and priced very well. 

Tips: 

1. Arrive early (or later), they are usually really busy.
2. Parking is free underground or streetside
3. Be mindful that this is a senior's home, so if you are sick, don't visit. 

The ramen place that doesn't take cash - Marutama Ramen Robson

When you are in Vancouver, there are three things you are not short of are: sushi, yoga pants and ramen. There are many ramen places in Vancouver and when I choose a ramen place, I take into consideration price, quality, taste and location and Marutama is one of the best ramen places that meets those considerations.
   This location is usually busy, so it's best to come here right when they open. I usually get the original ramen (without the egg, let's be honest, if I had to pay $2 more for an egg I might as well make my own eggs at home for much cheaper). The ramen is pretty decent in size, however I usually get the extra noodles on the side (you can pay $1.50 for an extra bowl of noodles to add to your soup. Note, this is just noodles and it doesn't come with soup). I usually request the extra noodles to come at the same time as my ramen, then I add it together. The funny thing is that the noodles soak up all of the soup until there is practically no soup left.

That said, the taste of these noodles are really good. It isn't too greasy like many other ramen, and the noodles are the thin types that are very tasty. It reminds me of a type of noodles (they call them dry noodles) in Taiwan that I had when I was younger. They also have small jars of fried shallots, spices and sesame seeds on the tables. Adding these fried shallots add SO MUCH flavour to the ramen.

The interesting thing about this place is that they don't accept cash. That is definitely a very interesting move considering that many places are the opposite. I asked a waitress when I was here why that was and she wasn't able to give me an answer. I do suspect it might have something to do with how they don't want to deal with the hassle of handling cash (like counting and etc...). At the same time, I'm sure this would turn away many customers. Overall, I highly recommend this ramen place, and I would definitely come back again.

Forget about bite sized for sushi, the sushi here are jumbo sized (Asakusa Sushi Kingsway/Metrotown)

I am so used to eating sushi that is (somewhat) bite-sized. I've only ever seen a handful of places that makes really big sushi and this place is one of them. The location is convenient as it is just literally across the street from Metrotown. It was dinner time and my friend and I just went swimming and he was driving back to the Metrotown area. I am not too sure if there were any parking, so we parked outside at the curb. It was about a dollar for an hour (Make sure you double check what the hours are when you put your coins in. The free-parking times are a bit strange). Public transit would probably be the most accessible.
   When we walked in, we were greeted by one of the waitresses who quickly seated us down. She brought us the menu and the dinner special. I must say their dinner special portions looked big and most were under $10. The one that caught my eye was the chicken teriyaki dinner. It has the chicken teriyaki on a skillet and some vegetables with some rice underneath. Also, it has a side dish of miso soup and 6 rolls of California rolls that come with it. All for $10! It is a pretty sweet deal, and the portions are big too,
   Because I had another portion of dinner waiting for me at home, I decided to only get two rolls of sushi. I got a chicken teriyaki roll and an Alaska roll. When the rolls came, I was surprised. They were about $3.70 each and the rolls were huge. They are at least twice the size of conventional sushis. The taste was mediocre as the filling of the sushi was just conventional things (like for the Chicken terikyaki roll, chicken and cucumber) and salmon sashimi and imitation crab meat for the California roll.
   I am not too sure if it was because I read an article on farmed salmon and the fact that it contains 5x the amount of PCB's or the sashimi was put in rice, the sashmi felt a bit on the not fresh tasting side. That said, there was not too much sashimi in the California roll as it was mostly full of the imitation crab.
   Overall, the service of this restaurant is pretty average, but the sushi rolls and their size relative to their price makes me want to come back again. 

Fresh Sashimi and a funny owner (Yakinikuya Review)

Yakinikuya In a sea of Japanese restaurants in Vancouver, many of which aren't exactly "authentic", Yakinikuya is one of the few authentic Japanese restaurants around.
There are so many places that just squish rice and seaweed with a bit of overly fried shrimp together and called it sushi, but Yakinikuya stood out. It was around lunch time and I met with my friend to celebrate her birthday, and we were on Robson when their advertisement for the $8.95 lunch grabbed our attention.
Upon entering, the restaurant had a very authentic feel to it. The decor was all black and you can tell they've put a lot of thought into creating an atomosphere for their customers. We were immediately greeted by a very friendly waitress and seated. Looking around, we were surprisingly the only customer in the restaurant. She quickly brought us the menu and asked if we would like water or tea. The tea was the traditional Japanese matcha, which was pretty good.
 My friend and I decided to take selfies... So we took a bit longer than normal to order. I think because the restaurant was empty, the waitress came back at least 5 times before we made our order. It was hard to settle for what to order. There were so many things beside Japanese food such as Korean BBQ. My friend and I decided to get something we can share, so we decided to order two lunch boats. Our first boat is the sashimi boat while our other one was the Korean BBQ boat.
 While we were waiting, I noticed the owner (or what appears to be the owner, walking in and out of the restaurant as if he was patrolling. He seemed a bit bored and I see him rushing outside to remove a leaf that's fallen on to a table and cleaning up the leaves of the sidewalk. There was a moment when a couple walked in to the restaurant and he greeted them with joy. However they left after looking at the menu and the owner jokingly said "too expensive?'' This was definately the first time I've ever heard a restaurant owner saying something like this. After getting our order in, the waitress immediately brought us our miso soup and salad. The miso soup was very good and the flavour was just right. The salad was special too.
There was siracha sauce added to the salad, as well as a few pieces of sashimi (salmon and tuna). I must say, the Sashimi was very fresh and I was impressed. Right after the salads came, the boats came right after. My first impression of the boats was that they were very well presented. In many other Japanese restaurants, I noticed that they would just place their food on to the dishes without putting much thought into it. However, at Yakinikuya, there was thought put into the placement of food. Starting with the Korean BBQ boat, besides being very nicely presented, it tasted really good too. The pork had a texture where it was slightly harder on the outside but the center was full of juice and it was soft. The sashimi boat was very good too. The sashimi was fresh as mentioned before. Also, for both of the boats, asparagus bacon skewers were included. Besides being on the greasy side, the skewers were good too. The only downside to the two boats is that for $18.00 per boat, the amount of food that was included was not as much as I expected. I guess the trade off is that the quality of food was good. Overall, the service is good, the food is good, the price is on the higher end and I would definitely come back again (once my wallet stops crying).

Very light tasting miso soup... (Library Sushi Review)

There are many sushi restaurants around this area and I really love how creative they are when it comes to what they name themselves. I guess this one is one of the most original (well not exactly...), because the restaurant is located in the library complex, the name "Sushi Library" caught my attention.
My friend and I wanted to grab something fast because we have a lot of studying to do, so we decided to give them a try. Walking in, the restaurant seem to be lacking in space. In addition, it felt crowded too. When we came in, we ordered first and paid first before we sat down. Looking at their menu, many of the sushi and combos are priced at the average (such as $3.50 for a California Roll is the average price around Vancouver). I was hungry so I wanted something more, so I decided to order the Chicken Teriyaki Bento box. For about $10.00 for the bento box, it seemed pretty fairly priced.
After paying for my meal, my friend and I grabbed our seats. The very second, my friend bumped his back to the counter behind him because of how cramped the restuarant is. The waitress / cashier then brought us our tea and miso soup. I saw that the miso soup was kept in a big Thermos, of which she used to pour into smaller bowls. Having a sip at the miso soup, it tasted as if it has been sitting in the Thermos for a while. The taste was not only lacking and on the watery side, the tea tasted like hot water.
After when the bento box came, I was so hungry I forgot about the miso soup. However, my first feeling was that the bento box was on the small side. There was only two pieces of gyoza, small salad, 4 pieces of tempura and chicken teriyaki over a couple bites of rice. The tempura felt like it's been sitting in the deep fryer for too long. The prawn tempura was so hard and dripping with oil while the yam tempura was all burnt on one end. I usually don't complain too much about food, but eating tempura that makes your mouth feel like it's hit a pocket of oil is not exactly pleasant.
After, I took a stab at the chicken teriyaki, and the meat was pretty fresh. That said, the teriyaki sauce feels a bit thicker than what I'm used too. It's almost as if corn starch was added to the teriyaki. In addition, there was not a lot of rice with the teriyaki. The salad also was a bit on the funny tasting end too, but it wasn't too bad.
The service was pretty decent however, the cashiers and waiters were all very nice. That said, the food quality can be improved.

$6.95 for a Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box?! (Ro Sushi Broadway Review)

I think I just found myself a place for cheap sushi. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon, and I was in the VGH area volunteering for a film. I haven't had lunch yet and was craving for sushi. The first one I saw immediately at that instant that I was craving sushi was Ro Sushi. Seeing their menu on the outside, I noticed the $6.95 Bento Box special and the $5.95 sushi special.
   Walking into the restaurant, there was a small flight of stairs to climb as the inside of the restaurant is a bit higher. The restaurant wasn't too busy, and my mom and I were greeted by the staff. We were seated down immediately. Looking around, the decor wasn't anything to write about. However, I noticed that they had a small elevator for those who are disabled. I really appreciate that because a lot of restaurants don't have this and I'd imagine this shows that the business actually care about customers.
    When the waitress brought over the menu, I didn't hesitate to order the chicken teriyaki bento box. At the same time, my mom got the sushi combo. After a few minutes, our order arrived. First came the miso soup, then the bento and sushi. The bento box looked pretty decent. The portions were not too big nor too small. There was about four pieces of tempura, 6 pieces of California roll, a small salad, and teriyaki with rice.
     My mom also gave me 3 pieces of her sushi combo (which came with 18 pieces of sushi: a yam tempera roll, a California roll and a tuna roll).
     I was afraid that the combo might be too small so I ordered a separate roll of dynamite roll as well.
    In short, the food portions were decent. The chicken teriyaki box was pretty filling. The chicken is a bit smaller than what I'm used to and there could have been more rice (or maybe I was just hungry at the time and my brain was playing with me), but it was still a decent price to pay for the portions. With regards to the taste, everything tasted pretty fresh. The tempura was a bit on the greasy side, but otherwise it wasn't too bad.
   $6.95 for a bento box like this is actually pretty good and I would definitely come back again,

Remember to ask for no mayo!!! (Donburiya Review)

Donburiya When it comes to how filling a meal is relative to its price, I would say that Japanese rice bowls are close to the top of my list. It was after the Canada Day parade when my friends and I visited Donburiya.
 From the outside, Donburiya doesn't look too big. Looking in the window, you can see a small collection of tables and a cramped ordering counter. The decor is very interesting as they had physical plastic rice bowls hung on the lights near the windows.
Walking in, you will see the menu above the cash register. I must say, when it comes to selection, there aren't that many selections. There are about a handful of selections from the menu that included three options of Ramen, curry, stir fry noodles and five dons(rice bowls). There's a mapo tofu don, teriyaki ton, beef don, kimchi and this other kind (that I don't really know what it is). Even though the options may sound very limited, it is good in a way because in theory, they will be more specialized.
I also noticed that on the menu, the rice bowls also had different sizes that range from small to extra large. There are samples of the bowl sizes on the wall that you can use for reference when ordering. In addition, as a side note, I noticed that almost all of the options have mayo added to the rice bowl. I'm not sure why people add mayo to the rice bowl, but all I know is the mayo goes right to the butt. There's so many calories in a teaspoon of mayo it's one of those things where if you read the nutrition fact after you eat the thing you would get nightmares (if you are health conscious that is).

 When it was my turn to order, I decided to take a large order of teriyaki don and I also asked if I can have one without the mayo. The cashier was very friendly and she informed me that the store is about to close. At this point, my friends and I decided to ask for our meals in to go containers. It was about $8 for a large teriyaki don, and after paying, the cashier handed me a number tag and I waited on the side.
What's interesting to note is that my friend asked for a cup of water (they have water in a counter at the exit, but you need to ask for cups). When my friend asked the cashier for cups, she looked frantically for a second for cup, then she took a two cups that were stacked on top of each other and wiped it and handed it to my friends. Not sure if it was clean or not, but it seemed cleaned.
After about 10 minutes, one of the cashiers came and brought me my teriyaki don. I have to say I really like the service and the respect they have for their customers here.

Because there was about 20 minutes to closing and everyone was starving, we all decided to eat from our take out containers. I must say, the portions were pretty good.
For my chicken teriyaki don, it was just right and there was a fair portion of chicken. The chicken was fresh and the layer of salad beneath it was very good too. The salad really adds some fiber to the mix. The chicken teriyaki don without any greens in it and its lack of fiber is like an episode of constipation waiting to happen.
Overall, I am very satisfied with this place. Not only are the portions good, the price and quality is good too. I would say because the seating is limited, the place is best for take out. I would definitely come back again. 

Authentic and Unique Japanese Cuisine (Suika Broadway Review)

When it comes to Japanese Restaurants,  there aren't many that are Japanese owned. Not only is this restaurant authentic Japanese, but it is also is very special and distinctive. From the outside, the place does not look very special, and maybe abit on the plain side. However, once you walk in, the whole vibe is different.
   The inside is slightly on the cramped side, but it is not too bad. The lighting is abit dim, but it gives off a classy feel. After when my friend and I were seated, we were brought the menus. The menu was very special. I never seen a menu where there was no picture but it was done all in text. Part of it was done in calligraphy while the other part was typed. Also, what was cool was the special of the day was drawn using a pen and photocopied. I am not really sure if it is classy but I guess it is a type of style that is unique!
  I had somewhat of a hard time to figure out what to get. There aren't really that many items on the menu and without pictures, it was abit difficult to make a choice. When it comes to food, there aren't that many choices in each category. For example, there is only one or two types of ramen, a few types of sushi and rice bowls.
   Despite their lack of choice, I think their quality of food is really good. Even though they don't have many options, the quality of food is better than the average. We ordered the special of the day (which was a chicken cutlet (I can't remember the name exactly)), negitoro sushi, and ramen.
   The order didn't take too long to come, the sushi came first followed by the ramen and chicken cutlet rice bowl. The sushi itself was not like anything I've ever had. First of all, it wasn't exactly a nigiri because it wasn't just plainly a piece of sashimi on a rice ball, but rather it was sashimi with rice and some dressings. But what was really special that I found about the sushi was that it was in an almost perfect rectangular shape. The taste was pretty good too, the taste of fish wasn't as apparent as the nice texture of sashimi. The only downside is that the price is abit high (about $9.00 for 6 pieces).
   After, we tried the ramen. The ramen itself was about $10, but it was good. I've had ramen where there is so much sodium and MSG in the broth that it makes you so thirsty when you finish drinking. However, their ramen doesn't have that saltyness in it. There are pieces of pork tendons and pork in the ramen that gives it quite abit of flavour. The noodles were really good too and it blended well with the miso. Not to mention, the portion was pretty decent too.

   Finally, we tried the cutlet meal. The set came with a half raw egg, a small plate of cold vegetables and a rice bowl with chicken and a salad on it. Personally, I think there is abit too much mayo with the rice bowl. That said, the amount of mayo really brings the flavour out of the rice. When we were brought the combo, the waitress kindly told us that we should mix the egg with the rice. The mixture looked abit funny and squishy, but it tasted really good. The cutlet and the piece of chicken was very flavourful too but abit on the squishy side because of the egg.
  Once we were finished and paid our bill, our waitress actually walked us out and bowed to thank us. I think the way they take their customer seriously like this is very good. I really like this place and I think the price, service is good and I will definitely come back again.  

Pizza Sushi?! (Sushi Maro Yaletown Review)

   Across the street from the Yaletown-Roundhouse Station, this is a very convenient location. Walking into the restaurant, one thing that I noticed was that the lighting (not that it has a lot to do with anything but just an observation) is not very good. In addition to the dark lighting, the place appears to be quite cramped in space. Today, my running group and I went to this restaurant after a practice run at Yaletown Roundhouse Community Center.
   The service was pretty decent. We were greeted by the waitress the moment we entered the restaurant. We sat down immediately after we came in and the waitress brought us the menu. She also asked if we would like water or tea. Initially everyone in our group ordered water. However, I must say the water tasted a bit funny. It was definitely tap water (I know, Metro Vancouver is trying to promote people to drink more tap water. The downside with tap water is that some building's pipes are really old and some copper may get into the water). After taking a sip or two, we all decided to grab tea instead.
   Looking at the menu, the prices of many of the items seems to be a bit on the higher end. On average, the cheapest maki sushi, like a California Roll costs $3.50. What I did notice was that some of the items seem very special. They had this appetizer called "Pizza Sushi".
   The funny thing was that all of us flipped to the specials page and the six of us all ordered bento boxes. I ordered a chicken teriyaki bento box. The menu describes the bento box comes with chicken teriyaki on rice, a roll of sushi, tempura, miso soup and salad. When the order came, it was exactly as described.
   The chicken teriyaki was good because it did not contain the hard-to-chew fatty skin that many other places include with their chicken teriyaki. The salad tasted pretty fresh as well and the tempura was moderately fried (not too overly fried, yet not raw).
    The only downside with the bento box is that the portions were small. The chicken teriyaki only had a few bites of rice with it. In addition, there was generous layer of sauce on both the chicken teriyaki and salad... at the end of the meal, the left over rice and vegetables looked like it was swimming in an oil field. Otherwise, the quality of chicken and salad was pretty decent.
   Overall, I would say this is a fair Japanese restaurant. There really is nothing too much to complain about, it has some specialties, but it also has its downsides like the crowded spaces and slightly higher pricing.

Can taste funky but yet inexpensive Japanese Dons (Gyudon Ya Review)

I am not really sure why the reviews on Urbanspoon are so bad when it comes to Gyudon Ya, I decided to go at lunch to give them a try. I would say that given the small space, this place is best for people who is on the go. The restaurant itself contains two rows of benches/tables with stools. Both the rows of the benches face away from each other, meaning that if you sit on one of rows, your back will be facing the back of the others that are sitting on the other bench. The seats themselves were not too comfortable and it feels abit cramped.  

   That said, this reminds me of the restaurants in Japan where because the space is limited, the seating is usually placed uncomfortably. When I entered the restaurant, I was greeted by the waitress and I had to find myself a place to sit. I sat on the front counter facing the huge menu sign. Soon after, the waitress brought me tea. The tea itself was matcha and the quality of it feels above average (given that it was free). Afterward, I took a look at the menu and stared at it for a few seconds before making my decision on what to order.
  Just as the name of GyuDonYa reveals, they sell only rice bowls. There are only a handful of rice bowls to choose from. There's the veggie bowl, pork bowl, chicken teriyaki bowl, mabo tofu bowl and etc... but nothing that's out of the ordinary. I was at the restaurant with my mom, so she decided to get the salmon bowl and I got the mabo tofu bowl.
   The two bowls that we ordered came relatively quickly. We had the option of making our meal a combo (highly recommended because the salad is a ball of potato salad and miso soup), but we didn't do the combo because we weren't feeling like eating all the carbs. When our bowls came, the bowls themselves look exactly like the picture in the menu. The salmon bowl was abit of a surprise because we thought the salmon would be cooked, but it was not. The salmon was raw and the shrimp was not raw, but it was cold. Not sure if it was the style of the bowl, but it definitely was abit funky tasting because I don't really understand why the shrimp was cold. It wasn't like the bowl was supposed to be a don that is all made out of raw fish, so it would make sense to have some consistency.
   That said, the mabo tofu dish was pretty good though, I really liked the taste of it. The way that it was prepared did not make the bowl feel greasy. The tofu and the pieces of minced pork was just right. Because I ordered a large, the portion was just right as well. For about $8 for a large don, I would say that the price is inexpensive and the portion is just right.
  Overall, I would recommend this place if you are on the go and is craving some Japanese rice bowls. However, if you are looking for something high end, or