~Yummy in Our Tummies~

Yet another blogging adventure fueled by a deal voucher I purchased online! Today we ventured out to Ichiban Sushi, a small Japanese restaurant located in the London Drugs plaza on Kingsway and Joyce. The place is hidden by Honolulu café in front, and if we didn’t know about it, we probably would never visit. Anyhow the voucher entitled us to two special rolls, two bowls of miso soup and 10 pieces of assorted sashimi for $15.

It was high time we had another Eat Nabs Day! This title is Turtle’s brainchild and originated 2 or 3 years ago as a label for Dine Out expeditions but the label had gone into hiding since. Due to popular demand, it was brought back as a label for a special dinner at Kiyo Sushi. Typical to our reputation, we spent a loooong time figuring out where to eat and were settled on Tandoori Kona but ended up changing our minds last minute and going to Kiyo Sushi instead. Impromptu FTW! Anyway, Kiyo Sushi has always been on my radar, but I have never had the opportunity to go there. Ying and Rich have been there though and didn’t recall it being disappointing so we took their word for it and off we went. Eat Nabs Day was back!

I had the good fortune of lunching with Rich and Uncle Jimbo today at sushi house in Richmond. At 2 am the night before, Uncle Jimbo messaged me saying he was having a craving for spicy salmon sushi. Just outta the blue just like that. Haha weird eh? Anyhow, since it had been quite a while since I ate at sushi house and considering that its one of my favorite sushi places in Richmond, I settled on it pretty quick. And believe me, this place does not disappoint.

It was a fine March afternoon. It was a good day to eat! The yummy crew decided to head out for some yummy sushi…at Apple Sauce. Hehe, the place is actually called Applause; but the first time we passed it, Rich read Apple Sauce instead and the name stuck! We had initially tried this place really randomly on a rainy day last year after some failed photography at Jericho Beach. We were surprised to find such yummy sushi and have been back several times since then. On this occasion, we were joined by Turtle and Vicky. :)

The interior was well lit, although we were mainly basking in the glorious sunshine. It is clean and cozy, able to seat ~30-40 people or so comfortably. I really like how they have these dark blue curtains (much like the ones at the front door) that can be used to separate tables to give more privacy.

Last night, Rich and I paid a visit to Tomoya Japanese Restaurant in Burnaby – again because I had recently purchased two deal vouchers. Tomoya is a Japanese/Chinese BBQ fusion place, right next to Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodle House at the corner of Nelson Ave and Kingsway. It’s a really unassuming restaurant that might be easily missed. There wasn’t even an exterior sign, with the word Tomoya slightly obscured by its front doors. We had two vouchers, one for its new BBQ selections and one for sushi.

I finally had the opportunity to pay Mazuya Sushi a visit after probably a year of not being able to and finding it closed on 3 separate occasions during my vacation from here.  Yea, its like it just was not meant to be.  But today I set out to set my own fate, and with the company of Peanut Butter, there was not much that could have gotten in the way of us eating here. Mazuya is my favourite sushi restaurant in Vancouver and has been for about 2 years now.  I first came across this place in the summer of 2009 when I was working full time in the area and I used to eat here at least 3 days a week.  It got to the point where they would know who was calling and I would just say that I’ll be there in 15 minutes and they would have my favourite order ready by the time I arrived on my lunch break!  Man, those were the days!  But in those days, I was a student and I was only able to enjoy the standard rolls.  On this visit, I dared to spend more and try some of their specialty rolls.

It had been a weird day ever since I woke up at 12 noon (I have no shame in saying that, and I bet you woke up +/- 1 hour of my waking time too) because I went through at least 3 different food cravings over 8 hours.  First, I craved the beef fried rice from Green Leaf.  Then I craved fast food and fries.  Third, I wanted to eat cake.  At the end of it all, I got none of those and settled on sushi.  Which totally makes sense if you think about it.  Anyways, back in school days I organized many an ayce outing to Tomokazu on W. Broadway near Oak when I had grown used to sushi.

Then Ninkazu opened up.  Owned by the same people and considered a higher end sister store of Tomokazu, Ninkazu makes its home in prime real estate in downtown Richmond just across from Aberdeen mall.  Since then, my sushi tastes had broadened and I discovered better sushi, so I hadn’t come here for a while.  Ninkazu remains one of my favourite places for ayce sushi and reminiscing those days, I was headed here tonight.

In the west end of Richmond lies a humble and unassuming sushi restaurant, one that often goes unnoticed due to its location and modest appearance. While it may be average in appearance, it is nothing less than spectacular in food and service. Takeya has quickly become one of my favourite sushi restaurants in Richmond since I discovered it 2 years ago (the other being Sushi House) and I seriously regret not having found this gem of a restaurant earlier. Those of us who are familiar with the sushi scene in Richmond probably know about Ichiro Japanese Restaurant, one of the finest sushi restaurants in the Lower Mainland; you’ll be happy to hear that Takeya and Ichiro are shared by the same people. MMMM Sushi goodness!!

Sushi Bay on Kingsway

As both Ying and I have evening/night shifts today, we decided to go out for lunch late (at 3PM). Chances are, dinner is going to be after 12:00am T_T…… That’s what shift work does to your meal schedule <.< After all, shift work + hectic/non-existent meal times = worse health and increased risk of obesity, diabetes, etc. Every other month there seems to be an article detailing the negative health effects of shift work, but yet here we are, still trudging along(example from LA Times). How ironic…health care workers having bad health… *sigh* I guess babies still need to be delivered and people still need their drugs…