Marukame Udon – Honolulu Special

On our first full day in Honolulu, we bussed out to Downtown to walk around.  In the afternoon we got hungry and visited Maukame Udon in the middle of bustling downtown.  Marukame Udon is a chain of fast food udon shops which you can find in Japan.  We first tried this in a food court when we were in Osaka so we were excited to learn that there are several locations here in Hawaii too.

Here are the featured udons on the sandwich board in front of the entrance:

When you enter the shop, you order your preferred udon first.  Then you slowly walk through the line to pick up any more sides, such as tempura or sushi to go with your udon.

The food is all very fresh. You can see them preparing it behind the counter continuously.  Prices here are very good too. You can get filled up easily for under $10.

We both ended up getting teriyaki chicken udon bowls.  This one included zucchini, squash and prawn tempuras on the side.

This one we had squid tempura as a side.

The udons were hot and fresh and the soup base was not too salty.  The udon itself was very al-dante.

We really enjoyed coming here as it was quick and simple to order, food was fresh and prices were cheap.  Hot udon soup might not be your first choice on a tropical Hawaiian day, but no worries, they have cold udon options as well.

Seating is also very convenient as people usually eat quick and leave so turnover is fast.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.

Yama Cafe – East Vancouver

Yama Cafe is located on Hastings near Victoria Drive.  We were here last year when it was called “Basho”.  It seems to look exactly the same, also run by Japanese staff. Other food blogs have indicated that there was a change in ownership.

Yama is a small cozy coffee shop with tables, a counter by the window and also a small sofa on one corner.   They have their menu on a chalkboard up on the wall:

Yama also has daily specials written on separate boards behind the counter.  They also have a variety of Japanese inspired bakeries up on the counter.  Most appear to be small bite sized cookies.

I was alone and ordered the matcha latte.  You can have it sweetened or unsweetened.  I went for half sweet to be safe.

I was quite surprised by the large size of the latte.  It only comes in one size and is served in a very nice Japanese tea cup which actually looks more like a bowl since it was quite wide.  The staff took their time to make it look really pretty with the latte art.

At first I thought it was just the top layer that was dark green with matcha powder.  However as I sipped through it,  I realized the dark green was consistent throughout.   This is truly a matcha latte as it was deep with green tea flavour throughout.

It was not too busy when I arrived late Friday afternoon and I was in no hurry.  It did take a while for the drink to be prepared but it was worth waiting for.  It got a little bit busier later on and I noticed people had to wait longer for their hand crafted drinks.

The service was good and the drink was superb.  We will try their baked goods next time.  Be forewarned that if you drop in while busy, be prepared to wait as they will take time to make the drinks, but know it will be worth waiting for.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights. 

Shang Noodle House - Richmond

We were craving noodles so we stopped by Shang Noodle House in Richmond. It’s located near Richmond Centre on Saba road.  We’ve visited the Shang Noodle in the New Westminster Casino months ago so this will be a good chance for us to compare.

This location is a lot smaller than New Westminster's.  It had lots of windows letting in natural light though.  It was not too busy as we arrived Sunday for an early lunch just minutes after they opened.

We got the Groupon deal which comes with an appetizer, noodle, drink and dessert.

For this first appetizer we chose takoyaki.

We got 6 in total. These were good and not too mushy.  It had a generous amount of shredded seaweed on top.

The 2nd appetizer we selected pot stickers.

The skin on these pot stickers were a bit too chewy and rough. Inside had juicy pork and veggies.

For the first noodle we chose spicy beef tendon noodle.

It had a generous serving of beef tendon. The tendon was very tender and tasty.  As well, the noodles were very al dante.  These are Chinese style ramen noodles,

For the 2nd noodle we had the house special spinach noodle. It had quite of bit of meats including bbq pork, some scallops, and shrimp and also chicken.  The noodles were unique in that they were spinach green so it felt healthy.

For the 3rd noodle (not part of groupon) we got the dandan noodles.  This had a huge amount of peanuts on top as it should. 

It also had a deep garlicky peanut sauce.  Dandan noodles are not mean to have too much soup.  I’d say it’s a half dry noodle. The noodles were also very al dante.

At the end we got mango pudding dessert which we took home instead since we were all full.

Service was quick and our server was very friendly and attentive.  Even without the Groupon, the regular prices at Shang Noodle are very reasonable.  The only downside is that parking is limited here.  You’ll have to do pay street parking or find a nearby mall if it’s on the way.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.

Jinya Ramen Bar – Kerrisdale

We tried out the Jinya Ramen’s Kerrisdale location after a nice summer hike near UBC.  They are located on W41 Ave near West Boulevard.

It wasn’t too busy as it was way past lunch time.  It is quite a modern looking restaurant. This is their bar area and open kitchen.

Normal tables

It was during happy hour so the server introduced us to the specials:

Daily drink specials:

Their regular menu is colorful with many pictures of their food.  However, we noticed the prices for ramen at this location are a lot more than the downtown location when we last visited. It is quite a jump, about $15 a ramen!  I’m pretty sure it was about $11 not too long ago? 

We started with their crispy chicken from the happy hour menu:

There were 5 plump pieces of boneless dark meat chicken. It comes with a tiny salad as garnish and some dipping sauce.  The chicken was crispy like it should be and the meat itself was juicy.

We ordered a sukiyaki beef rice bowl:

It had lots of tender beef and had a good portion of rice.  While in the middle of eating this, the server suddenly came by and apologized and dropped off these dishes:

It was a soft cooked cold egg, some ginger and chili powder.  I think she was trying to tell me that they forgot to serve these items with the rice.  I was not aware these were included.  Perhaps the egg is to mix into the hot rice?   If so, my rice was already cold and half gone by the time this arrived.  I just slurped down the egg by itself.

They have lots of ramen choices with unique names.  We ordered the Sprouting Up Ramen.

It is served with thick ramen and has these items for toppings:  pork and chicken broth, pork chashu, kikurage, spicy bean sprouts, green onion, half seasoned egg*, crispy brussels sprouts, black pepper, ginger.

The soup was very rich with deep flavour without being too salty.  The ramen had good chewy texture too.

The ramen here is a bit pricey but was presented very well. However it was not good enough to justify such a high price.  We prefer the ramen shops that let you choose options like broth richness, spicy level, pork fat level etc.

SFDD gives 3 out of 5 Delights.

Pepper Lunch – Richmond Garden City

Pepper Lunch opened it’s 2nd Richmond location in the new Walmart Smart Centre shopping centre at the corner of Garden City and Alderbridge.  One thing going for this location is lots of parking spaces compared to the No3 road location.

It’s the same setting where you order and pay, then they will assign a table for you.

This location feels a lot bigger and brighter too.

We ordered the beef rice on the sizzling hot plate.  This one is the normal sized order:

This one is the extra beef order:

The bigger order didn’t look bigger but it actually is. We found it strange they did not surround the rice with the beef, just like what they did with the normal sized order.  Perhaps this is their way of distinguishing the sizes. 

Both plates arrive sizzling.  You then slowly mix the meat together with the rice and the veggies that come above the rice.  There is extra sauce on the table which you can add for more flavour.  The beef was very tender and was not too fatty.

We also ordered the salmon sizzling plate:

It comes with several pieces of fresh salmon that you would cook the same way.  Cooking salmon or pork would require more time just to be food safe.

Overall the flavours and service were rather consistent with the location on No 3 road.  It was not too busy during our visit on Sunday.  Luckily there is plenty of parking available in this shopping centre.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.

Ichiro Japanese Restaurant - Richmond

Ichiro is on the West side of Steveston Village serving authentic Japanese cuisine.  It seems to be run by Japanese servers and the sushi chefs look Japanese as well.  We haven’t been here for quite a few years since our last experience was just soso.  We brought out of town visitors here to try out so hopefully they have improved since then.

Cover of Ichiro’s menu. 

Their menu changed slightly from a couple of weeks ago when we passed by to look.  We asked the server and was told this is the new “Spring Menu”.  Most of the items and sets were the same.  The only difference was that all the prices shot up higher when compared to 2 weeks ago...

For starters we ordered a few different sushies.  On this plate are California roll, Dynamite roll and chopped scallop roll.

They cost a bit more than the other small takeout places.  Quality and taste wise, they were not bad nor spectacular.  At least the rice was cold which was good for sushi.

We also ordered the assorted sashimi trio.  It has salmon, taro and yellow tail. 

They were nice and thick.  One gripe was that the salmon had bones in it.  This was unacceptable for sashimi.  Even the all you can eat places we’ve been to in the past do not serve sashimi with bones.  We brought this up to the attention of our server and she was apologetic, yet mentioned it happens regularly.  Thus, you should be careful when ordering sashimi from this place.

Next was an assorted sushi plate with more California roll and various nigiri sushi.

Luckily no bones were in the sashimi. Overall it was quite fresh.

Next are the hot foods.

This is deep fried prawns in a spicy mayo sauce. The prawns didn’t seem to be coated with enough breading so it was not very crunchy.  The prawns were large but lacked flavor once you bite into the middle. Furthermore, the prawns just didn’t feel hot enough inside.

Grilled Squid: The taste was good except the squid was not tender enough.

Deep fried squid: This included some spicy mayo dipping sauce.  It was not overly fried and includes the squid tentacles as well.

Chicken Rice Bowl:

The chicken rice was odd because at the bottom there was lots of water.  This made the rice much too moist.  It was not overly flavorful either.

Eel Rice:

Eel rice was a bit pricey because of the eel.  The sauce was a unique sweet eel sauce, similar to teriyaki sauce.

Overall, the food quality was lacking.  Also, the food served here is very pricey and definitely not worth what they charge based on this visit.  We think some improvements need to be made to the food service before they can justify charging these prices.

SFDD gives 3 out of 5 Delights.

Jacob's Noodle & Cutlet - Downtown Kamloops

On our way back from our Calgary road trip, we stopped by Downtown Kamloops for dinner at Jacob’s Noodle.  It’s located in cozy downtown Kamloops.  We got there late in the evening and there weren’t a lot of customers at that time.

They serve a mix of Japanese and Korean dishes.  The restaurant is quite spacious but a bit dark in lighting.  It appears to be family run.

We ordered chicken Yakisoba.

It was served on a hot sizzling plate.  It was not sizzling as much as we’d like but was a good sized portion.  It would have been better if the noodles were a bit chewier though.  The flavoring was fine as it was not too salty.

Next is the Nabeyaki Udon. 

It has the usual egg, some chicken and 2 prawn tempuras.  The udon however was soggy and overcooked so that will need to be improved. 

Next is a Korean stone pot rice Bimbimbap with chicken.  It was well rounded and colorful with good portions of meat and veggies.

Finally we had a chicken udon. Strangely, the udon was not soggy like the Nabayaki above.  It was nice and chewy.  The soup was also a nice clear broth and was not too overwhelmingly rich.

Overall the service was pleasant and I guess the food is considered good for a small city of Kamloops.  We are always skeptical about restaurants that serve hybrid foods such as here having both Korean and Japanese but we didn’t have a lot of choices as it was late in the evening.   Prices were quite reasonable.

SFDD gives 3 out of 5 Delights.