Get ready before you go in: Menu is accessed from a QR code available at each table. If you don't have data, you can probably connect to the free Wifi provided by the City of Vancouver.
Pay attention to the menu! It tells you about the complimentary tea (it smells a bit like coffee but it's made from beans) and the bowl (it's not as deep as it looks).
Premium Bowl ($18.95 + $5 for cold tofu) Conger Eel, Shrimp, Kakiage (mixed seafood tempura), Soft Boiled Egg, Seaweed, Green Bean
- For $5 even though it's got fancy stuff on it I'd pass on the cold tofu next time. Nothing really special there.
- Tempura came hot but it's not going to stay hot. Neither will the rice, special bowl or not.
- Tempura wasn't particularly crispy probably because of not just the rice which was probably more than room temperature at some point, but also because they pre-drizzle their special sauce on the tempura. Sauce is tasty, but obviously it wets that batter.
- It's oily. Use the pickles provided.
- If fish is fish for you and you probably can't appreciate the difference between special eel and cheap fish, get the cheaper bowl option. I personally didn't find the conger eel to taste special enough to choose it again but your experience may vary.
- The shrimp tempura was a bit odd. It was longer than a tiger prawn but around the same thickness as the wide end of your chopsticks. I should have given it thorough autopsy but all I have right now is a suspicion that they cut the shrimp in half lengthwise and pasted the two lengths together with tempura batter. And maybe they just left mine in the fryer a bit too long but I found mine on the dry and rubbery side instead of juicy with a bit of crunch.
- That egg is really intriguing. Looks like they perfectly poached an egg then flash fried a rubbery tempura shell over it so it won't rupture in transport. There's not a lot of yolk to go around, so although the instructions say to mix it into your rice, maybe don't try mixing it into too much rice.
- The rice also has their special sauce, and not just drizzled on top. Every bite down to the last will have some flavour, and if you really like that flavour you might not want to mix too much egg into it.
- The special bowl isn't as deep as it looks but there's still a good amount of rice packed into the bowl for a filling meal. Save some tempura for it. And maybe ask for a spoon early -- doesn't appear to be standard issue.
Overall some plusses and minuses here and the price tag on the premium bowl is a bit steep for just lunch, but you're unlikely to walk out still hungry.
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