Chef Sushi in Langley BC (japanese restaurant #live review)

12:16pm

열정  by KOYOTE is playing.  I pregamed the restaurant by a few lagers.  I’ve just discovered that the smart money is on the mens room: it’s single occupant, as opposed to the ladies, which has stalls.

Also, this place doesn’t do tempura batter style deepfried rolls (which is how I like them); they do the hard crunchy sushipizza/croquette style breading. [Eta I should have known this from the pictures on the wall but it didn’t process that I was on a collision course with a roll thats only good after I leave it sitting in a container for an hour or two…]

So, when I scouted, I noticed the Crazy Boy Roll was $8.50 on the special rolls menu: “y2k prices? Sure, thanks, I’ll order that.”  But not again, just not my style.  I was really hoping.  That would have suited me well, to have a favourite meal-size roll at the local sushi place. Not this one, anyway.

The <$2 miso is my entire jam here. I’m coming back anytime I need a cheap pick-me-up.  The regular roll menu is actually really moderately priced as well 👌

My gf says the teriyaki beef is great, but she’s not sure how to compare it to Taste of Tokyo in Sidney on the island (the only other time she’s been to a Japanese restaurant).  To me it looked like the portion was slightly bigger but the meat was thinner, more sukiyaki style. I felt like she got less here but it might have cost less also?  I get her veggies for later 😋

What’s it like inside:

It’s small and light, very airy but also not very intimate.  The booth tables are very nice, the dark-wood aesthetic is pretty chic even though the overall vibe is kind of perfunctory.  There’s some decorative disjointedness, lbr.

Kind of cool, right? Combining elements sort of vibe, it’s giving bushido, it’s giving katana, you know, party.

Then just like, damn, yeah, I guess don’t really look around. Can’t win em all.

Does this sound like the theme of The Raccoons to you?

 

Is it cheap enough and good enough:

Yeah, I’m in.  I’ll explore the regular maki menu at a later date.

The token raison d’être d’hipster: gotta be that cheap miso soup, innit. What a price point 🫡

 

ETA

12:41pm

The crunchy fried roll softens up so well in a container that’s half full with teriyaki sprouts, wow. So like, as a take-out option I find the fried rolls a lot more viable, suddenly.

Anyway it’s decent, chef sushi, I’m prepared to love it, I think it’s got dimensions for me to as-yet explore.