4751 Garden City Road, Richmond

Tel: 604-276-2628

Web: http://www.tsukijijapaneserestaurant.com/#/home/

Twitter: n/a

Advice: Reservations suggested.

Off the beaten path, in a strip mall that is surrounded by Asian restaurants, you walk through the door and you have arrived in Japan. From the rustic décor to the servers to the extensive Sake list to the menu that is full of delightful dishes, Japan is alive and well in Richmond. I always enjoy the company of at least one other friend to join me on a dining adventure so that I can taste a multitude of dishes, I invited Lindsay Anderson to join me as my dining partner for the night. Lindsay is on a year-long mission to dine at many restaurants in Richmond as she blogs for Tourism Richmond, this was my first time meeting her and we had a wonderful time eating and sharing our food stories. To begin our dining adventure a toast was in order with Sake chilled Gokujo Ginjo by Yoshinogawa (the 300ml bottle for $33.80).

We started with the Kani Kaiwara ($9.50) with crab, radish sprouts, cucumber, avocado with a light citrus ponzu dressing. The next appetizer was the outstanding Kimpira Gobo Salad ($3.95), which I loved, it was made from burdock root.

Next we had the Soft Shell Crab Karaage ($10.50) it was a whole crab battered, crispy with a crunch where the crab meat was tender on the inside. Then we had the Grilled Yakitori (chicken) Skewers ($4.50) which came with 2 skewers. My favourite of all of the were the rolls, we shared the House Roll ($11.95) with prawn tempura topped with unagi, avocado, and masago; and the Avocado Yam Roll ($8.95) tempura yam with avocado on top. Our last dish was the Seafood Motoyaki ($9.95), it was crab baked inside a circle of sliced scallops and topped with mayo which was ok but had too much mayo for my liking.

I was quite full from all of the dishes that we had and therefore passed on dessert as I enjoyed the sake and our conversation.

Review By: Richard Wolak

Richmond, BC V6X, Canada