Sushi Snob

Since the past year I've been exploring the food Vancouver has to offer. Sushi, or Japanese food, has been my biggest obsession. I've had enough to make some sick but it has definitely heightened my expectations.

After work, I went to I Love Sushi on Schoolhouse in Coquitlam with my dad. It's a fairly casual hangout since its directly connected to a bowling alley. The food was good for my dad but it was just alright for me. We ordered the Tuna Tataki Salad which often is a difficulty (I've noticed) for some places. Tuna tataki is meant to be pan seared raw tuna sashimi, usually drizzled in sauce after. The tuna tataki salad we received was fully cooked tuna slabs that looked like chicken and leafs of iceberg lettuce. They placed dressing of some sort on the side for us to dip into, I guess. My dad ordered a Crunch Roll which basically had prawn & yam tempura roll with crunch bits along the top. He really liked this roll, I thought it was not that great, I could make it at home and it lacked a bit of flavor. I ordered the Yummy Roll which I thought was okay. It simply was a california roll with spicy tuna on top. The spicy tuna was simply raw pieces of tuna with hot sauce drizzled on it. It was yummy and pretty I guess.

Overall, I would come back to this restaurant if I had to but it's definitely not one of the top ten on my list. The service and the price was good though!

Kumare mare!

In Tagalog (predominant language of those from the Philippines) 'mare' is a slang reference to a female friend and 'kumare' refers to close female friends. I guess the name of this restaurant came from the woman who started it. I don't know much about her but she sure knows how to cook and decorate!

I treated my parents after my first paycheck and was pleasantly surprised. Located in Richmond off No. 3 Road, Kumare boasts casual modern dining room design with unique light fixtures and inviting seating. The service was good although the waitress forgot to bring us our drinks. We came in placed our orders and the food came not too long after. We ordered Crispy Fish with Sweet & Sour Ginger sauce which my mom loved. It was impressively still crispy even after the sauce was lathered on and the fish itself was moist which made it seem fresh. I craved Thai so I tried their Pandan Chicken with Pad Thai. As expected their Pad Thai did not live up to my expectations but their Pandan Chicken (barbequed chicken wrapped in pandan leaves) was yummy and moist with a hint of pandan! We also ordered the traditional Filipino BBQ Chicken which we all loved because it was big succulent pieces of moist chicken with absolutely no fat.

Overall, I would definitely come back again. While I was eating, I also observed a lady who looked to be the owner/manager walking around to some tables conversing with the customers. I thought this was nice, it definitely added a homey feel to the place.