604 Foodtography

My visit to Zipang Sushi tonight was not planned, even though I’ve been eyeing this restaurant since I first saw their takoyaki stand at the Richmond Night Market three years ago. I’ve driven by to check the location, but somehow just never made the time to go eat there.

Skip this part if you don’t want to read how I ended up here and just scroll down to the yummy pictures.

Well the original plan was to go to Burgoo on Main St. and 15th Ave. From the other reviews from local food bloggers, I knew to expect a wait since they don’t accept reservations on Fri/Sat. What I did not expect was a nearly 2 hour wait. Arrived before 7, was told it would be a 30 minute wait for a party of two, and they took my number to call me when the table was ready. So we walked around the neighbourhood, making a small loop at first, then an even bigger loop.

50 minutes later while sitting at the park, I got a call.

B: “Hi Kevin, we have two seats available at the bar, would you like them?”
K: (Do you want to sit at the bar? Cause I dont.) “No, we’d like to sit at a table or booth please.”
B: “Okay, a table should be clearing up in 10-15 minutes, we’ll give you a call back later.”
K: “Thanks.”

So it was still nice and bright when we first arrived. By now it was getting dark and chilly so we went back to the car to stay warm. I waited another 20 before I got thoroughly pissed off. I phoned them twice, and both times I got forwarded to their answering machine / voicemail message.

Almost two hours. It was nearly 9! Hungry and ticked off, we left and I drove south on Main. Racking my brain trying to figure a place to go eat, I remembered Zipang. Drove by slowly to see if they were open. Yes! They were! Quickly parked and went in.

First impression, it was small, well lit and very cozy. No pictures of the interior because it was busy and we had the last booth available.
The menu is very extensive and informative. Spicy is denoted by a small red pepper and vegetarian denoted by green text. There is also a laminated menu with special items and rolls. We, or rather I, took a long time to decide what to eat. So many choices, so much variety!

Started off with Gomaae (spinach with sesame dressing). It was pleasant, not overpowered with the sesame sauce.

4 different sushi rolls.
The plating is so pretty, just like my company for dinner =).
Funny thing, I spent a lot of time just looking at the plate, not wanting to touch it cause it just looked too good to eat.
Clockwise from top, Spicy Cactus Roll, Dx California Roll, Mr. Green, and the S.S.S Roll.

At first I thought it was wax or parchment paper around the tealight candle. Turns out it’s radish!

Close up of the Spicy Cactus. Turned it around and it looks like a caterpillar. Very cute.

Mr. Green. Sorry, all I can remember is that it had tuna, rice crispies, and cucumbers.
It was tasty though, the couple flakes of rice crispies in each gave it a nice texture.

S.S.S (Salmon, Shrimp, Scallop). Super roll.
Forgot to take a picture of the Dx California roll. Why is it “deluxe”? It’s made with real crab meat.

While I was taking these pictures above, I felt a long stare from the waitress. I wasn’t bothered, but she asked me if I was a photographer. I just told her I was and I liked to take pictures of food since I write a food blog. She was very nice about it and genuinely interested and even suggested I get a picture of the chef. I didn’t get to, but that just gives me an excuse to come again. I forgot to leave them my url…..hopefully they’ll see this.

Spicy Agedashi (deep fried tofu in spicy soup). Crispy outside, soft inside. Not too spicy, it has a very mild kick.

Tako Yaki! I thought this would be the main attraction for me, but the sushi roll platter stole its thunder. Just barely.
It was still  so good. Inside each ball was a sizable chunk of octopus, about an inch wide. I especially love the creative plating and the mayo writing on the edge. I would have rather the sauce be drizzled over top instead of underneath, but that’s just nitpicking.

Lastly, prawn tempura. I like that there isn’t a lot of batter on it to falsely advertise the size of the actual prawn within. Also liked that even though I didn’t touch it for a while after it came (still eating my rolls), it was still hot when I had my first piece.

Halfway through the meal, I already decided that it was so good that I would come back again. The only time I’ve ever decided to revisit something is at The Dark Knight IMAX. Not even halfway through the movie, I had already made my mind up that I’d watch it again.

The damage for two. When the food first came, I worried we wouldn’t have enough food.
It’s very deceiving, I was already full by the last three pieces of my rolls.

Last words. The place is small, probably seats 20~ people, and if you arrive at dinner time I’m going to bet you will have to wait. Make reservations, they take them. I wouldn’t want you waiting 2 hours to eat dinner.

Lunch: 11:30am – 3:00pm
Dinner: 5:00pm – 10:00pm (Closed on Mondays)