OM NOMS: Sushi Oyama

Did I tell you one of my favourite things to do is eat? One of my favourite cuisines of all time is Japanese. I find that whenever I go out to eat it's usually Japanese food in one way or another. Last week, I took my lover to Sushi Oyama on Kingsway. It's really one of the best places I've been to for delicious Japanese food, despite the chefs being Korean- though that's a pretty common occurrence here in Vancouver.

As usual, we ordered a lot because we both eat like monsters :)

Of course, we had to have a sashimi platter. My favourite sashimi of all time is wild sockeye salmon. This platter came with: salmon, tuna, tai, hokkigai, amaebi, and tako, but I substituted the tako with salmon because I wanted more salmon! This one was moderately priced at $16.90 for 18 pieces.

Ricky loves oysters (a little too much) so he got himself a half order of fresh oysters with marinara sauce. Usually he likes to put tabasco on them for an extra kick. I'm not a big fan of oysters though so those are on his side only ;) The oysters were $5.99 for 5.

On my side we have prawn & yam tempura and miso soup. The tempura at Sushi Oyama is the best I've had in Vancouver. There's just enough batter to cover the prawn or veggie, and it's fried to the perfect crispiness. You won't find big chunks of batter here. Less is more! The price was more on the high side: $8.25 for 8 pieces (4 of each).

Miso is also one of my guilty pleasures. I love miso soup. However, it's one of those things that are inconsistent across restaurants; I find a lot of places make it too salty, or use that dehydrated tofu crap. Not at Sushi Oyama! They use real tofu and tofu skin in their miso soup and it's perfectly salted. I always get miso no matter what the price because I like it so much. Here it was $1.25 per bowl. Almost double a lot of other restaurants.

Unagi don is also one of my favourite dishes. The unagi here is seasoned beautifully and not too sweet. It has great texture and they definitely don't skimp on the unagi! This bowl itself can definitely fill you up for lunch- and for $10.50, the typical price for unagi don, it's really not so bad.

I did have a bad run-in with unagi here once before when they made the sauce too sour, but I notified the waitress and she quickly brought me a new one. For my inconvenience, she gifted me with extra sashimi :) I thought that was a nice touch and I did get my don on in the end.

Ah, the Las Vegas roll. Epicness in maki form: Composed of spicy salmon, cream cheese, cucumber and crab meat, deep fried, and sprinkled with bonito flakes and masago. It's crispy on the outside with a kick on the inside. Highly recommend. The roll came in 8 giant pieces and it was $8.90.

Ricky looks surprisingly calm (if you know him you'd know he never is) despite the great food that awaits him. Or maybe it's his poker face?

Although we did rack up quite the bill here, the food was delicious. I can never resist good Japanese food, so I will be back to Sushi Oyama soon enough for more. I would definitely recommend it.