Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Okoman Sushi Restaurant


I have been here a few times before and conclude that the prices are overpriced for what it is and the food is not that great, but my friend still wanted to try the restaurant. The restaurant's interior looks better from what I remember (I think they turned some lights off so it was dimmer).


When you enter, everyone greets you in Japanese loudly and says hello (I do not remember that from before). The second thing I noticed, there is really loud jazz music playing which is another thing I do not remember as well. The restaurant has wooden chairs, wooden booth dividers and wooden private rooms, I think it is quite nice.


THE MISO SOUP, BACON SCALLOP MOCHI YAKI, SALMON AND TUNA SASHIMI, RAINBOW ROLL, NIGIRI (SALMON, TORO, SABA, SNOW CRAB), NABEYAKI UDON AND THE DINNER BOX MEAL


To start, MISO SOUP which is included in the dinner special. The miso soup has the bare minimum ingredients of green onion and tofu, but it would have been nice to add some seaweed so it seems more like a true miso soup. The miso is slightly too salty and tastes kind of burnt, there is a miso burnt taste.


The second dish is the BACON SCALLOP MOCHI YAKI, 2 SKEWERS OF BARBECUED SCALLOPS AND RICE CAKE WRAPPED WITH BACON ($6.95). This is the odd part, the first bite I had was crunchy, green and juicy, and I am 100% sure it was a piece of asparagus. My friend claims her first piece was not asparagus and is rice cake. Well, mine was green and crunchy! She thinks I am delusional. Anyways, the bacon wrapped rice cake surprisingly works (I am not a rice cake fan) and I enjoyed them. The scallops however are dry, stiff and chewy because the skewers were cooked too fast as well as on a high heat. There is a nice grill taste on the skewers though.


The third dish is the NABEYAKI UDON, A UDON SERVED WITH 2 PIECES OF PRAWN TEMPURA, SEAFOOD, CHICKEN, EGG AND VEGETABLES ($10.95). The prawn tempura has a nice flaky batter but is too crunchy and over deep fried. The nabeyaki udon has a nice clear tasty chicken broth with a hint of seafood seaweed taste, and there are egg swirls, frozen clams and scallops, one fresh mussel, fresh tako and pieces of chicken.


The fourth dish is the DINNER SPECIAL, MISO SOUP, 2 PIECES OF GYOZA, GREEN SALAD, CHICKEN TERIYAKI, 3 PIECES OF PRAWN TEMPUR AND 3 PIECES OF NIGIRI [SALMON, TUNA, EBI] ($13.99). The chicken teriyaki has a light, kind of flavourless sauce and is not overly sweet at all. The chicken is stiff, not too dry and is more chewy. For the green salad, the dressing has a sweet pickled taste. The prawn tempuras taste the same as the ones from the nabeyaki udon and seems consistent (but over deep fried and too crunchy).


For the nigiri, the rice is too loose. SUSHI 101, the rice for nigiri should be oval, not flat on the bottom.


On the left, the DEEP FRIED CHICKEN has a faint peppery and salty seasoning taste and is not crisp with somewhat stiff and a bit chewy chicken. The pieces of chicken were also stuck together. On the right, the GYOZA is mehhhhh.. not crispy, could have been better, is a vegetable gyoza and not really my thing.


The fifth dish is the ATLANTIC SALMON ($1.50), TORO TUNA BELLY ($2.25), SABA MACKEREL ($1.75) and SNOW CRAB WITH TOBIKO AND MAYONNAISE ($2.75). The fishes are all fresh but the rice is too loose, again the nigiri falls apart and there seems to be a such a small amount of rice (look at saba nigiri). For the SNOW CRAB NIGIRI, there is too much mayonnaise that takes away the crab taste and resembles a tuna sandwich filling. The snow crab is packaged and most Japanese restaurants use packaged or canned (real) crab meat, with the only exception (that I know) of Tojo's' which sometimes during the summer will use fresh non-packaged crab meat.


The sixth dish is the RAINBOW ROLL, CRAB MEAT, CUCUMBER AND AVOCADO WITH ASSORTED RAW FISHES, TOBIKO, CREAM WASABI AND CREAM PEANUT SAUCE ON TOP ($9.75). There is a creamy avocado mayonnaise taste and it is too saucy that you cannot taste the sashimi. I do not taste the peanut sauce either. Other than basically a california roll, the avocados are really mushy.


The last dish is the SALMON AND TUNA SASHIMI ($10.95). The salmon sashimi is cut nicely, tastes fresh, cool, fatty and creamy. For the tuna, it is perfectly cut without any tendon parts and the temperature is perfect. The sashimi is definitely better than yesterday's (Shizen Ya).

MY THOUGHTS
Okoman is not as bad as I remember, especially for this area. To be fair, only the sashimi and nabeyaki udon was surprisingly good. Service wise, they have push buttons that they do not mention and other then that, everyone seems to walk up and pay at the counter.

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 2/5

Okoman Sushi Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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