Today we were at Syu in Kitsilano, a newer Japanese restaurant, taking up home from the the once long standing Kibune Sushi. 40 years of traditional style Japanese cuisine is now a modern and fusion take.
I have never been to Kibune, but my guest who has, told me it was dark and cramped before, whereas the space has really opened up now. There is more lighting and the feeling spaciousness is with the use of a bleach wood. She aptly described the decor as West Coast, especially given the presence of a killer whale and surf board as decorative pieces by the front door.
For seating we were given a more intimate booth that gave us much privacy.
During our visit we were able to meet with their head Chef who worked many kitchens in Osaka, Japan, and more recently Sushi Bar Shu. As taken from the press release, “ Chef Kouichi Fujioka brings three decades of culinary expertise to the sushi bar, seamlessly blending Japanese tradition with French, Italian, and Korean techniques honed at establishments like Hapa Izakaya and his own Squamish restaurant, Oryzae.“
They have been open since September and are looking to celebrate their first feature menu now. This is available until the end of January, unless they are found popular by customer demand and make it on to their regular menu. So this was like a test drive of sorts.
From this menu we had three creative and striking seafood dishes, starting with the Hokkaido Snow Crab Yuzu Cream Cheese. Real snow crab meat blended with yuzu cream cheese, served in a hollowed out bamboo husk to have with crispy taro chips. This was a fun and playful take on a share style appetizer, like their Japanese take on chips and salsa. Although I found the dense and creamy dip a little too heavy for the fragile sliced taro crisp. As is, it’s flavour was bright with the distinct flavour of yuzu coming through.
The Lobster Seafood Motoyaki is Lobster and various seafood meat baked with a Japanese-style miso mayo sauce, and served with the lobster tail shell. Like the dish before, we found it heavy for Japanese cuisine and even more so given the delicate nature of the vessel. This too had the texture equivalent to a dip or salsa. Salty as is, we found ourselves searching for a base like that of another chip or some steamed rice.
However, instead we looked to some of their imported Japanese sake to help cleanse our palates. The Dassai “45” Junmai Dai Ginio was available as a 300ml or 720ml bottle, we got the former. This was a well polished rice offering delicate and feminine notes that helped to cut into the heavier flavours above, and would also pair well with our delicate fish below.
The Hokkaido Uni Sushitini played on the trend of decadent dishes served in delicate drinking vessels. It was essentially a chirashi don with sushi rice packed into a martini glass, then topped with chef-selected marinated seafood. A little challenging to eat given the mound of chopped scallop, ikura, and uni that was piled high. I loved it for the three pieces of uni and found that they rationed the rice to all the other ingredients well.
Next we moved on the exploring their regular menu items that included sushi, sashimi, and entrees.
The Onsen Salmon is sous-vide sockeye salmon with a creamy garlic stem sauce and salmon roe. The fish was a lovely vibrant red that contrasted the green of the garlicky sauce. Already salty as is, I found the addition of the fish roe unnecessary and overwhelming, given how soft and gentle the fish was by comparison. I ate the two separate.
The 3-Kind Sashimi Platter is the chef’s choice and today he choose blue fin tuna, Thai red snapper, and local sockeye salmon. Three of each sliced to exemplify its silky yet firm softness. I liked it with a little soy. At this point I was craving rice and was thankful to have it below.
Temaki are handrolls, either available individually or all together as a set of five for $110, saving you $10. We tried their three most indulgent starting with the Godzilla Hand Roll. Seaweed, sushi rice, Wagyu, Ebi Tempura, Uni, and Caviar folded and placed on a specialty wooden riser for the sake of ornamentation. This was like eating a taco, where you run the risk of having the fillings spill out of the sides. I didn’t take note of the rice, but found the tempura an equally light base by comparison to everything else. The wagyu was tender enough to easily bite through, the uni was the star with its standout umami flavour, and the caviar a cherry on top of this already luxe bite.
I could have done without the fish roe in the Ikura & Uni Hand Roll. I found it once again too salty and overpowering, whereas I just wanted to celebrate the uni as is.
The combination of Unagi with Foie Gras in this hand roll was familiar one, that had me making the connection between Syu today and their sister restaurant Bento Cafe, which I visited earlier in the week. This roll ate like a spoonful of rice. Salty and saucy, the foie gras’ creamy texture matched that of the soft eel, but without masking any of its flavour. Winthin, the hint of shisho leaf added a lovely herbal freshness to these rich bites.
We then went a little lighter and a little more traditional with a few pieces pf nigiri. Chutoro blue fin tuna, Striped Jack, and Spot prawn. Each elegant in its quality and execution.
In contrast was the plant-based option of their Eggplant Oshi. A thin slice of eggplant over pressed sushi rice, topped with two different types of miso. The lines of dark miso and yuzu miso was a lovely design, but far too much sauce. They overpowered any trace of the eggplant, resulting in essentially bites of only it and rice. I would have preferred this just the eggplant without the rice, as an entree. And to have the sauces on the side to be dipped to my liking, as I liked.
And as full as we were, we wanted to try their their traditional Japanese donuts, made from a recipe inherited by our Chef, from his wife’s grandmother’s recipe. Brown sugar donuts with vanilla ice cream, kinako, and brown sugar syrup. I liked their more neutral flavour and thought it would go well with tea. However found the balls doughy, where as I was hoping for a more spongier texture and something a lot more softer to chew through. Here, all the flavour was in the vanilla ice cream, which we did find a lovely and gentle way to end such a creative menu.
Overall what a unique spot to add to the community. I can see them as a great go to for late night drinks and a couple of rolls, after you’ve finished your time at the neighbouring beach.
Syu Kitsilano
1508 Yew St, Vancouver, BC V6K 3Е4
(604) 731-4482
