Hello Nori, Club Kitchen

It has been a month since we first visited Club Kitchen. Since then 3 more vendors have comfortably moved in, and the property as a whole is planning their grand opening celebration this Thursday, May 9th, 2024. They are inviting everyone down from 4-8pm to check out the space, play games, and win prizes.

However, today we were here on a mission to try Hello Nori’s new menu items, exclusive to the Club Kitchen menu. Understanding that this location cannot provide the same hand roll experience as their other sit down restaurants, they have come up with grilled bento boxes to help entice customers in to ordering from them, here.

Currently only available for the month of May, and strictly for the lunch time crowd, these bento boxes elevate the take out experience. A custom two tiered box, gingerly wrapped like a present, with quality meat and seafood.

There are three different grilled bento box options available. We had the grilled A5 wagyu and the grilled salted salmon, skipping over the grilled chicken. This is the first time that Hello Nori has presented anything like this, a new offering they are now able to provide given their access to different equipment. This is but one of the new features they are currently toying with as they continue to flush out a variety of options at this specific location. The goal is to have a steady rotation of said items, worthy of taking your time away from their sister locations.

Here, each bento box can technically feed two, but I would recommend getting one for yourself. You don’t want to have to share all the goodness in each. Plus half the experience here is unwrapping the blue fabric that binds the box and keeps it safe. As I mentioned above, unwrapping it truly feels like a gift. And they have not diminished the Hello Nori experience with packaging that looks like it could be made from reusable lacquer, instead of the glossy cardboard that it is.

Double stacked, you open the lid to uncover a collection of maki sushi and aburi. Two pieces each of the following: Salmon Oshi, Ebi Oshi, Toro Cut Roll, Cucumber Cut Roll, Spicy Shrimp Cut Roll, and Unagi Cut Roll.

Removing this top tier unveils the bottom compartment with your main. The protein of your choosing grilled and ready for eating, over a bed of rice with a shredded egg omelette. Accompanied by a side of Nanohana Goma-ae⁠ and Edamame⁠ for some vegetables.

Hot tip, if taking this home to eat, or waiting before you dig in, I suggest giving the pieces a quick once over kiss of heat, from a kitchen hand torch, if you have one. This rejuvenates the intended crisp in the meat and perks up the char of the oshi as well as giving back its creamy topping.

As for the way it tastes: the take out Club Kitchen experience does not take away (excuse the pun) from the quality of Hello Nori. You get the same gentle flavours with an emphasis of quality ingredients. You can make out the flavours and truly taste what it is you are having.

I like the simplicity of the carefully shredded cucumber as a palate refresher. I found the shredded texture of the shrimp gave it more surface area to capture the heat in the spices used. I was able to feel the fattiness of the tuna belly. And actually taste and make out the texture of the eel, where typically it is downing in its sauce at other restaurants.

They also nailed the classic aburi, a creamy morsel of either sweet shrimp or the more popular smokey salmon with a tinge of heat from a single jalapeño slice.

As for the grilled components: the salmon was well prepared, tender and flakey. And the beef fatty and chewy. Both a delicate offering for a lighter lunch. And if you wanted more there was plenty of soy, wasabi, and/or pickled ginger to help inject some salt, spice, or acidity into the mix.

I can recommend this for a wonderful picnic or an indulgent lunch, because you are worth it. And I am already looking forward to seeing what else they have in store for future releases.

Hello Nori at Club Kitchen
988 Expo Blvd, Vancouver, BC V6Z OG2
clubkitchen.ca