Yugafu Japanese Bistro — Restaurant in Surrey

Yugafu is much more than a charming place--it was a real find in the suburbs.

Last night, I had some of the best sushi and Japanese cuisine of my life here! We have eaten in Japan many many times over the years.

Sushi and sashimi were fresh--superlative! Had the best scallop of my life--from Hokkaido. Several bites went right to that pleasure spot in the brain, happened a lot during the meal. I do not believe I saw California rolls on the menu, so this place is Japan....

The chef does oden--the winter soup dish, with all sorts of options. We had grilled food--amazing. He does an omakese for two--chef's choice of a several course menu. We had a chirashi don--assorted fish on lightly vinegared rice, perfect. If you are into sashimi and haven't tried chirashi don, it's a must. We had a braised pork, wonderful.

The chuwanmushi was excellent (steamed egg and fish cooked in a ceramic cup). The chef's miso soup was excellent. There is a lot we are excited about on the menu that we will save for next time--there are 2 skewer sections on the menu, fried or grilled.. As part of the omakese, we had an import yellowtail, that was grilled to perfection. They do bentos and tempura too. Every dish had the chef's flare.

Even the garnishes.... holy smokes.... the chef used two types of horseradishes (green and white), shiso leaves (not the plastic ones), the ginger was lovely (two types!). The horseradishes tasted homemade. The ceramics in the presentation were lovely, and there were chopstick covers made from kimono fabric. The food presentation was beautiful--perfect.

BTW, they did not have a liquor license quite yet, but we had some dealcoholized Japanese beer. Prices were more than reasonable--and slightly above a run-of-the-mill sushi place--an absolute bargain for the quality.... A lot of sushi places taste like TNT grocery--which is nice to eat and cheap, don't get me wrong--but Yugafu is not like that at all. It's high dining at reasonable prices.

The couple running the place are lovely and friendly. In Japan, I remember patrons sitting at sushi counters, and the free and lively conversations that would happen between them and the sushi chefs. To see that familiar interaction in Cloverdale last night was an authentic Japanese experience--and super heartwarming.

Full disclosure--I heard the chef came from a fancy restaurant in Vancouver, so we wanted to try it out. I do not know the chef, and I am not related to anyone there, just excited to find a real authentic high quality Japanese restaurant in the suburbs--and not in Yaletown.

I hope a newspaper foody...

So glad we made the reservation 6 months in advance! We sat down at a table instead of the counter, but that didn't detract from the experience. They do seatings in increments, so we had the restaurant to ourselves for basically the first hour and half. Everything was clean and so cute.

We ordered sake and they let us choose which cups to drink from! All of them were uniquely designed. I believe the couple does everything themselves, so service was top notch. Each dish was explained, and we were given suggestions on how to eat them. Loved the standing motif of the perilla leaves in each dish.

Everything was fresh and delicious. Even the toro, which is hard to get right in Vancouver, tasted just like it did in Japan. I can't believe we got to try all of this for under $100 a person. I've been to places in Vancouver that charge that much just for frozen sashimi. My favourite would have to be the octopus salad, though. The flavours just blend so well, but you can still taste the distinct layers and it was so refreshing!

After the meal, we had to order more of our favourites. We also got the tamago which wasn't on the omakase menu. We were definitely full by the end of our meal. There were 2 other parties sitting down and starting their course when we paid the bill, but nothing was rushed.

This is definitely one of the more affordable omakase in the lower mainland, and might just be my favourite so far! We even made a reservation for next year just when we were leaving so we can come back and have another taste. Yes, it's hard to get a reservation, but it's well worth it. The atmosphere, the service, everything...

This is a pretty decent omakase experience on a budget, which probably explains why it's a 6-month wait for reservations.

The food was good but I'll just go over the highlights: the monkfish liver wasn't fishy at all (albeit that made it seem more bland than usual). The raw prawn and semi-cooked scallop on top was fresh. stuffed (with fish? we couldn't tell) shiitake mushroom tempura was just okay, but unique. The prawn cake(?)-stuffed eggplant was a little better. There's a closeup picture of both attached. The rest of the tempura was great...nice and crispy batter. the sushi was the highlight of the show for us...it was REALLY good. All of the fish slices were large and, can I say "juicy" for raw fish? I've never thought that way before for sushi but they were all just so plump and fresh...definitely tastier than your average sushi joints in town...even the mouthfeel was different.

I admit I was humming and hawing on whether I wanted to spend so much on a meal because it didn't look like a lot of food (which isn't the point of enjoying a high quality meal I realize but I've got a big appetite) but after experiencing it, I would come back again regularly for an occasional treat. It was quite a memorable experience. And in the end, I felt comfortably satiated so the quantity wasn't too...