Kimu Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Vancouver

Been here a few years ago but with the abundance of sushi restaurants, honestly forgot about this place. The menu is quite vast, not only do they serve the regular appetizers, rolls, and sashimi, they also have aburi and okonomiyaki amongst other things.

Came here on a Friday night around 6:45pm and it was busy as expected; wrote my name down on the waiting list and was seated within 5mins. The restaurant is spacious and has lots of seating.

I ordered the sushi cake, chopped scallop roll, unakyu roll (bbq unagi), Alaska roll, and Takoyaki. The takoyaki came first and came piping hot. My expectations were not too high as usually takoyaki isn’t all that good, small and slathered with the takoyaki sauce or Japanese mayo. Needless to say, I was surprised as they were quite big, nice crunchy texture on the outside and the perfect consistency on the inside. It wasn’t full with batter nor was it flavorless; I could taste some seasoning and a nice piece of octopus. The takoyaki has light mayo and takoyaki sauce, I wouldn’t have minded just a bit more sauce though.

The chopped scallop roll was probably my favorite out of the three basic rolls. The rice consistency was slightly more gooey but almost in a good way. The chopped scallops were nicely packed in and either the sauce or recipe they used gave it an unique flavor I haven’t tasted at other places that serve it.

The Alaska roll was okay. Kimu uses real crab meat which was a bonus however, maybe they didn’t soak up the water from the crab meat enough because it was sponge-y. When dipped in soy sauce, it dilutes it when eating in your mouth. Crab meat lacked flavor and lowered the overall taste and consistency.

The unakyu roll, which is unagi was good. Pretty average. Nothing different or outstanding.

Lastly, the sushi cake, the most unique of them all was really good. Loved the seared salmon pieces that are made to look like a flower on the top, with other ingredients to follow like masago, imitation crab, tuna and a chewy deep fried rice as a foundation, all topped off with a mild spicy sauce. However, I found the crab meat again lacked flavor. All the flavors went pretty well with each other. I wouldn’t say it’s amazing, but it’s definitely unique to Kimu and not something you’d find elsewhere.

The service was pretty good! Read reviews before coming and lots of reviews complaining about service but I had a good encounter. All staff were friendly and my tea was refilled 3 times, which was a surprise to me as the restaurant was insanely busy; bonus points!

Overall, the sushi here is good, the flavors are unique but I would say the prices are slightly higher when compared to its competitors for more basic rolls. Also the sushi rolls are smaller too. Good eat and I will be back to try other things on their menu! Side note: just so happen to drive by at around 9:30pm on the same day and the restaurant was still packed and still had quite a few people waiting...

Ordered the tempura, edamame, dynamite role, blue fin oshi, tamago cone, spicy scallop cone, froe gras, chicken yaki udon and miso ramen. The tempura was crispy on the outside and soft interior served with a tangy sweet sauce. The blue fin was seared with crispy tempura crisps, garlic crips, jalapeno and a buttery savory sauce. The tamago cone was served in a cone with 2 tamago rolls, the eggs were soft, flavourful and the rice was perfectly cooked. The spicy scallop cone was the same as the tomago cone with a white sauce and red spicy sauce. Scallops were fresh and I can't say more about the rice. The rice was really good, warm, soft and you can get each individual, they obviously washed the rice well before cooking. We ordered only one piece of froe gras, and it was buttery with a hint of seared fatty pork flavor. The yaki udon was flavourful, but not over powering, the chicken and udon were cooked well and was very soft, but didn't fall apart. The chicken in most places are overcooked and hard. The udon is either over or under cooked. The ramen was also good, the noodles were aldente and the soup base was flavourful. Also had an okina premium beer. Thought I was getting a glass, but got the full bottle.

Overall, I think I have found my favourite Japanese restaurant. Maybe another one will overtake this in the future.

Sorry, no photos, scarfed them all down right when they arrived...

If you visit here , probably you will have an shocking taste experience. I can't figure out how their spicy sashimi sauce always tastes different. Their spicy sashimi sauce was insanely delicious. Is their skill probably trying to not keep the same taste? Often, the taste of sushi rice is different, and we have lost our charm to their sushi anymore. The freshness of the fish is not bad, but the taste is not worth paying for. Recommend to enjoy simple sushi or rolls that don't require their skill. Nonetheless, hot food still satisfies. In particular, the taste of miso soup and teriyaki sauce is special and hot food is still attracting us here. This place has been known as a charming restaurant like hidden jam in our neighborhood for the past few years. However, unfortunately, it seems that they have stopped trying to make good food. The owner doesn't seem to want to be at the sushi bar anymore. Customer service is terrible and poor In the past, while the food was delicious, the customer service was very bad, but it seems to be getting worse. This often makes us hesitate to even pay a 15% tip. However, if you want to enjoy great hot food, we can still recommend this place. But, check the head chef's working days. We still love this place, but it's sad that the owner has lost his...