Torafuku — Restaurant in Vancouver

Torafuku – 7 Course Omakase Experience (Vancouver BC – Father’s Day visit)

We made a reservation at Torafuku on Father’s Day and the team was super welcoming. The vibe was laid back but still refined. Warm lighting, friendly service, and a creative tasting menu made it a great choice for the occasion. Here’s how the seven courses went down — each one brought its own little surprise.

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Zucchini This starter was fresh and vibrant. You get zucchini salad with preserved lemon vinaigrette, crispy zucchini tempura, and a fluffy whipped lemon ricotta. It felt like the kind of dish that resets your palate and wakes you up in the best way.

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Foie and Buns 👍👍 This was rich and playful. The foie gras and chicken liver parfait were creamy and smooth, served with a fruity compote and crushed hazelnuts on soft house made milk bread. A perfect sweet and savory bite that didn’t feel too heavy.

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Scallop Crudo A really refreshing dish with thinly sliced Hokkaido scallop, compressed Asian pear, and a slightly tart rhubarb aguachile. Then they added elderflower orange ice crystals that melt and give you this cool floral note. Every bite had texture and temperature play going on. Really well done.

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Wagyu👍👍👍 This was my favorite. The wagyu beef hanger had great flavor without being too fatty. The roasted morel mushroom and spicy truffle tare gave it that creamy earthy base, and the pickled onions cut through to keep things bright. What really made it pop was the slightly sweet naan bread. All those flavors layered together in one bite felt rich, fresh, and balanced.

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Halibut The halibut was pan seared and tender. Served over summer greens with crispy radish and fingerling potatoes. What made it stand out was the green curry and salmon roe. It was a fusion of comfort and brightness that brought a whole different mood to the meal.

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Cornish Game Hen This turmeric fried chicken had a lot going on in a good way. Smoky fermented chili sambal brought the heat while the cucumber and pandan coconut rice cooled it down. It was bold and homey — kind of like something you’d get from a family kitchen but elevated.

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Sweet Tooth – Basque Cheesecake For dessert I chose the Basque cheesecake. It was smooth and mellow with a subtle char flavor and came with seasonal berry compote. Not too sweet or tart — just a creamy finish to round out the meal.

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Drinks I ordered a smoky old fashioned (and maybe a second one) and it paired perfectly with everything. Not too strong, just enough to sip and enjoy between dishes.

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Final thoughts Torafuku nails that sweet spot between fancy and fun. The seven course tasting is a great value at $75 per person. The flavours are creative, the portions are satisfying, and the whole experience feels thoughtful without being too formal. Perfect for a date night, a celebration, or just treating yourself.

My only complaint is that I had to wait five minutes just to get my bill… they can use an extra...

Window Dressing

Last night six of us went to Torafuku for dinner 7:00 pm reservation . We arrived a few minutes early (the Vancouver traffic gods were kind to us) and we were promptly seated in an empty restaurant .

Torafuku was highly reccomended to us by a friend who manages a well regarded Vancouver restaurant.

Now with the exception of another couple sitting in the back corner, the restaurant was empty. We were seated (jammed into) in the booth right by the front window. With three of us over 6 feet tall these booths would fit 4 adults.

My wife and I ordered the Tasting Menu, the other four ordered a la carte

The tasting menu was basically thrown at us to the degree it was comical. The waitress noticed that we were a plate behind when she was serving us the third course and said "would you like me to slow down the kitchen?"

We said" yes" and she immediately returned a minute later with our next course. Think "Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger".

Note to reader: The food delivery (not service) never slowed down.

Things soon got more interesting when the filthiest street person I have ever seen (and I have worked downtown for decades ) complete with bottle bags wandered into the restaurant and went to the back. Hopefully the restaurant is either feeding these people or saving their refundable bottles for them.

I was glad to see that the gentleman was treated with dignity and not rushed back out the front door. Kudos to the restaurant for that.

The food. Our tasting menu was at best mediocre, with the exception of the duck breast which was both tough and tasteless, and left plateside.

The fried chicken that was ordered by one of the other guests and shared by the table bettered every item on the tasting menu.

At 7:45 our waitress asked us if we wanted to order anything else because the restaurant was closing early.

Since we had arrived I hadn't seen another person arrive for dinner

That was a first. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out".

It was all they could do to get us out the door.

Why "Window Dressing," for the title of my review.

The six of us were intentionally jammed into that window booth to give the appearance to the street that the restaurant had customers.

It was clear that our dining comfort was sacrificed to give the apperance that the restaurant was busy.

This was not our first meal at a Michelin mentioned, or Starred restaurant, and quite frankly in this case the...

Food was good but the amateurish service, lack of planning/inefficiency and poor communication on their end were extremely disappointing. Our time was up and we were rushed to pack up and leave -- yet still waited 10 minutes for our bill which was laughable because we could have finished our dessert in the meantime. Spent $250 for a party of 2 and had to chug our $15-20 cocktails and get out food packed up to go. What is this, a hole-in-the wall sandwich shop?

The story: ~1 hour and 45 min in, while in the middle of the conversation/finishing up our main, a server asked us if we wanted to pack our food up. Yep, without any build up, "do you want to pack your food up?" I was really puzzled and that's when he explained that the next reservation was coming up. "Because there is also dessert..." he said. LOL. I didn't make the reservation, and they did not remind us about the time limit when seating us -- so no, I had no idea. In fact, I wasn't even keeping an eye on the clock, so yes, I was baffled/puzzled. Then, when the server brought the dessert out, I asked when we needed to vacate by, and that's when he said it was actually 15 minutes ago. So they let us order the 7 course tasting menu and 2 drinks each but expect us to chomp chomp within an hour and half? May I also remind you that there were like 4 different servers bringing food/drinks and we waited to flag someone down to get our drink orders in?

Anyway, we didn't make a scene, told the server that although it wasn't his fault, a reminder/warning would've been helpful. We were out within 2 hours -- but honestly forgot about how good the food or drinks were because you know, how could I after all that. If the owner/manager is reading this review - please, plan better. Provide reminders, leave some buffers and honestly be more efficient? At the beginning of the night we had 2 different servers approach us within 30 seconds of each other asking if we were ready to order. After the whole fiasco, we even had 2 different servers asking if we wanted our bills. LOL!! Um yea, you told us to leave so yes please, the bill would be nice.

Now, if you’re a patron and read till here, go to Kin Kao Song. Food is better, service is top tier...