Yume Dining — Restaurant in Vancouver

Heading west on 2nd meant that I usually missed seeing the restaurants on the other side of the street. But Yume Dining came up when I Google'd vongole pasta. We were nearby, and decided that we would try some place new. We ordered three dishes – way too much because the Tofu Mohawk alone was gigantic and the entire dish looked to be meant for two people. But if we had ordered that only, it would have been an unbalanced meal in terms of greens to protein ratio – the dish didn't come with enough greens/vegetables. The Salmon sashimi that came with the Salmon Salad was buttery but looked limp. I typically like my Hamachi Sashimi really cold and firm and our Hamachi Sashimi was not like that. I enjoyed the salad leaves but did not like the salad dressing. My home made Carrot Ginger dressing typically does not contain raw onion and has triple the ginger instead so that the carrot ginger is not over-powered by the onion. The onion in this dressing was so strong that our coffee drinks at Milano Coffee Roasters afterwards did nothing to remove the taste raw onions for the rest of the day. It's really not that pleasant to carry the taste of lunch when starting dinner. We would not order Tofu Mohawk again. Originally I intended to try the pasta with clams, but I didn't really want spicy oil sauce, cream or garlic. In any case, my partner did not want pasta with clams that day. The online menu did not show sukiyaki, but we saw a couple of people enjoying that dish. That's probably what we would try next time. The interior of the restaurant was clean and pleasant. Communications with the server was strained, as we had to give our drink order twice – don't really know what happened with our first request – was it just forgotten? One more thing – I've always elevated my respect for the serving staff when they give an indication that you've ordered too much. Didn't happen here – and sounded like they are used to people who can eat a lot. But it would have been nice if the server told us that we ordered too much food as half the tofu was wasted – we were not going home straight after lunch, the left over would have spoiled in the trunk. Besides, deep fried breaded tofu typically absorb a lot of frying oil. It would have taken a MerryChef oven at home to reheat the Tofu Mohawk so that it is hot and steamy inside and crispy outside – our oven would have dried out the tofu inside while getting it up to healthy...

This place was absolutely incredible! I think I’ve found one of my new favourite restaurants!

Food: Every single dish we ordered was so delicious! I’m a sauce girl and this place makes so many of their own sauces (maybe all?) and so every dish was incredibly flavourful! -The beef tataki was so good that we had to order a second plate of it! The ponzu sauce it came with was very yummy! -The tuna tataki and salmon tataki were soft and melty in your mouth…with tasty sauce again. -The dressing/sauce on the Salmon Salad was really good. It came with a blob of ricotta cheese (I think they make it themselves) and I don’t eat cheese but my sisters and mom were raving about it. -Crispy Unagi Futomaki - This was perfectly torched! So crispy on the outside yet melty on the inside. So delicious! The only sad part is that I didn’t get enough since our family of 5 had to share and I only got one piece haha. They also gave us scissors to cut it up cause it’s HUGE. So smart. -Donmahawk - MASSIVE portion. I don’t usually eat pork chop but I’m sure glad I tried theirs. The outside was super crispy and the meat was so tasty on its own but when you add their special sauce…WOW! Their housemade sauce pairs perfectly with the porkchop. -Rose Pasta - The texture of the noodles was perfect and the pasta sauce was delicious.

*Heads up: I don’t eat wasabi but my family does and they said it’s very good but quite spicy.

Staff: We were attended to by 3 staff members and all 3 were friendly, polite, and attentive. They made sure our teacups were refilled without us having to ask and finished plates were cleared promptly. They also checked in to make sure the food was good and to our liking.

Dining area: The dining area was spacious and well-arranged, with enough room between tables to ensure a comfortable and private experience. (I really dislike when I’m too close to neighboring tables and practically overhearing others' conversations.) The tables were perfectly spaced apart and the lighting of the restaurant also added to the comfortable calming atmosphere.

There are so many more dishes I want to try so I’m happy I live close by. This restaurant was absolutely wonderful…10/10! The last time I wrote a Google Review for a restaurant was 4 years ago so let this be a testament as to how good my experience was.

Thank you Yume Dining! See you...

Me and a group of close friends visited Yume Dining over one weekend after a recommendation. We ordered the Sakura Fotomaki (February special), Crisp Unagi Fotomaki, Mentaiko Cream Pasta, Beef Tataki, Sake Toro Nigiri, Aburi Salmon Nigiri, and Donmahawk. The Fotomaki in my opinion were fancier versions of regular style rolls, the Philadelphia roll and unagi roll respectively, with the gimmick of being larger than normal. The unagi fotomaki also had a deep fried piece of eel overlying the large piece of sushi giving it a more unique presentation. I personally thought these were okay but nothing too crazy aside from overall presentation and having a unique gimmick. However, the rest of the items ordered were quite spectacular. The mentaiko cream pasta was rich and creamy with a strong pleasant flavour of the signature pollock roe scattered around every bite. Although, a bit heavy with every bite, it was a good dish to share among good friends. The beef tataki was tender, albeit with a bite more chew than thinly sliced tataki due to its thicker cut. Otherwise, the addition of the marinade brought out a spectacular flavouring of sweet and savoury to the dish. I would recommend giving this dish a try. The nigiri (Sake Toro and Aburi Salmon) were definitely the highlight of the night. They tasted fresh and fatty, simply melting in our mouth. Finally, the donmahawk was quite the spectacle to see. A giant piece of tender cut pork loin deep fried with a panko looking crust along side a selection of simple garnishes. For the size and low fat content of what I surmise as pork loin, it was fried quite well to create a tender and juicy piece of meat with a tomato sauce that tasted more sweet than the signature sour notes of tomato. The menu was true to its words describing the sauce as a sweet fruity sauce. The service was good as well with no complaints from any of us, although for anyone expecting to place a big reservation (over six?), they do request a deposit which will be deducted from the bill after dining. The atmosphere had a nice feel of a modernistic sushi restaurant with a soothing and calming vibe. Overall, I would recommend others to give Yume Dining a try and support a new restaurant that opened only a bit over...