Visual Bites: Kaide Sushi Bar
5 Comments
Karen Hamilton
February 9, 2009
It had been nearly two months since we had seen our good friends and neighbours (who we affectionately nicknamed Janeathan) since they were away for an Asian adventure of their own. We got a call to join them for dinner over the weekend to catch up on things, and they suggested Kaide Sushi Bar – a spot on Richards and Drake that has become their favourite neighbourhood sushi restaurant.
I do not describe Kaide as a sushi restaurant lightly. Do not come to this place expecting anything else. Menu options are plentiful, varied, and delicious, but deliberately lacking the usual Japanese cooked dishes that Vancouverites expect to find – no teriyaki, no motoyaki, no gyoza. The only items I noticed that were served in any hot style of preparation were the hot sake, the miso soup, and the unagi (which is, in my experience, always in BBQ form). Nearly none of the fish they offer has known the caress of heat. If you don’t like your seafood raw, go somewhere else for dinner.
Small hot sake for $4. Love the mushroom visual and the bow of paper napkin to keep my fingers from being scorched.
Inventive ebi sunomono for $4. The lotus root was marinated in sesame. You can’t see it here, but the noodles were tied into pretty bows – 4 bunches in all, which made it easy for me to pick each one up for a clean mouthful. I wasn’t wowed by the vinaigrette, which was bland and flat for what I expected from this presentation. Still the highlight dish of the evening.
Heaping pile of spicy tuna sashimi for $12.95. Spice level was beyond nonexistent but the dish hit the spot regardless. They probably won me over with all that avocado.
Marinated tuna sashimi for $12. Clean, fresh, and again, in so much abundance that $12 seemed almost a steal. Both the spicy and marinated tuna are available as donburis for approximately $14.
Rising Sun roll for $12.50. Fresh Dungeness crab, salmon, ebi, tobiko, and other fillings I wish I had jotted down. Wrapped unusually in something that is not seaweed. Sorry folks; will update you on what is actually in this dish when I visit Kaide again. Would I re-order this? Probably not. High on fantasy but relatively mediocre in result. Perhaps the diversity of ingredients made this dish a little too scattered in focus.
Special Chop roll: scallops, tobiko, and mayo for $4.25. You get a lot for the price and there’s no denying the freshness of the scallops. No fishy essence or slime that can sometimes accompany this ingredient.
Kaide Sushi Bar
1375 Richards Street | Yaletown
(604) 681-5886
Tangent Time – The Vancouver Sushi Throwdown
Darren of Timing and Delivery started a thread on Urbanspoon Vancouver called the Vancouver Sushi Throwdown. I’ve submitted Kaide as one of my 3 sushi picks (if I had thought about it more carefully, The Eatery would have made the grade over Bay Sushi Cafe). Join in on the conversation with your sushi favourites!
Categories: Food, Restaurants, Visual Bites, Yaletown
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Great photos, Karen, as always. You truly have a talent that’s tasty.
All puns aside, thanks for the Vancouver Sushi Throw Down shout out.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/talk/t/78/vancouver-sushi-throw-down.html
Right now, we’re in the lead (and the only two entrants thus far!)
The thing that wraps the sushi is, I think, mamenori
It’s very thin and made with soybean and comes in many colors.
Thank you for helping to identify the mystery wrap!
You’re welcome
I’m a huuuuge fan of Japanese cooking -and I’m so far away to know it as well as I would-, so I’m happy when I can help.
PS: the eatery is very close to home, we just ordered take out (with two daughters it’s impossible to eat inside, unfortunately). I hope one day…….
i like your review very much! Your food-pictures are fantastic andmakes me really hungry ^^
greets from germany