And so the Japanese barrage continues. My aunt Amelia was kind enough to take Geoff and I out one night. We wanted to go to Vij's, but when we got there the wait was over an hour. We decided to take a rain check on Vij's, and walked down the street to check out En. Luckily, the place was almost totally empty. En's sort of taken the izakaya thing and moved it a little bit upscale - white tablecloths, peaceful zen surrounding, more fusion-type food - and moved prices up accordingly. I actually quite like the space; it's very calm and serene. The menu is divided into a few sections, including light appetizers, sushi, small dishes, medium dishes, and main dishes. We ended up not ordering anything from the list of mains so that we could try more stuff.
"rice crispies"
They actually gave us an amuse bouche to start. They described it as their version of a rice crispy - basically, little wedges of deep-fried rice with a bit of soy. Pretty tasty, and a nice surprise.
soft shell crab tempura salad with spring mix, vegetables, daikon, olive oil, sesame seed, rice vinegar - C$13.5
This came off the medium dishes list. The crab itself was pretty good, with a nice hot crisp to it. The salad was a bit ordinary; they put a little too much dressing for my taste.
lightly pan-fried halibut cheeks placed on a layer of dungeness crab meat served with a soy/dashi sauce capped with fresh herbs and grated lemon skin - C$14.25
This was one of the better dishes of the night. The fish and the crab went surprisingly well together - they had strangely similar texture but quite different flavors. The blackcurrants (or are those called boysenberries? I always get them confused) were pretty sour and a bit out of place.
assorted sushi plate - C$29
We were a bit fooled by what we would get on the sushi plate - it just lists red ahi tuna nigiri, salmon nigiri, hamachi nigiri, unagi nigiri, amaebi nigiri, ikura nigiri, uni nigiri, and california roll. We'd asked how many pieces there were, and our waitress said 15 or so, so we said why not. It turns out we got 8 pieces of california roll and 1 each of sushi, which was a bit disappointing. The sushi was definitely good, but you can find better deals in Vancouver.
asparagus gyoza - $9.5
This was definitely the star of the night. We were quite curious to see what asparagus gyoza would be like, and this was cooler than I could have imagined. The asparaguses (asparagi?) were wrapped whole! The skin was nice and crispy. A great combination.
lightly sauteed sliced giant scallop placed on top of dungeness crab meat covered with a rich tamari soy reduction served with risotto - C$16
Another one off the medium dish list. This was the only thing Geoff had tried before so he knew it would be good. The scallops were tender, the risotto was rich and creamy, and the sauce was just beautiful. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever had scallops with risotto before. You'd think it would be more common than it is...
matcha cheesecake
Sorry, didn't take the price down on this one. Geoff had also tried this dessert before and was eager to get it again. It was deliciously moist and rich, though perhaps just a touch sweet. I'd get it again in a heartbeat though.
So overall the meal was pretty good, but the prices are a definite notch above the many Vancouver izakayas out there. The setting is admittedly a bit more upscale, but I don't know if it's worth it. Auntie Amelia seemed to think money would be better spent at other places...