japanese – Elsie Hui

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019

Gorilla Whale – Calgary, Alberta

This was a fun afternoon here at Gorilla Whale which is a place that takes a spin on Japanese food. Nothing here is “traditional” but it’s exciting!

I wasn’t sure what to have, and one of the managers came and sat with me and introduced some of her recommendations to me. She told me to try their Chicken Chicken Bang Bang Noodle Soup so, I ordered that! This noodle was in a Japanese curry broth with chicken, crispy fried chicken skin, with pickled ginger! This was a really neat mix of ingredients and taste! The fried chicken skin was amazing and I would eat an entire plate of it!

The other thing we ordered was their Karaage Burger and this was really different. The fried chicken was really crispy and delicious. It was not greasy at all. The bacon was amazing and was almost he star of the show! The mixture of flavours here was unique and it compliments each other.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and definitely not your traditional Japanese restaurant. I enjoyed the modern twist and the fun spin!

Gorilla Whale

1214 9th Ave SE
Calgary, AB
587-356-2686

March 17, 2015March 17, 2015

Sushi Boat – Calgary, Alberta

Recently, I decided to go back to Sushi Boat as I was in the area, and love this place! I use to come here a LOT when I lived in the NW. It was a Friday night and the place was full, but you didn’t need to wait long for a table either at any section.

Once we were seated, we looked onto the boats and they were actually quite empty. We waited for all the boats to go around a few times thinking they will replenish the boats – but they remained the same or even got eaten. We grabbed a few items that are standard and watched/waited as we ate. We started with their Salmon Roll and they were decent. It wasn’t the same as it use to be, but I was just thinking I got the “older” plate.

Then, we grabbed what we thought was Chicken Karaage, but it turned out to be Fish Karaage and we were really disappointed with that. It was cold, and not very good at all. The fish was dry while the batter was soggy. It wasn’t the sushi boat quality I remembered it to be.

Then, I saw one of my “go-to” sushi’s, the Spicy Tuna Roll and this has always been something that was pretty much fail proof, and it was! This plate was excellent, the spicy mayo was excellent as well.

Then, we decided to order off the menu and put in our orders as we haven’t been that pleased so far. We got a bowl of their Miso Soup and that was a nice salty treat! It did taste good but I thought it was a little too salty.

We got a plate of their Spicy Tempura Sushi which was really good! I think I just enjoy their spicy sauce, but the tempura was really crispy and not overly greasy! It was fresh and nice!

We had their 2 piece Pacific Roll, and that just came out as a giant modified California Roll stuffed with tons of imitation crab meat – which was fine as I love imitation crab meat! I definitely couldn’t put the entire piece in my mouth – although I did not try.

We got 2 orders of my favourite, the Hokkigai, as I’ve always loved surf clams. They were fine here, nothing bad yet nothing special.

We got an order of Inari as I like to call them pillow cases. My sister first called them that – and that name stuck! These are always delightful although I will never call it “sushi”. I just like the sweetness of the bean curd with rice packed in them! It was delicious!

And finally the last thing we decided to order, again as it’s more fail proof was their Crab Stick as I just buy packs of crab sticks eat eat on a daily basis. I love this stuff! It’s good as a sushi here as well!

Overall, Sushi Boat seems to have dropped in their quality a bit. Although the food is still good, it’s nothing like how it use to be. It seems like an average place with actual boats that go around for you to get your sushi! It’s still decent, but not what I was expecting.

Sushi Boat

806 Crowfoot Crescent NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 239-1818

November 14, 2014

Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We didn’t know where we wanted to go for dinner this one evening, but we were checking some stuff out over at Sundridge Mall in the Northeast where we saw Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant and figured I haven’t been here in ages, we would come back – remembering it was decent food. We did come closer to closing time, but when we were done, they closed the gate off and wouldn’t let us go back through the mall, so we walked back in to take a picture.

This restaurant is ran by Chinese people, so it’s not authentic. We weren’t actually hungry so we decided to order a Sushi and Sashimi Combo which had 7 pieces of sashimi, 5 pieces of sushi, a California roll and 2 pieces of house special rolls. The quality was decent!

Then, we decided we wanted a bowl of udon, and decided we’d do something a little different – so we got their Spicy Chicken Udon which was really different. It reminded us of a Chinese dish, but just using udon noodles. It was tasty actually! They used ground chicken which was interesting as it fell to the bottom of the soup.

Overall, a decent experience. We don’t have much complaints and the nice thing it’s in the mall – which would be ideal for cold days! But, they close the gate before the mall closes.

Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant – Sunridge Mall

2525 36 St NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 568-6886

November 11, 2014November 11, 2014

Menyatai Japanese Noodles – Calgary, Alberta

I recently wasn’t feeling too great and all I really wanted was a bowl of noodle soup. I was expecting something a little more bland but we pulled up to Menyatai Japanese Ramen where I couldn’t decline the offer to eat here as I’ve been meaning to try here for awhile now.

Once inside, it’s a small but cute location where the staff is friendly and authentic! We were excited to be here so I ordered their Miso Ramen. I’ve tried a few in the city so it’s fair that I order this to compare! I found that the ramen had a great texture, the soup was fantastic and the piece of pork was amazing! This miso ramen has just found it’s way to the top of my list in Calgary so far! Pretty exciting news!

We also ordered a bowl of Beef Udon which is another one of our favourites to order when at a Japanese restaurant. Although the udon and the beef was excellent, it wasn’t any different that can set itself above anyone. Definitely not a bad bowl though! The beef taste in the broth was amazing, the bee was tender and delicious and the udon texture was really good.

We added an upgrade to one of our meals by having their Inari Set which basically comes with 2 pieces of inari and I love them, so we figured we’d go for it. It was good, no complaints – although we thought it was weird as it didn’t come with wasabi or soy sauce. So, we just ate it plain.

The overall experience was amazing. Even though I was sick the food tasted great and the staff was amazing. The prices seem costly but the portions are massive and the food was perfect. The location is tucked off the main street, but there’s quite a bit of street parking available.

Menyatai Japanese Ramen

24-12 St NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 263-3666

July 27, 2014July 27, 2014

Kiro Sushi – Calgary, Alberta

We decided to go to Kiro Sushi for lunch this one afternoon, and we’re happy we did. Just located off 130th Avenue in the southeast, it makes it pretty easy to find dining options, so it was nice that we came here.

I found that the interior quite interesting and it reminded me with the interior that was here before Kiro came!

We started with some Spicy Tuna Sashimi which was quite spicy and the tuna was pretty good and very well seasoned.

Then, we had a little plate of Assorted Sushi with salmon, surf clams and inari! The sushi was quite satisfying!

One thing we love eating most is udon, so we ordered a bowl of Beef Udon, and when it came, it was a large bowl of soup. The beef wasn’t too tender but the flavours of the broth was quite delicious.

Just when we thought we were full, and we were ready to leave – we totally forgot we ordered the Pineapple Express sushi roll, which turned out to be the best dish of the visit!

Overall, it’s a nice sushi place to eat! It’s a nice sit down sushi place that offers decent food!

Kiro Sushi

4600 130 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 726-9132