Vancouver’s Sushi Experts Take Aburi To The Next Level
I went to high school in Kelowna and there certainly weren’t any sushi places there way back then, or anything at all remotely Asian other than Manchu Wok at the food fair and maybe a rather suspect “Western-Chinese” buffet somewhere off the main highway. I first had sushi when I came to Vancouver for University on a place on Fraser Street in the late 80’s, but this Aburi- “flame-seared” style that many places are serving around town now was new to me until Miku and Minami showed up on the scene.
Now there’s many Japanese restaurants serving Aburi-style sushi, and Miku has upped their game by introducing an Aburi Prime menu, a dinner of premium ingredients and purposeful presentation, almost like an omakase experience. We were fortunate to sample through this menu in late December and it’s available every day, and as Miku isn’t doing dine-out, they’ve still got some spots available for dinner, but do book ahead. Each course and piece of sushi was a delight and I couldn’t help but wonder why we don’t come here more!
From the release: The Aburi Prime experience features nine pieces of premium aburi “flame-seared” nigiri meticulously paired with garnishes to enhance the flavour of each piece, plated on handmade ceramics from Japan. Guests can choose to order a plate of Aburi Prime for $55 or an $88 set menu complete with an amuse bouche, a starter trio, the Aburi Prime, and dessert. A $44 wine, sake, and spirits pairing is optional. We also had some beautiful starters, an uni amuse bouche, aburi beef carpaccio, prawn and mixed sashimi and miso baked sablefish. Even thought the courses were well spaced, there was an abundance of food.
Aburi Prime
Fukuoka Miyabi-dai (tai) monkfish liver, sweet soy reduction, shiso flower Akami Maguro (red tuna)
seared Brome Lake foie gras, soy reduction, pickled wasabi, kiku flower
Salted Cured Japanese Saba (mackerel) pickled ume, bonito flakes, green onion, ginger, konbu dashi gelée
Wild BC Sockeye Salmon jalapeno miso aioli, micro red ruby mustard leaf
Kelp Cured Japanese Hirame (flounder) ikura caviar, negishio, yuzu zest, microgreens
Otoro (fatty tuna belly) yuzu daikon oroshi, baby arugula
Hokkaido Hotate (scallop) yuzu orange salsa, micro red shiso
Atlantic Lobster herbed jalapeno dashi coulis, shiraga negi
A5 Japanese Wagyu uni and micro dianthus
You can also order the beverage pairing and enjoy five glasses including Bailly Lapierre Cremant de Bourgogne, Gold Omachi sake, Joseph Drouhin Chablis, Hakkaisan Kijoshu sake, and Mars Iwai whisky digestif, bu the night we sampled, we decide on wine instead as the Craggie Range was calling our name.
