Grayson and I went ended up going with Kazu because I’ve been meaning to try it ever since it opened not too long ago. Kazu Japanese restaurant is located in Burnaby Heights and offers authentic Japanese fare.
The thing that sets Kazu Japanese restaurant apart from the rest of the Japanese restaurants along the Heights is that it’s Japanese owned and run. Kazu Japanese restaurant was very much needed in this neighbourhood.
Seafood salad
The seafood salad here had lots of veggies and a variety of seafood for me to enjoy. The salad comes with traditional Japanese salad dressing on the side and all the seafood was fresh and a delight to eat.
Ume shisho roll
I would have liked it more if the shiso leaves were cut a little smaller but otherwise it was perfectly tart and satisfying.
They have a new special where you get a Sapporo and chicken kaarage for $8.75 so they decided to get that deal. The kaarage was prepared wonderfully and arrived at the table a delicious golden brown. They were crispy on the outside but remained juicy and perfectly cooked on the inside.
Kazu roll
The Kazu roll ($8.95) was filled with tuna, salmon, scallop, lettuce, shrimp, masago, and mayo. It came with 6 GIANT rolls and reminded everyone of a house roll except it was prepared in a maki version where the seaweed surrounded everything to hold it all together.
Spinach gomae
Grayson wanted some veggies to go with his protein packed meal so he got a Spinach gomae ($3.95). He liked the lotus root garnish on top and the salad itself was pretty standard.
Ika kaarage
This deep fried squid dish was on special and being ika lovers, both mother and brother deer jumped at this deal. The appetizer didn’t come with any dipping sauce other than the lemon wedge. They thought this was a little odd because typically these dishes would come with some on the side.
The squid itself was fried well and extremely crispy on the outside. It would of gotten a perfect 5/5 score out from mother deer if they threw in a few calamari rings in there instead of just the tentacles.
Tuna sashimi
Typically we’re all about salmon sashimi but we have a freezer full of salmon so we decided to go with tuna instead. The tuna was sliced beautifully and undeniably fresh. As I mentioned on my last visit, the wasabi here is freshly grated instead of being made out of horseradish paste.
Here’s a little foodie tidbit from me to you: real wasabi root is actually not a variety of horseradish. It’s just a vegetable like any other and is supposed to have a subtle sweetness with a hint of spice. This is why I actually ended up enjoying the wasabi here even though I never touch the condiment otherwise.
Ginger pork entree
We ordered this dish because we rarely ever seen ginger pork on the menu when it comes to Japanese restaurants. Unfortunately, this dish did not manage to meet our high hopes because it fell flat in flavour and portion size. There was a lack of ginger present in the dish despite it being a ginger based dish. There was also minimal slices of pork present. A bulk of the sautee ended up being made up of large thick slices of onion and shredded cabbage/carrots. The pieces of pork that were present in the dish were quite fatty which made them a little unappealing to the taste buds
California roll, chopped scallop roll and tempura roll
I was surprised to see that the rolls here have 6 pieces instead of 8 to them. They were also quite small in size which made the fillings at a minimum. For example, we thought that the tempura roll would resemble a dynamite roll because it called for shrimp tempura and lettuce as it’s filling ingredients but it ended up being the same size as california rolls. The chopped scallop roll had really fresh creamy scallops on the inside. But we wished that there was more of it because we mainly only tasted the rice.
