Oka-san kitchen

I’ve wanted to visit Oka-san kitchen ever since it opened about 2 months ago. I’ve always been a fan of home-style Japanese food and the fact that it’s so hard to find restaurants like this in Vancouver, enticed me to go even more!

Oka-san kitchen interior

I absolutely adored the interior of the restaurant. It was modern and homey at the same time. They had a counter area where you can order your meal if you want to have it on the go, or a server will seat you at the table with a menu.

Okasan offers a variety of traditional appetizers, sushi rolls, entrees (dons + noodles) and dessert options. But what most people come here for is the Momma’s plate where you get to select an entree + raw item + side dish to create your own combo meal! I also like that you can choose between brown or sushi rice!

kakunidon

★★★

Originally Grayson wanted to get the hamburger but they ran out so he opted to get this pork belly dish instead. This also means we’ll have to come back sometime so he can try the burger, YAY! He said the pork was super soft and succulent. It was marinated in a soy based sauce and came out perfectly balanced.

Hawaiian poke

★★★

This was his first time trying poke and he said that it reminded him of an alaska roll minus the rice because it had a mixture of fish, avocado and a sesame sauce.

Chilled eggplant

★★

Grayson said that he was really looking forward to this but was left disappointed because it didn’t meet his expectations. It wasn’t mushy but it wasn’t very flavorful either.

Tofu teriyaki

★★★

The tofu was pan-fried well and didn’t fall apart when I picked it up. The teriyaki sauce wasn’t overly sweet or salty which is a new thing for me because I tend to think that it usually ends up going one way or the other.

Spicy salmon

★★★

The salmon wasn’t too spicy and unlike most of the spicy salmon I tried, the sauce wasn’t sweet either. Even though it wasn’t spicy enough for my liking, I did enjoy it because I could still taste the fish through the sauce!

Kimpira

★★★

This was a “slaw” of burdock root and carrot. There was a hint of soy and sesame flavor to it but wasn’t anything I was especially impressed with or anything like that.

All in all our visit was enjoyable and we both left with happy bellies. I do think that there could of been a bit more of the raw + side dish portions on our plates to make it more worth the value and the side dishes didn’t impress us too much but these faults aren’t enough to keep us from coming back some time soon!

Summary