DINING | Edible Canada Bistro: Japanese Feast with Chef Tomoki Yamasaki

Edible Canada Bistro – Granville Island
1596 Johnston St,
Vancouver, BC
Tel: (604) 682-6681

Edible Canada Bistro is located in the heart of Granville Island, serving up Canadian cuisine with locally sourced ingredients. The 150 seat bistro features indoor and outdoor seating with an open kitchen concept. It also has a retail shop on site that sells local artisan’s items.
Edible Canada presents The Canadian Table Dinner series. This one of a kind dinner series features local Vancouver Chefs using fresh and locally sourced ingredients. I was lucky to attend June’s Market Dinner series featuring was Burnaby local, chef Tomoki Yamasaki from the award winning Hapa Izakaya in Vancouver.

Edible Canada - Japanese-2 — PRESSED SOCKEYE SALMON SUSHI

The first canapé served was Haida Gwaii Sockeye Salmon with crispy skin and charred miso. The sushi rice was perfectly seasoned with the right balance of vinegar and a slight hint of sweetness. The crispy salmon skin added a great “crunchy” addition.

Edible Canada - Japanese-3 — SMOKED ALACORE TORO

Next up was Yukari cucumber, puffed rice and green apple.

Edible Canada - Japanese-4 — KATSU SANDO

And soon to follow was the breaded pork jowl katsu topped with hot mustard coleslaw on a steamed bun. The lightly breaded pork was tender and juicy and the hot mustard was a great addition that added a subtle kick to the slider.

Now the much anticipated main dishes of the dinner series. The first of four mains was this beautifully presented vegan tofu made with steamed sesame, wari joy (a blend of fish sauce and soya sauce), and late harvest spring vegetables.

Soon to follow was this Grilled Maple Hills chicken with wild spring onion, sea asparagus, morel mushrooms, and yuzu salt. The chicken was such a delight to eat; perfectly seasoned and cooked with a subtle charred flavour.

Edible Canada - Japanese-12 — GINDARA YUUANZUKE

Yuzu miso sablefish was next. Topped with bok choy ohitashi (a method of infusing lightly cooked vegetables with seasoned dashi ) and shishito pepper. The sablefish was buttery, melt-in-mouth divine!

Edible Canada - Japanese-14 — SALMON OCHAZUKE

And the last of the mains was the preserved salmon collar and pickled mustard greens in genmaicha (green tea combined with roasted brown rice). If you’re not familiar with this ochazuke, it’s similar to having savoury porridge. In the Japanese culture, they use any remaining food and rice to create this ‘leftover’ type dish. This comfort dish reminded me of grandma’s cooking and with every bite it brought me closer to the fond memories I had with her.

Edible Canada - Japanese-18 — JAPANESE CHEESECAKE

Ending a wonderful meal was this soufflé cheesecake with strawberry shiso (Japanese herb belonging to the mint family) compote. Japanese cheesecakes are not like the traditional style cheesecake; it’s very light in texture and not overly rich and was paired perfectly with Hester Creek Late Harvest Pinot Blanc.

Chef Tomoki has created such a wonderful dinner to end the Edible Canada’s Spring series. The entire evening was a refreshing nod to local producers, seasonal ingredients, with an influence of Japanese-Canadian cuisine. Each dish was carefully paired with Okanagan Crush Pad wines.

This was the final Spring Dinner for Edible Canada’s Dinner series. They will continue in the fall, on September 19th, 2016 with Chinese Fest featuring Chef Curtis Luck of Mission Kits.