Restaurant: Shima-ya
Cuisine: Japanese
Area: Vancouver
Address: 5589 Victoria Drive
Parking: Street Parking
Phone: (604)322-4649
Hours of Operation: Tues-Sat 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm/5:00 pm – 9:00 pm Sun 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent
Lately, I’ve been trying to cut back on my food intake because I’ve been constantly reminded that the key to losing weight and getting healthier is 80% diet and 20 % exercise. My goal was to eat breakfast like a queen, lunch like a princess, and dinner like a peasant….but I find this is extremely difficult to accomplish.. First of all, how early do I need to wake up to eat like a queen when I am in love with my bed… and how can I pack my lunch like a princess? Okay.. I can eat out but I work at the airport and eating airport food, as you all know, isn’t going to help me eat like a princess. Eating like a peasant at night is almost close to impossible when my hubby constantly sweet talking me into dining out. There you go, this is why I ended up going to Shima-ya for dinner this day.
Shima-ya is a small authentic Japanese restaurant located in Kensington area. I’ve been wanting to try this place ever since I found it on urbanspoon. I can tell that the quality is top-notch just by looking at the food pictures people posted.
The price is definitely on a higher end (depending on what you order). We decided to order Osaka Hako Sushi, Omakase chef’s choice assorted nigiri sushi, and few more pieces of nigiri sushi.
Osaka Hako Sushi (9pc)-3.5/5
- $13.75
- 4 pieces of futomaki: well prepared, just like the ones I had in Japan
- 2 pieces of Inari sushi:
- 3 pieces of Saba Battera
Omakase Chefs choice assorted nigiri sushi – 4/5
- $31.00
- Toro, Snapper, Mongo Ika, Kohada, Tamago, Amaebi, Hotategai, Uni, Giant Ebi, and Hamachi
- Extremely fresh and sushi rice had just right amount of flavors.
- My favorites were kohada, toro, and uni
Nigiri Sushi – 4.5/5
- Chopped scallop was the one of the best I had in van city! (similar to the ones from Sushi by Yuji and Shiro)
- We also ordered regular Ika to compare the taste between mongo ika in the assorted sushi.
When I was ordering, I kept the menu because I knew I would probably have to order more (as I eat more than a normal girl might eat) but surprisingly, I was pretty full by the time I was tackling the last few pieces of nigiri sushi. The bill came out to around $65 for two people before tips. At Shima-ya, your bill can end up pretty pricey but I thought it was worth it because the quality makes up for it. Besides, it is definitely a hidden gem and I suggest trying their food if you live close by!
