Bikkuri Japanese Restaurant

I hadn’t updated Bikkuri in 8 years, and Mishy hadn’t been there at all, so figured it was time for a revisit. It still has the same interior as I remember, possibly with more elegant decoration.  Pop is still only $0.99 canned which is an excellent price and no change from 8 years ago! Disposable chopsticks are still used unfortunately. Soy at table is both regular and green-lid low-sodium, which was mildly salty, fresh and flavorful. Ginger is not dyed pink; the ginger and wasabi are included with the sushi orders rather than being in a separate bowl. Wasabi was much too strong and needed to be used in pinhead quantity or it would ruin whatever it was supposed to be accentuating. No beef dishes are present on lunch. There were no other customers until we'd been there an hour, although some pickup orders came in. When two sit-down customers did arrive, they stunk of cheap cologne so much that it overpowered the understated food, and I wished they had stayed home.

Miso soup was good; only a touch dilute with enough dashi and we both liked it. Mishy thought the green salad dressing was dilute, but I just call it mild; it was basic but very fresh which is welcome so I can’t complain.

The unique veal chop aka katsu is still on the menu and was still quite good, as was tonkatsu. Mishy hated the chicken teriyaki, though I didn't mind it as the sauce stayed out of the way and let the smokiness of the chicken come through, which I actually enjoyed. Chicken karage was good and nicely seasoned. However gyoza were stale and possibly freezer-burned or refrozen. Cheese wontons were a bit short of cheese and Mishy noticed. Deep fried scallops surimi were good. Agedashi tofu was tasty although Mishy again complained saying it was burned... she was in a bad mood. Shrimp aka ebi tempura and yam tempura were both light and flaky and quite good and the sauce was also quite good.

Salmon nigiri was fresh enough and good. However we had ordered 12 of them, but only got 4 and got 4 each of tai, crab surimi, white tuna and surf clam, instead of the 2 we ordered. A bowl of Tai, which was the same red snapper aka tilapia as elsewhere, and white tuna which was probably butterfish aka escolar elsewhere were fresh and good. Crab surimi was a touch less than fresh but not enough to matter. Spicy salmon roll was good and also fresh, and not excessively hot. Salmon & cheese roll is a substitute for Philadelphia roll, and was actually pretty good with just salmon and cream cheese as there was enough cream cheese.

There is only ice cream for dessert. Chocolate was alright, although not the tastiest and there was something I could not identify, but at least it wasn't freezer burned. However, I realized once I had the vanilla which was similarly odd; what had happened is that it had been melted and then refrozen, rather than freezer burned. Mishy actually like the green tea ice cream which I did not expect that she would given that it had a bit of this flavour. Red bean was the only one of the four that did not have its taste altered, but it was missing that elusive flavour that only the best have.

Weekend lunch was $26.99; this is about $3 cheaper than usual these days, plus the $0.99 pop with the same price as 2015 is excellent. Unfortunately what isn’t is what appears to be a deliberate alteration of our sushi order... accidentally both underdelivering the salmon while equivalently overdelivering the other (cheaper) stuff strains credulity. The missing salmon nigiri was for Mishy, and she didn’t like the substituted fish so I was compelled to eat all of the sushi except two pieces myself to keep it from going in the trash (I hate wasting food.) Everything else was almost exactly the same, even down to the same issue with the gyoza, but with the increased prices these days, most places have upscaled their offerings to match and this isn’t the case here. I didn’t mind it that much but I’m easier to please; Mishy won’t be back which is a shame as this place is so close to home. Following my rating algorithm, the losses would have been offset by the (relatively!) low prices leaving Bikkuri precisely where it was...except for the substitution.  That ended up pushing Bikkuri into the mediocrity zone.

Rating: 6.5 / 10

 

Original review:

Bikkuri is located at 2197 Queen St. E.  Bikkuri is quite small but cozy.  The low sodium soy sauce is on all tables and was fresh. The pickled ginger was green (the usual pink colour is obtained through food dye), but was the tastiest I've ever had.

For starters, the miso soup was a bit watery and short of dashi savour, but was still OK. I enjoyed the wasabi dressing of the green salad.  The cheese wontons were not bad but I ended up letting them get too cold; my fault.

On to the entrees, the salmon sushi was excellent and fresh with the rice of a good consistency. Vegetarian California roll was excellent and clearly made with very fresh ingredients. The chicken teriyaki's sauce was too liquidy although the nice gravy-like flavour was in no way diluted.

Both yam and shrimp (listed as Ebi) tempuras were good and not oily. The shrimp batter was light and flaky, and the dipping sauce was excellent. Spicy salmon roll was good and well-spiced. Veal chop (which I normally wouldn't eat other than for reviewing!) was savoury and well-spiced, but this is an option for serious carnivores only. Age gyoza (dumplings) sauce was OK but they were mushy and had a muted flavour, leading me to believe that they had been frozen and thawed.

For dessert the green tea ice cream was slightly freezer-burnt, but the red bean better. The service was fast and friendly and the waitress always had a smile. Lunch was $12.99 and dinner is $20.99, which for the upscale and often overpriced Beaches is quite reasonable although I think they bump it up $1 during prime weekend time. AYCD pop is $0.99 which is an excellent bonus. All in although there were shortcomings it was still an enjoyable lunch factoring int the price and area, and I would return... hopefully with Mishy this time!

Rating: 7.5 / 10.