To celebrate my <100 ranking on Urbanspoon, my friend took me out for dinner at Minami, the new Japanese fine dining restaurant in Yaletown. Minami is the sister restaurant of Miku, which is another Japanese restaurant near Waterfront. As I was entering this restaurant, I was thoroughly impressed by the posh ambiance and decorations that were inside. The dining area had modern furniture juxtaposed with Japanese artistic walls, which looked absolutely fantastic.
Minami Sign
Japanese Wall Art
Being at such a nice Japanese restaurant, I felt inclined to order some sake. I’m not an expert with sake, so I asked our waitress to help me decide. Our waitress was extremely kind and knowledgeable, and she gave us good descriptions of a few sakes along with some samples. After sampling, we opted for a bottle of Momokawa Pearl Sake. It’s a unique type of sake because it is not completely filtered, which gives it a milky appearance. I liked how it was strong and light, but a bottle for two people was definitely a bit much.
Pearl Sake ($40/bottle)
After deciding on our dishes, our waitress helped us decide on an appropriate order for the food. The first that we got was the Atlantic Salmon Sashimi. The thick-cut fish slices were incredibly fresh, and they tasted great with the sashimi sauce given to us.
Atlantic Salmon Sashimi ($10)
The second dish that came to us was the Hamachi Gyoza. Unlike most gyoza that have pork in it, this one had yellowtail fish in it instead. I was a fan of this different type of gyoza, but my friend thought that it was too “fishy”.
Hamachi Gyoza ($11)
Following the gyoza came our main entree, which in my case was the Sweet Soy Braised Short Rib & New York Strip Duo. Although the portions were much smaller than I had expected, the meat was extremely tender and delicious. The side vegetables that it came with were tasty too.
Sweet Soy Braised Short Rib & New York Strip Duo ($29)
The last dish that we got was the King Roll and the Crunchy Scallop Roll. They were two different orders but the chef meticulously put them on the same sushi plate. I really like how food and art are incorporated together in Japanese food. The King roll wasn’t the best sushi I’ve had, but it was above-average. The crunchy scallop roll was fairly yummy though, and I really like the fun texture that was given by the tempura bits on top.
King Roll ($10) and Scallop Roll ($13)
A good dinner isn’t complete without dessert, so I was excited to see their dessert menu. I got their Green Tea Opera because I love all desserts that have green tea flavor. However, to my surprise, the opera tasted more like ferroro rocher than anything else, since it has some chocolate ganache inside. It was a good cake, but just not what I had expected.
Green Tea Opera ($10)
My friend got a Passion Fruit Verrine, which is a coconut panna cotta layered with all sorts of fruit bits. It tasted much like a fruit yogurt but with more sweet flavour, which made it a good less-fat dessert. I quite liked the big leaf it came on!
Passion Fruit Verrine ($9)
Minami meets all the criteria of being a fine Yaletown restaurant. The service was great, the food was superb, and the interior decor was stunning. Despite being expensive, I’d say we got what we paid for here. I noticed that Minami has a sleek garden patio, but unfortunately it was pouring rain when I went and so I couldn’t try it out. I can imagine it’d be cool to hang out on their patio while indulging in some tapas and sake. It’s truly an authentic Japanese fine dining experience here.
Also, thanks to all of you for viewing my food posts and helping me get up to where I am on Urbanspoon. I’m very happy with where my blog is going and I appreciate all of your support and comments along the way. A lot more is to come, so stay tuned!
- Posh interior seating area and patio
- Great food and service
- Very fresh fish
- Quite expensive
- Some sushi was so-so
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