And you won’t be able to stop eating the Pink Godzilla roll
Mark Laba
Province
Chef Yoshiyuki Aoki and Hideko Aoki with a selection of tasty treats from their West Broadway restaurant. Photograph by : Gerry Kahrmann, The Province
Sushi Aoki
Where: 1888 West Broadway., Vancouver
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-731-5577
Drinks: Beer and wine
Hours: Mon.-Fri., lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner, 5-9 p.m., Sat, 5 p.m.-9 p.m., closed Sun.
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When I was nine years old, my world was shaken one Saturday afternoon as I watched Mothra battle Godzilla, only to be zapped by Godzilla’s atomic ray. A Mothra egg survived, hatching two larvae that shot out a cocoon with the efficiency of spray-on cheese, wrapping Godzilla and sending him to the bottom of the sea. My impressionable mind was dealt a lethal blow. The good citizens of Tokyo, nevertheless, were relieved. I wished for a world where peace might reign and misunderstood monsters might live with humans in harmony.
Well, that world may never be but Godzilla can still find understanding, albeit on a plate. It was the Pink Godzilla Roll that attracted me, along with my old pal Norbert Noodnick, an out-of-work ventriloquist who used to work the circuit with Shmendrick the Magnificent, to this restaurant. His dummy, Mr. Smots, apparently fondled a cruise-ship passenger’s bottom and Norbert was escorted off at the next port. Oddly, Mr. Smots was allowed to finish the trip.
“Leave the dummy at home,” I told him.
“But then who’s going to foot the bill?”
“I will.”
“Oh, you meant the other dummy. OK.”
The restaurant was as pink as the promised Pink Godzilla with perfunctory wooden seating and an automatic electronic door-greeter that welcomes you in Japanese with the soft lilt of a female robot.
We started right in, laying molar to the monster, and what a mutant sushi roll the Pink Godzilla ($7.25) was to behold! It required a toothpick to hold it together. Perched atop a disc of spicy tuna and chicken teriyaki, wrapped by light tempura-crusted seaweed, sat a slice of kiwi capped by a strawberry. The whole shlimazel was finished with doodles of mayo and pools of spicy sauce. The experience was like having your tastebuds bounced around in a pachinko machine. Sweet, spicy, fruity and meaty all at once, the behemoth contained atomic rays of flavour, deadly in the sense that you can’t stop eating this creation.
Next up, because the days have been gray and I needed to put a little spry in my step even if I do have fallen arches, was the Sunshine Roll ($4.50). A smoked-salmon circle corrals scallop, egg, cucumber, seaweed and fish roe for a slightly restrained flavour with just the right smoked-fish kick.
“Wanna see me make the sushi talk?” Norbert offered.
“I think it speaks for itself.”
That was certainly the case with the next offering. The Mediterranean Roll ($5.50) is truly an odd duck with sun-dried tomato, avocado, pine nuts and, strangest of all, sauerkraut. Words escape me describing this one. Just think confused German and Italian tourists lost in Tokyo. Somehow, though, the concoction worked.
We also sampled the spicy scallop gunkan ($2.50 each), which is an elongated nori-wrapped sushi that was excellent. The menu here is huge with every type of sushi and sashimi to donburi bowls to savoury appetizers like grilled mackerel or oyster shooters for the brave of belly. Bento boxes with teriyaki or chicken karaage with sushi and sashimi options are a great deal.
On the way out I spotted Japanese hay-fever masks for sale for a buck. Bought one and slapped it over Norbert’s mouth. When you can’t see if the lips are moving or not is really the only way to silence a ventriloquist.
© The Vancouver Province 2007