2013-04-13 Dinner @ Aoto-ya Blue Door Japanese Restaurant 青戶家

6543 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC

604-327-1158

 

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A few weeks ago, when Octopus and I visited our Chinese herbal doctor, I noticed that Hin Young Vietnamese Restaurant, located near the clinic, has transformed into a Japanese restaurant.  I wanted to go there for lunch, but unfortunately, we had a tight schedule and had to leave immediately after our appointments.

Then, as Buddha Boy and I flipped through the most recent KLIP (April 2013), the above ad caught our attention..."by Tenhachi 天八"...hmm...interesting.  While Buddha Boy thought it was only okay, I enjoyed our visit to Tenhachi in December 2012 (see post 2012-12-28 Dinner @ Tenhachi Japanese Restaurant 天八和食).  After sharing the news with Octopus (who absolutely adored the food at Tenhachi), she invited herself over and insisted that she must join us for dinner at Aoto-ya Blue Door Japanese Restaurant 青戶家.

 

The order of Gyoza was a bit disappointing.  The filling had too much chopped vegetables and the meat lacked texture.  Not recommended.

Next came the Assorted Tempura.  Just like our previous visit, the batter was light and crispy.  The prawns were acceptable, but were not the greatest quality.  Vegetables include eggplant, broccoli, sweet potato and onion.

Buddha Boy enjoyed his Hamburger Steak.  The texture was moist and was not gritty like a typical hamburger patty.  The sauce was some kind of mix with ketchup.

Buddha Boy's second dish (yes, my husband is a big boy) was Katsu Don.  A decent dish with one glitch, the pork was a bit tough.  The meat was not moist, but it wasn't dry either.  The accompanied miso soup had napa cabbage, tofu and kelp.

Octopus went with a combo of Simmered Mackerel Teishoku.  I thought the meat was a bit tough, but Octopus enjoyed it.  The fish had too many bones!!!

I had the Chiki Pon, or grilled chicken with oroshi ponzu.  The chicken was moist and tender.  The citric ponzu was gingery with a light daikon sweetness.  This was a refreshing dish, but it's not really a dish to accompany plain rice.

As I went up to the counter to pay for the bill, the owner (very adorable old man) greeted and acknowledged that he recalls seeing us at his old location on 12th Ave (c'mon...it's not hard to remember an identical-looking fat Chinese couple who loves taking pictures of food).  The old location (in the apartment building) is undergoing renovations and Tenhachi was forced to move.  

The new location of Tenhachi, or now called Aoto-ya Blue Door Japanese Restaurant 青戶家, has a simplistic diner feel.  The restaurant is a lot smaller than its old location, however, it does have offers better street parking.  The "Early Bird" special still applies between 5pm to 6:30pm.  Oh, by the way, they have this stamp card thingy where you get a stamp for each visit.  Sorry, don't remember the exact details...yup, I'm  getting old...hahahahaha!