Minami

For the past month, I've been hesitating to eat anything Japanese. I guess that's sort of in preparation for the week long sushi overload I'll be having when I get to Japan in two weeks. However, because of the good reviews and my sister's mouth watering Instagram photos (and also because everywhere else was full), I decided to give Minami a try.

Minami is right in the middle of Yaletown. We went for an early dinner so parking was not hard to find. You can also pay for valet parking which, if I remember correctly, was $8. Not too bad, considering we paid around $6 for our spot in front of the restaurant. The restaurant had a very zen atmosphere. Our entire meal was very relaxing. Nothing was rushed and tables were adequately spaced apart that you aren't really going to be disturbed by other diners or by waiters bussing tables.

Interior shot - View from our table

Minami specializes in Aburi style sushi, so the first thing we ordered was the Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi which is flamed seared salmon on a bed of rice, topped with a slice of jalapeno. So delicious! Good thing there were only two of us. Otherwise, I think we'd have to order more.

My sister wanted to try the Aburi beef, so we got something from that category. We had a tough time choosing between the Aburi Carpaccio and the Aburi Wagyu Nigiri. The carpaccio sounded like it would come with a lot of other ingredients that would mix in with the flavor of the beef, and my sister just wanted more of the beef than anything else, so we ended up with the nigiri. The two pieces of sushi cost us $16. It was good, but I didn't think it was good enough for $16. This I would skip on my next visit.

Next came the Jidori Chicken and Foie Gras Gyoza on a pool of truffle sauce. I'm a huge fan of foie gras AND truffle, so this dish was a winner.

And since we were in a Japanese restaurant, we had to get something that was more raw than the semi-raw aburi sushi. The tuna tartare was accompanied by lotus root chips, wasabi creme fraiche and avocado. It was delicious, but it still doesn't beat the salmon aburi.

After that, we were still hungry, and I started craving the salmon aburi, so we got the Aburi Saba Oshi Sushi, which our server claimed is his favorite. Saba isn't for everybody because it tends to taste a little fishier, but I never had a problem with it, so I enjoyed this dish.

And, of course, my sister had to get a drink. She got a cocktail which, from the small sip I had and from the sugar smeared all over one side of her glass, I really liked. My sister, on the other hand, thought that it was kind of watered down, too sweet and didn't have enough alcohol. I forgot what it was called and my sister is currently at the beach with the rest of the family (yes, they left me behind :( ) so she still hasn't given me an answer. So, here's a picture of her with her drink instead!

Traditional drink pose!

When my sister went to Minami with her friends, she posted a picture of her dessert on Instagram and I remember wanting to lick it off my phone. So, we had to have dessert! And not just one dessert, but three!

Pictured below is the super amazing Warm Valrhona Chocolate Fondant which is basically chocolate lava cake where instead of chocolate lava, it had green tea lava. It also came with Jasmine tea ice cream and Jasmine jelly. Best. Dessert. Ever!!!

I wanted something lighter and more refreshing so we also got the frozen mango lassi that came with tropical fruits and yogurt.

As if those weren't enough, we ordered an additional scoop of ice cream, just because we very much enjoyed the Jasmine tea ice cream that we had to try the other flavors they made in house. We got the most unique sounding flavor - the cassis-mint-shiso sorbet. It was very fruity, so I didn't have any complaints about it, but I wish we got more of the Jasmine tea ice cream instead.

Minami was definitely a good discovery. I left the restaurant with a happy, satisfied, and an I-must-blog-about-this feeling.

Minami
1118 Mainland St.
Vancouver, BC
(604) 685-8080