Sushi Yen: New West Sushi Spot

It’s been quite a few years since I last ate at Sushi Yen so I figured it would be a good time to revisit this little eatery located in New West.

I had my eye set on trying their Donkatsu Curry Pork Cutlet ($10.90). While it’s far from the katsu curry that we’ve had in Japan, this basic dish is rather large and filling. The pork cutlet is thin and a bit dry but they’ve made up for this by providing a lot of curry sauce in the dish. I was a bit surprised that I actually wound up finishing all of the curry sauce here (so perhaps it was better than I initially thought). The sharp flavour of the ginger actually worked well in this dish given the mildness of the curry.

On a subsequent visit, I tried their Aji Fri ($5.50) which they described as yellow stripe scad which is a type of horse mackerel. Served breaded and deep-fried on top of a spring mix salad with a mayo sauce, I found the crisp coating to be pleasant and this almost had me thinking about fish and chips (sans chips).

The Salmon Tataki ($10.90) that i also ordered turned out really well. Served with a tart ponzu sauce, I really enjoyed how tender the salmon turned out in this dish.

On their special board, I noticed that they had a Salmon Poke Bowl ($12.50) so I had to give that a go. This bowl includes the salmon sashimi, ginger, spring mix salad, paprika, cucumbers, green onions, sweet onions, seaweed salad, crab meat, and shoyu sauce. I wouldn’t really say that I could detect the shoyu sauce as it was a bit overwhelmed by the overly sweet salad dressing but it was a nice try.

On my last visit, I tried their Spicy Salmon Sashimi ($10.90) which included 10 pieces of salmon with cucumbers, spring mix, sesame, and coated with a sweet and spicy sauce.

They have a small patio in front of the shop and I took advantage of the good summer weather we’ve been having to try out some of their sushi rolls: Unagi Roll ($5) and Alaska Roll ($6.50) with teriyaki sauce and wasabi mayo. The rolls were filling… mostly because they had a bit too much rice for my preferences. Not bad for the price.

Overall, some good items on the somewhat limited menu. I would like to see more types of sashimi available.

41 6th St
New Westminster, BC

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