Lunch from MASA Japanese Restaurant

Happy Saturday! ハッピーサタデー

It is a clear, sunny day in Vancouver. Hubby decided to take a jog around the Seawall while I run errands, and once I am done, we met up near Granville Island.

For lunch today, we have decided to order from MASA Japanese Restaurant. It's a small local business near South Granville (along West Broadway at Hemlock Street). It's on the second floor of the building, on top of the Circle K convenience store.

They offer an extensive Japanese food menu ranging from sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, Japanese curry, udon, and even ramen. I've tried different MASA dishes in the past (it's one of our go-to places for Japanese comfort food), and for today we have ordered mostly new things.

Our order from MASA Japanese Restaurant for today

If you know me by now, I almost always order the same dish from restaurants. Why take the chance of ordering a bad dish when I am sure that I'll enjoy the one I want? 😁 However, I am willing to try appetizers and desserts at random.

My usual order from MASA is the Assorted Katsu Curry. The varying texture from the tonkatsu, eby fry, and goroke make it the best curry available. The goroke is soft and sweet, while the tonkatsu is the complete opposite, while the Ebi fry is the perfect middle ground. I enjoy the dish more than I should.

Crispy Jumbo Dynamite Roll (Deep-fried jumbo prawn with a crunchy exterior and special spicy sauce)

I have been going through the "MASA Specials" section of the menu. I have tried the Knights of the Round Table and MASA Aburi Cheese Monster Roll. Today, I ordered the Crispy Jumbo Dynamite Roll. It's spicy compared to the first two we've tried! I love how the top was crunchy, the middle is creamy, and the bottom is soft rice. I can eat more of this!

Chicken Wings (Salt and pepper with sweet chilli sauce)

I am unsure what I expected when I ordered Chicken Wings from a Japanese restaurant, but this was just sad. It was dry and disappointing, to say the least. Please don't order it in the future.

Creamy Prawn (Prawn with cream cheese stuffed into deep-fried dumplings)

The Creamy Prawn is like a heart attack waiting to happen. It was so sinfully delicious. It's dumplings stuffed with prawns and cream cheese (YES, CREAM CHEESE), then it was deep-fried. My mind is still being blown by the dish.

Shio Ramen (Soy Sauce Flavoured Soup Base with Chashu and Egg)

The ramen was hubby's order, so it'll be unfair for me to describe it since I didn't try it.

Hubby looked at the receipt, and it seems like we're only their second take-out customer. I know many people are suffering from job and income loss because of the pandemic, but if you have the means, please support and order from your local restaurants (instead of the big chains that have a higher chance of survival).

Stay safe. Be kind. Be calm. Be patient.

Previous post on MASA Japanese Restaurant:

• May 31, 2020
• February 21, 2020
• January 18, 2020
• January 6, 2020
• October 18, 2019
• July 24, 2019
• June 22, 2019
• May 12, 2019
• April 13, 2019
• January 19, 2019

Lunch from Masa Japanese Restaurant

In the last twelve weeks, I realized that we purchased and supported most of our favourite local restaurants like Suika, Lin Chinese Cuisine, and Sushivan. However, we have not ordered from Masa Japanese Restaurant, which is the closest Japanese cuisine source from our place.

With that, we ordered our favourite and have tried new dishes from Masa today.

Sushi & Roll Masa Special: Knights of the Round Table
Deep-fried sushi rice with 8 kinds of seafood and special sauce

The Knights of the Round Table was good, but I think the Masa Aburi Cheese Monster Roll is much better.

Assorted Katsu Curry
Japanese Curry with Tonkatsu, 2-pc Ebi Fry, and 1-pc Goroke with rice

I'm happy to be having Japanese curry again. The last time I ate curry was more than a month ago when we ordered from Suika.

Chicken Katsu
Deep-Fried Chicken Cutlet with Vegetable and Rice

The surprise of the day is the chicken katsu and how crispy it was when it arrived. The sauce it came with was delicious as well.

Lunch from Sushivan Japanese Restaurant

There's an ongoing campaign on Twitter to make every Wednesday of the week starting April 15, #TakeOutDay in Canada to support restaurants. Instead of using delivery apps that eat up most of a restaurant's margin, give them a call to place your order, and when possible, pick them up.

Right now, there's only a handful of restaurants open in our neighbourhood, so supporting small, local restaurants at this time are crucial to ensure they survive the effects of COVID-19.

For lunch and dinner today, I ordered food from Sushivan Japanese Restaurant. This morning I had difficulty deciding whether to order from Sushivan or from MASA. I checked their online pages and saw the news that someone broke inside Sushivan and stole all their credit card machines. It's sad for them to experience such loss, so I decided to give them a call and place my order for what I planned to be lunch, but way too much so we'll eat it for dinner too.

The thief came last night. He stole all the credit card machines. So you can pay with your credit card number. Please provide your credit card number when making delivery or takeout orders. We do not require a tip or delivery charge, but please let us know if you would like to pay for the tip if you wish. Thank you.
Posted by Sushivan Japanese restaurant on Monday, April 13, 2020

What did we get from Sushivan?

We ordered the following items.

Soy Chicken Karaage (Large)

It was crispy and delicious when it arrived. I still think it's best enjoyed with a cup of rice, but that might just be the Filipino in me talking.

Soy Chicken Karaage (Large)

Chicken Katsu

We had this the last time we were there, and it was as delicious. More rice, please?

Chicken Katsu

Awesome Special Roll

This is the highlight of the meal. I've been going down the list of Sushivan's special rolls, and this is amazing.

Awesome Special Roll

Korean Style Ramen (with Beef)

This is the first time I'm ordering the ramen with beef instead of my usual chicken. I prefer chicken. Regretting it, but hubby and I split the ramen and ate it with the Awesome Special Roll for lunch, so it's all good.

Korean Style Ramen

Tomorrow or Friday, I need to go out for grocery, so I can cook Chicken Afritada. Hopefully, our local supermarket has all the ingredients I need.

Dinner at Masa Japanese Restaurant

It's been a painful ending to Friday. A colleague said, "you're causing the team stress" when he doesn't do an excellent job managing his team. However, as soon as I saw hubby, he had some great news about work, which confirms our belief that God always provides in unexpected ways.

Devil's Kiss
Deep-fried lobster, crab meat, cucumber, avocado, salmon, tuna, ebi, tobiko, special spicy sauce, makame, and lobster tempura

Shrimp Curry (substitute white rice with black rice)
Japanese Curry with Shrimp and Rice

Assorted Katsu Curry
Japanese Curry with Tonkatsu, Ebi Fry 2pcs, Goroke 2pcs, and rice

Good start to the weekend.

Dinner at Masa Restaurant

After doing a Costco grocery run with my parents and them dropping us off in our Vancouver apartment, we decided to treat them to early dinner at the closest Japanese restaurant at our place, Masa.

My dad had a Tonkotsu Ramen since it's cold outside. You should have seen the face of my mom eyeing the bowl of ramen. My mom had the Beef Teriyaki platter. I had my usual Assorted Katsu Curry while hubby had the Beef Curry. For sharing, we had one of their rolls.

Masa Aburi Cheese Monster Roll
Menu Description: Aburi Salmon, avocado, crab meat with cheddar & Mozza, tobiko

Assorted Katsy Curry
Menu Description: Japanese Curry with Tonkatsu, Ebi Fry 2pcs, Goroke 1pc, and rice.

Beef Curry
Menu Description: Japanese Curry with Beef & Rice

We loved the roll I picked. I can't wait to come back and try the other rolls.

Dinner at Express Pho

Today was a long day at work. I wanted to breakdown during lunch because the stress was unacceptable and has been unbearable. I told hubby that we should have a high-calorie stress eating session. You see, I started "dieting." I started calorie counting again, and I even started doing simple workouts at home. The exercise has been great (not for losing weight, but just to feel better about my body as a whole).

Anyway, this meal was satisfying after a week of not eating a meal from restaurants. On our walk to West Broadway, I was debating in my head whether to eat at Masa Restaurant (Katsu curry is always a comfort food) or Lin Chinese Restaurant (the thought of spicy Dan Dan Noodles is making me happy already). Still, then I realized we haven't been to Express Pho in quite a while, and they would have fried chicken, and I want fried chicken.

Here's what we had:

#9 Pho Chin, Bo Vien
Menu Description: Well-done beef, beef ball rice noodle in soup

I'm going to get this next time! Hubby was so happy with his bowl of pho.

#41 Com Bo Kho
Menu Description: Beef Stew with steamed rice

I have a confession to make. I love Vietnamese Beef Stew. From Vina Vietnamese (the food court Vietnamese stalls), I ALWAYS get the beef stew because it's so tender and delicious.

#1 Cha Gio
Vietnamese Spring Roll

F. Canh Ga Chien
Deep-fried chicken wings

The spring rolls and chicken wings just hit a different spot. I'm so happy!

Note: Express Pho only accepts cash or debit.

Dinner at Masa Japanese Restaurant

It's the first Monday of 2020 which means a lot of employees are back to work. It's a crazy, long day filled with meetings and I needed a pick me up in the form of my favourite Japanese curry.

Appetizer Tempura

Assorted Curry (I got too excited and started eating before taking a photo)

Chicken Curry which was surprisingly good

Friday night dinner at Masa

Sushi Pizza: Original

Agedashi Tofu: 3 in 1

Tonkotsu Ramen

Assorted Katsu Curry

Dinner at Masa Japanese Restaurant

It was a long day at work, and only a serving of Japanese curry will make me feel better.

Assorted Japanese Curry

Takoyaki

Lunch with Parents at Masa Japanese Restaurant

It's Costco day which means late lunch with my parents. It's our "payment" for driving us home with our groceries from Costco.

Mother's Day Lunch at MASA Japanese Restaurant

It's Mother's Day! We made a surprise breakfast for Mama, then we attended Mass at Holy Rosary Cathedral. Afterwards, we had lunch at MASA Japanese Restaurant.

Assorted Tempura

Kara Miso Ramen
Spicy miso flavoured soup base with chashu and egg.

Miso Ramen
Miso flavoured soup base with chashu and egg.

We love you, Ma!

Dinner at Masa Japanese Restaurant

After a fun Sunday of playing Pokemon Go, then attending Mass, we decided to have a delicious meal at Masa Japanese Restaurant.

Assorted Katsu Curry

Ramen

Chicken Karaage

Lunch at Masa Japanese Restaurant

Lunch at the closest Japanese Restaurant from our place.

Vege Gyoza: Pan Fried Dumplings with Vegetables

Assorted Katsu Curry: Japanese Curry with Tonkatsu, Ebi Fy 2 pcs, Goroke 1pc & rice (substitute white with black rice)

Tok Katsu: Deep Fried Pork Cutlet with Vegetable and Rice

Green Tea Mochi