We made a reservation for early in the night, so when we arrived, there was only one other table. Immediately, I was wowed by the appearance of the restaurant. It just looked very nice, modern, comfortable, and sleek; definitely one of the nicest restaurants I've ever been to. One interesting thing is that I thought the washrooms were really cool. There are six individual rooms for the washrooms: three for men and three for women. I can honestly say I have never seen this type of arrangement in my life; very cool.
We were given the Living Social Special Dinner Menu, we could each choose from three options in the First Course, three options in the Second course, and a dessert from the dessert menu. My friend and I decided to get different items so that we could share and try more variety.
Here's what we ate:
First Course
Pemberton Meadows Beef Tataki 4.5/5
Green onion oil, spicy daikon
+
- Tasted very fresh
- The tastes just all go together when I put the whole thing into my mouth at once, my friend remarked that it tasted like dumplings?
- It was quite refreshing in the hot weather because it was sort of cold
- A very good first course to "open the stomach"
Fanny Bay Tempura Oyster 5/5
Shiso tempura, miso vinaigrette, pickled shallots
- What can I say, um, well I love oysters, and this one is definitely one of the better tempura oysters I've ever had
- The tempura crispy layer was thin, and you can really tell that it is different than the tempura at those small Japanese restaurants that are all over Vancouver; a reason why I do not like tempura sometimes is that it is too oily and makes me feel full, but this one the crispy layer was just barely on the oyster, the oyster made up most of the "meat"
- Oyster was fresh
- The sauce was slightly sour, this gave a very unique and delicious accompaniment to the oyster
Second Course
BC Wild Spring Salmon 4/5
Pan-seared salmon, gnocchi, roasted cauliflower, cauliflower puree, grilled zucchini, miso-hollandaise foam
+
- I really liked the yellow sauce; it tasted really creamy to me, it had a sort of minty taste
- The salmon itself had good texture, it was seared just to the right level
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- I did not really like the gnocchi made of potato; it's sort of like a potato dumpling, I guess I just did not like the taste
Tofu Two Ways 4.5/5
Tofu steak with crispy tofu, scallion-ginger soy, truffled hakusai, basil cream
+
- The tofu cubes appeared different, but I do not remember if they tasted different, the crispy layer was done perfectly; however, I thought the salmon would be a better choice if I had to choose between these two Second courses
- The truffled hakusai (cabbage) was so delicious! I ate the whole truffle at once, as I bit into the truffle, all the water from the fresh cabbage exploded in my mouth, that feeling was awesome and one that I will remember
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| Truffled Hakusai |
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| Scallion-Ginger Soy |
Dessert
Umi Cannoli 5/5
+
- A very nice end to a great dinner
- The chocolate ice cream was melt-in-mouth delicious
- All the berries were fresh
- The Cannoli with the strawberry was great, it was crispy, and I don't know what cream that was on top of it, but it was good
- I loved the white sugar sprinkled around the plate, it adds looks and taste to the dessert
Yuzu Tart 5/5
+
- Very strong citrus taste
- Cold
- Perfect texture
Overall: Hapa Umi delivered an amazing dining experience. The service was perfect (hot towels at start of dinner, server introduced the contents of each plate as it was brought to the table, attentive service, we never had to ask for anything, smile on face, I left a little drop of sauce on the table but she cleaned it off right away when she was taking the plate away, etc.) I thought that with the Living Social voucher, this was a really good deal for a high quality meal.
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