A friend really wanted to meet up this week, and we decided to give Zakkushi on Main a try. I’ve always wanted to give the one on Denman a try but they are always so busy. Besides, this location is more convenient for me than downtown 
The restaurant is right beside Beefy beef noodle, and with it’s low-key signage, it was hard to find (boyfriend walked right pass it while ask “where,” even after I pointed at it).
The interior is like most other Japanese izakaya places, contemporary, dark yet comforting.
I admired their light quite a bit, interesting chandeliers against the very rustic concrete walls with the natural wood accent. Since we had a bigger group, we got seated in a bigger table against the window. It almost felt like we had our own booth. There was a seating limit of 90mins, but we were all fast eaters so that wasn’t a concern.
After seeing their regular menu I had second thoughts about doing the dine out menu, but I gave the dine out menu a try anyways because usually that’s the highlights of the regular one. Instead of the standard 3 courses, they have 5 course on the dine out menu.
The first course: Hotate Sunomono Fresh scallop, wasabi flavoured octopus and bean noodle marinated in seasoned vinegar .
This is a simple twist on the traditional sunomono. The scallop was very fresh, the wasabi octopus is one of my personal favorite and the noodle is cooked just right. What really impressed me was their sunomono sauce. Usually sunomono sauce is either to acidic or too sweet for me, but this was just the right amount of flavoring. It was so good I drank everything!
Second course: Sashimi Seis 2 pieces of tuna, 2pieces of salmon, sea urchin and sweet prawn sashimi
This is your normal sashimi combo, although I was a little surprised to see uni, something fairly pricy on the dine out menu. All the seafoods are really fresh.
Third course: Oden Duet ~Agedashi & Nagoya style~ Stewed vegetable and deep fried tofu with Miso sauce
I love Oden, period. The daikon (Japanese radish) was cooked perfectly and the miso sauce on top was so tasty but not overly salty. The tofu and mushroom was somewhat disappointing. The skin of the deep fried tofu was soaked in the broth and became very soggy and the mushroom was just too much. However the soup was so nice to have on a cold day.
Fourth course: Organic Chicken Yakitori Charcoal grilled organic chicken kebab with garlic butter rice ball
The garlic rice ball was the highlight for me. With the buttery perfectly cooked rice ball charcoal grilled to perfection (I think the burnt part is the perfection), everything else on the plate was complemented so well. The chicken was still very juicy and all the vegetable tasty. Even the corn was so sweet.
Fifth course: Green Tiramisu Matcha (green tea) flavoured tiramisu
This tiramisu was the perfect ending to a nice dinner. The green tea isn’t overpowering but adds a nice Japanese feel to it. The tiramisu itself was cheesy and smooth, nice work!
Drink: Sakura
This was half-drank before I remember to take a picture. And yes it tastes as good as it looks.
Addition: Zakkushi Set
In this set they include some of the most popular yakitori choices on the menu, which saves a lot of headache from picking out each individual one. Boyfriend ate most of this, and judging from how quickly everything disappeared, I give it a thumb up!
Overall I enjoyed myself very much! For sure coming back for a beer night!
