There is no shortage of excellent Japanese restaurants in Vancouver, and New Fuji is a great new addition to the scene. New Fuji is brought to you by the same group who brought Kingyo, Suika, Rajio, Raisu and Takenaka to Vancouver. With such an illustrious group of restaurants you know New Fuji has to be great. Located in the Kitsilano area, New Fuji is just a hop and skip away from Anna Lena. New Fuji had their opening earlier this Summer and they are already incredibly popular. New Fuji has a quirky retro inspired interior that is unlike anything I’ve seen in Vancouver. Their giant bar wall with turquoise blue squares and action figurines are a definite stand out. Check out my full review of New Fuji Vancouver below!
New Fuji Vancouver – A La Carte Small Plates
New Fuji has a great menu full of small tapas with dishes you know and love from their sister restaurants like Ebi Mayo, Corn Kakiage and more. However, the stand out, and what makes New Fuji unique is their robata grill. You can see most of the action in their semi open kitchen and it is a sight to behold to see the smoke and the flat top in action.
As it was my first visit, we got recommendations from our server on what his favourite dishes are. With his direction, we went with the following to start:
- Fluffy “Rare” Unagi Omelette ($12.00)
- Shellfish Kimchi ($14.00)
- Charred Caesar Salad ($12.00)
The Fluffy “Rare” Unagi Omelette is a light and fluffy omelette cooked ‘rare’ with chopped unagi. It comes in a bowl and reminds me a little bit of the topping of Oyako don. Creamy, fluffy egg in a savoury dashi broth with bits of unagi. This was a table favourite.
I am a huge fan of raw marinated seafood, so I couldn’t resist ordering Shellfish Kimchi which features fresh oysters, sweet shrimp, and scallops marinated in a house made kimchi sauce. There are two pieces of each and my favourite was the scallop. It was sweet and refreshing with the tang of kimchi.
The Charred Caesar Salad features chopped Romaine lettuce is charred lightly and dressed with a Gorgonzola Caesar dressing flavoured with Shiokara (Japanese salty squid seasoning). I can definitely taste the char of the lettuce and as a fan of blue cheese, the dressing was a hit for me.
New Fuji Vancouver – Meat Sushi, Robata and Udon
Moving onto the more substantial part of the menu we went with:
- Long Yukhoe Sushi ($24.00)
- Dashi-Butter Scallop ($6.00 per piece)
- Snow Crab and Mentaiko Peperoncino Yakiudon ($23.00)
From the meat sushi section there are variety of single nigiris to choose from, but we went big with the Long Yukhoe Sushi which is a pressed sushi topped with raw beef seasoned with shiso chimichurri and finished with rice crackers, onions and apples. This comes with 10 pieces and is great for sharing. The freshness of the apples really comes through.
The Dashi Butter Scallop came highly recommended off the robata menu and it features a features a fresh scallop cooked in the shell with a decadent soy butter sauce. This was my favourite of the night. The scallop was perfectly cooked and the sauce was so savoury and flavourful.
To end our meal we went with the Snow Crab and Mentaiko Pepperoncino Yakiudon. New Fuji has an extensive Udon menu featuring soup udon as well as yakiudon. The soup udon is made Kansai style and I will definitely be back to try. The yakiudon we chose features udon, snow crab, mentaiko, garlic and red chili pepper. The spiciness of the chili definitely comes through and the udon is perfectly cooked. There is plently of mentaiko but they were definitely more stingy on the snow crab.
Worth a Try?
Yes! The food was delicious (albeit on the smaller side), and the service was excellent. The cocktails are only okay for me, so I will probably skip them next time. They are definitely Japanese style (light on alcohol taste, and heavy on the sugar). Overall, this new spot is worth adding to your try list. The vibe in here is immaculate and they were bustling on a random Tuesday night. They were turning away people without reservations because they were so busy so definitely make one to avoid disappointment.
New Fuji
Address: 1815 W 1st Ave, Vancouver, BC V6J 5B8
Website: https://new-fuji.ca/
