Minami

The oishi aburi sushi at Minami is to die for!
Minami is a perfect spot for date night — I love the ambience inside and they also have an amazing cocktail list. This is the only restaurant where I don’t mind sitting at the bar because you get to watch the chefs sear up aburi sushi with blow torches.
The portions aren’t too big in my opinion so be prepared to order quite a bit of food if you are very hungry!

I can’t even believe how lucky I was to be able to get a reservation for 5 on a Friday night. We were quickly sat and our server was quick to come by with water. LOVE the atmosphere of this place. It was bustling but we were still able to chit chat and mingle. Décor is modern and chic. Very high end. I don’t go to many places like this so it was a treat!
Food was semi slow to come but I think it was because they were serving us by course (we were all sharing the food so I guess I was expecting everything to be out at once). I took pictures but the ambient setting made it difficult to capture how good it looked :(Flash made it look amateur so I’ll just note what I recommend and how it tasted.
Kale Gomaae and Brussel Sprout Chips — Separate dishes but I’m grouping them together LOL the kale was SO GOOD. Perfect amount of the peanut sauce. Seriously in love. I would come back just specifically for this dish. Was expecting the kale to be bitter but it felt like a better version of the spinach. More texture. The Brussel sprouts were just deep fried. I felt more obligated to eat them to get my veggies in before all the oshi sushi.
Ebi Fritters — I saw someone say there was too much batter but I thought it was perfect! I love the breaded version instead of a thin tempura batter. The mayo was very much appreciated and the citrus salad on the side was to die for. Not to mention the prawns are HUGE.
Ebi and Salmon Oshi Sushi — Both were super good UGH just lovely. I love how there’s a hint of lemon on the Ebi. The sauce on both of the sushi were amazing. I prefer oshi sushi from another restaurant I will not mention only because these are almost just as tasty.
Garden Plate — My aunt ordered these as she couldn’t have anything raw. It’s a vegetarian sushi platter with a side of greens. I am not a fan of ginger but loved the touch of ginger that they had in place instead of salmon (I thought it was salmon at first anyways LOL)
FV Pork Trio — SOOO good. I normally don’t like braised pork and rarely eat pork but the way they’ve cooked each piece is just magical. Crispy pork belly, braised pork cheek and hella sweet and moist pork shank.
Spot Prawn Sashimi — My first time eating raw prawns and was super nervous. Very sweet and surprisingly not fishy. I was expecting it to have a very strong taste but it’s very mild. I love the option they have with deep frying the prawn heads after so you can really enjoy the whole dish.
Service throughout the night was excellent. I was never left without water and my empty dishes were never left for long. The parking outside Yaletown can be a bit of a bother and parking definitely is expensive but otherwise for sure worth while. Definitely a restaurant you will need to make reservations for.
We didn’t get dessert as my family surprised me with a birthday cake they had brought but all of the desserts looked delicious. One of my cousins recommend the Green Tea Opera!

Loved Minami! We are regulars at Miku (when we are in Vancouver) and finally tried Miku’s sister restaurant Minami. We wish we tried it sooner! The menu is quite similar to Miku, which is great because we love their menu. The ambiance is nicer in my opinion versus Miku. Darker and more romantic. Miku is beautiful for the view, but I prefer the atmosphere at Minami.
We ordered:
Edamame $ 6
Kale Goma-​ae $ 7
Nutrigrain Farms Crumbled Tofu Salad $ 13
Avocado, Mushroom, Eggplant Vegetarian Nigiri $ 2/​each
Two seafood nigiri (can’t remember which ones my husband picked)
Aguri Sashimi $ 25
Miso Sakekasu Sablefish and Crispy Prawn Dumplings $ 35
Everything was DELICIOUS! The Aguri Sashimi was presented so beautifully. My husband said the hamachi was his favourite piece, like butter!
Great wine list and drinks too!
Can’t wait to return in Minami next time we are in Vancouver!

Me and one of my high school classmates wanted to try this restaurant because it was one of those places on the bucket list we had to go to because well, it is one of the places to definitely go to due to the introduction of blowtorched sushi. I reserved a table since I did not know how popular the restaurant was. Here is what I thought of this place.
So the place itself felt like going into one of those nightclubs. The lighting is very dim, the atmosphere felt like I would need to be wearing some really nice clothing and either go with my girlfriend or be part of a well-​off people. This was the message I was getting. Fortunately, there was hardly any people here since we were coming at 5pm for eat. Here is what I ordered.
I ordered a Premium Aburi and the Crunchy Hokkaido Scallop Roll. The waiter was very friendly, introduced himself and also was willing to have a conversation with us, which was good. So when the food came out, the waiter was explaining what was the aburi sushi that was served. It was like those moments where he would start blabbing at you and then you had that minion voice where you say «WHATTTT?» I just nodded my head and agreed to what he said like hearing someone speak a different language to you, but you do not understand what is going on.
Here is how the food tastes like.
The Scallop Roll was fresh and crunchy. I could taste a little bit of a the scallop flavour. The aonori flavour was there, but it suddenly disappeared. It felt like a balloon. The flavour was there, then it disappeared. While Japanese restaurants tend to be simple as the flavour should speak for itself, however, the flavour disappeared like a ghost.
The Premium Aburi was very fresh, but the sauces and toppings on top of the Aburi Sushi were like ghosts. You taste it… and then it disappears. Because the waiter was speaking what was on my plate, I did not know what I was eating at all. Basically, I was eating nigiri sushi with no names of the sauce and the toppings on top.
In the end though, I would definitely come back here since I know the chefs do a great job with the craftsmanship and the preparedness of the food. I honestly think my tongue muffled the sushi flavours to the point where I was confused with what flavours I was suppose to be identifying and what fish I was eating.

The food here was so good, and the service was great. I will not soon forget this meal (maybe the details, but not the tastes and feelings). The boyfriend and I both tried the aburi shokai, the six-​course meal full of restaurant specialties. I was a bit annoyed because they charged us the full price but only gave us five courses because we asked for them to do the meal without any meat (seafood and veggies were fine), but we left the place so full that it really didn’t matter to us in the end. And the food was amazing, so it was worth it (but beware if you don’t eat meat).
The first course was sashimi. Excellent melt-​in-​your-​mouth fish. Would have only been better with real wasabi instead of the horseradish stuff.
The second course was a four-​part combo, with a scrumptious prawn fritter, citrus-​y salad, sesame greens, and… hmm…the fourth eludes me. But it was all excellent.
The third course was a selection of really interesting nigiri combinations. We had hamachi with basil pesto, shrimp with truffle sauce, salmon lightly seared with jalapeño (and some sort of buttery/​mayo-​ish sauce), and two others that I can’t quite recall (one seemed to have some sort of chive-​y flavor). All were fantastic.
The fourth course was the main — juicy, tender sablefish with some sort of absolutely amazing dumpling-​like thing with what seemed like fennel on top (I was too busy looking at and smelling the food to remember what the waiter said). But the dumpling-​like thing was probably the highlight of the meal. Whatever it was (my boyfriend thinks it was lobster of sorts?), it was one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth.
The fifth (and final, for us) course was dessert — matcha green tea ice cream/​opera cake combo. A perfect finish.
The only thing that I didn’t quite like about the meal was that I stupidly paired it with the umeshu sampler. Umeshu is very sweet. For this sort of meal, I wish I had gone with a dry sake instead. If you’re going to spend $ 85 for a meal, don’t wash out the flavors with overly sweetstuff like umeshu.

Epic Japanese cuisine with a twist!
I’ve never had aburi sushi this good. We tried one of each roll. All the ones we tried were exceptional and the lightly seared fish simply melted in your mouth.
The waitress was beyond accommodating and provided excellent service. I also loved the modern fell of this place. It is a bit pricey, but as a special treat, totally worth it!

Once in a while, I taste something that leaves me raving about how amazingly delicious it was for months to come. The salmon oshi sushi just joined that list of food I’ll always remember when I think of Vancouver. Typically, I’m not a fan of deviations from traditional Japanese sushi; however, the salmon oshi sushi had the perfect balance of flavor, maintaining the lighter flavor profile that is typical of sushi while bringing a rich butteriness that sort of just melts in your mouth.
Unfortunately, the rest of the entrees, while solid, didn’t quite live up to the salmon oshi sushi – the sashimi lunch was decently fresh and likewise, the sablefish was decent, though nothing amazing. I felt that the fish was a little underseasoned and that the miso flavors could have been a little stronger.
The service was also quite slow – it felt like the waiter forgot about us, and it took a while to get additional orders, the check, etc. Overall, it was also a little on the pricey side, though I’d say that the salmon oshi sushi was definitely worth it.

I rarely give 5 stars on a first visit but this restaurant deserves it!
First, Clayton our waiter deserves 10 stars! What a wonderful waiter who should be a waiter trainer! From his first contact to the last his knowledge and professionalism amazed me. He actually asked about allergies and made sure that the chefs did not use the same knife for our sushi because one of my guests is allergic to crab! That is the care that a patron wants. He also showed up at our table at the right times to offer assistance. Totally amazing waiter!
Second, salmon oishii should be illegal! Picture a perfect square sushi rice on lower level, center layer add a piece of salmon, sushi rice on top and on top of that salmon torched just enough to get the far to render. The square was seasoned perfectly and didn’t need anything else to make you order two orders. I would have ordered a third if my stomach could take it. Fried calamari was probably the best I have ever eaten. The ligjt tempura batter was crisp and flavorful. The Yaletown roll with tuna in the middle melted in my mouth. And then the sashimi and nigiri– eel, tuna and mackerel so fresh you can still taste the ocean! As you can see, sushi is superior!
One of my guests doesn’t eat sushi so she ordered the rib eye steak with peppercorn sauce. She swears it was one of the best steaks she has ever had. It was served with wild mushrooms and roasted potatoes and had the most succulent sauce. No need to go to a steak house anymore! Add sake to this meal and it made for a perfect evening in Yaletown, Vancouver. Kudos to the waiter and chef but also the staff that stopped by to make sure we were okay! Amazing!

I’m writing this review almost 2 years after dining here since I’m trying to go through all my saved pictures but i still remember this delicious meal and savour the green tea opera cake today… but lets go back to the details.
The ambience is very yaletow-​esque with a dark dining room and attentive almost overbearing service which should be expected with the prices here. A family of four, we ordered the kaisen soba peperoncino which was absolutely scrumptious. Not too heavily flavoured other than pepper, it was a small dish but loaded with seafood. Next, we got the salmon aburi oshi which was one of my favourite dishes of the night. It is what minami/​miku is known for and it was delicious in all the perfect ways with a creamy but not heavy sauce, light torching and a good fish to rice ratio. Also, a minami roll that held spicy shrimp and topped with torched short rib that wasn’t as great but still tasty (i like fish more). We also got a black pepper tuna tataki and braised short rib to fill out stomachs a bit. Both were good but again, smaller portions so we had to add onto our order some single aburi nigiri (sorry don’t remember which ones), but all were delicious! Not too much rice and perfectly seared. Last dinner item was the saba oshi aburi sushi and it wasn’t quite as good as the salmon and a little bit too much rice. Now finally, dessert… and we ordered three since it was a «birthday» dinner for me! My favourite was the green tea opera which had layers of ganache, matcha sponge and paired with homemade matcha ice cream. Equally good was the matcha fondant cake that held molten matcha inside of a decadent chocolate cake paired with black sesame ice cream. Thinking it wouldn’t be as good, we got a non-​matcha dessert which was similar to an apple tart but is no longer on the menu): ALL the food was plated with perfection and the flavours were exquisite (fancy words for good food).
Would love to return every day if it didn’t cost so much but i will just have to settle for a miku visit another birthday :)

Great trendy sushi place
This is what yaletown should be all about. Trendy venues with good quality food. The vision on the menu is what makes this place great. I suggest eating at the sushi bar. The bustling kitchen and the people around you really makes you feel like you’re in a vibrant city. Soak it up.
Staff was attentative and informative of their ingredients.
Aburi sushi melts in your mouth. It’s actually pretty fantastic.
We had the aburi salmon. Salmon with a sauce and a jalapeño on top.
The aburi sushi appetizer was also a great dish. 4 types of sushi and 2 of each. Plating and presentation was excellent.
And some wild salmon sashimi to end it
Honestly, I could have ordered more but:
Some downfalls:
The price of entry is high. And I didn’t come up full (for me anyways). So if that’s a problem, please knock my score a full star point. But despite that, this restaurant has a lot of merits.
Overall:
There specialty (aburi) really is a selling feature and the menu is consistently great. I think this place is ideal for special events or a great restaurant when you’re going big on a night on the town.

My favorite restaurant!!! I always order the salmon oshi, ebi oshi, uni nigiri and a bottle of Kim Crawford wine. Perfect to share amongst 2 girls. Always amazing service, friendly waitresses and keen bus boys.
It’s the perfect place to drop by right before a hockey game or a concert at Roger’s arena!

I ordered the Minami Zen after doing yoga in Yaletown. Thought I earned myself a nice meal after an hour of hard work. $ 28 for the meal ain’t too bad. Loved the ebi fritter. Service was excellent. Beautifully plated.
However…The aburi sushi were a little warm for my liking.

I’m giving FIVE STARS to all the dishes we tried last weekend:
1. Premium Aburi ($ 26) *** FAVOURITE
2. Miso Sakekasu Sablefish ($ 35)
3. Sweet Soy-​Dijon Braised Short Rib ($ 33)
All the flavours were on point to the max. The premium chef’s selection aburi was our favourite of the night (we were tempted to order another plate of it). Our favourites from the aburi were the scallop aburi and the tiger prawn aburi with truffle oil. Dannnnngggg…
We sat at the bar (didn’t care for the blasé bartender attitudes much though) and tried the Minami Collins (scotch, elderflower syrup, lilet blanc, lemon, ginger beer, and bitters). I was hoping for a really boozy drink but it turned out too sweet for my liking.

The first time I went to Minami it was during Taste of Yaletown in October. Was told it had pretty amazing food and I also wanted to take advantage of their 3 course offering for $ 40. Boy. am I glad I did.
Minami turned out to be one of the few restaurants that I go to throughout the year and I don’t care about the price, you know you will be fed well and need to be rolled out.
Another good time of the year to try them out for the first time at the $ 45 price point is during Dine Our Vancouver in January. This year — we watched a proposal happen at the table next to us!
As i mentioned, we keep going throughout the year — here is an idea of just some of the items we’ve enjoyed:
Ebi Fritters
Salmon Oshi botes
Black Peper Tuna Tataki (A MUST)
Aburi Beef Carpaccio
Ebi Oshi Sushi
Yalwtown Roll
Red Wave Rool
Soy braised pork cheeks and crisy pork belly
Sweet soy-​dijon braised short rib
Miso sakekasu sablefish with tiger prawn tortelloni

DOVF 2016 — Lunch
APPETIZER — ZEN PLATTER
Aburi Bincho Tuna (mustard goma-​ae sauce, wasabi masatake sauce) (²⁄₅)
Fresh tuna, but taste was too delicate. I think the mustard goma-​ae sauce was missing.
King Crab and Citrus Salad (baby mixed greens, orange crema de balsamic reduction) (¹⁄₅)
There was barely any balsamic reduction in my salad. All I tasted was mixed greens and citrus — very dry. Very disappointed with this salad.
Slow Braised Pork Cheek (maple miso-​asahi glaze, yukon potato purée, Aburi corn bell pepper relish) (²⁄₅)
Even though the restaurant wasn’t full for lunch, my pork cheek was cold, not even warm, when it arrived. Meat wasn’t as tender as it should be. Taste was ok, mediocre.
Braised Short Rib (red wine shoyu reduction, salt crusted baby carrots, moromi miso relish) (¹⁄₅)
This was cold too by the time I tasted it. Cold short rib isn’t the tenderest thing to eat. Flavour was on the salty side.
ENTREE — ABURI SUSHI
Hamachi Nigiri (ponzu oroshi, yamagobo) (³⁄₅)
Good quality hamachi, but was lacking in flavour this time around.
Ebi Nigiri (truffled Miku sauce, crumbled black olives) (²⁄₅)
No olive taste. Somehow there was a lack of flavour for this piece of nigiri too.
Minami Roll (tiger prawns, cucumber, short rib carpaccio, wasabi masatake sauce) (⁴⁄₅)
Best of the bunch!!! I liked it because of the burst of flavour.
Salmon Oshi (pressed BC wild sockeye salmon, Miku sauce, jalapeño) (¹⁄₅)
WHYYYY??? It was so amazing when i had the salmon oshi the week before. This time around, Salmon was too oily and it was COLD!!! Also, my pieces were missing the slice of salmon in the middle of the oshi. It was like the oshi was put together too quickly flavour was left out. I was very disappointed.
DESSERT
Chef’s Choice Sorbet (seasonal fruit, butter cookie) (⁵⁄₅)
Rasberry sorbet was amazing. It wasn’t too sweet and very refreshing and paired so well with the butter cookie.
EXTRA ORDER
Ebi Oshi (⁴⁄₅)
I ordered the Ebi Oshi separately and it was great. Warm and full of flavourful (with the lime). Not oily and almost perfect.
I have to be honest, I was so happy with my first experience at Minami that I went to try Minami during lunch. Even though it was less busy than dinner time, it took longer for my meal to arrive, service was slower and food was cold (?!?). I really thought that quality would be consistent second time around, but I guess Minami is a hit or miss at times too?
When I mentioned that the dishes were cold, I was told its a busy time and that may be the reason why. When I mentioned the oshi was oily and missing the middle slice of salmon, I was told the oiliness was just personal preference. Afterwhich my waitress quickly scurried away. I’m sorry I was blunt with my opinion.
I was a super fan after my first visit, but after this current visit, I’m not too sure whether I will return due to the inconsistency in quality.

Beautiful restaurant! A large, upscale Japanese restaurant in the heart of Yaletown. Decided to try it since it was part of Dine Out, it did not disappoint.
We savored every bite of our delicious meal. The starter salad and sushi had unique flavors that we thoroughly enjoyed. A good sized appy. The beef short rib and sablefish entrees were done to perfection, delicious! The only negative is that the fish was so small. Finished off with a nice Japanese twist to crème brulée.
Service was efficient, water was always topped off regularly.
Well done, Minami!

A must come everytime I’m back in town. The Salmon Aburi Oshi Sushi never disappoints. We literally ordered x3 of the Salmon Aburi. Nomnoms. Always a pleasure eating the great food here.

We came here to try their unique flame-​seared, pressed sushi. We had the SALMON OSHI SUSHI (pressed BC wild salmon, jalapeño and Miku sauce) and the SABA OSHI SUSHI (pressed house cured mackerel and miso sauce). These rectangular blocks are pretty and delicious. Six pieces come to an order.
We also ordered the BC WILD SOCKEYE SALMON CARPACCIO (because when I’m visiting Vancouver it’s all about that sockeye salmon) and one of the specialty rolls — the YALETOWN ROLL — featuring red tuna, hokkaido scallops, asparagus and wasabi pickles, wrapped in hamachi and shiso, and drizzled with moromi-​miso and a spicy jalapeño sauce. A fantastic roll and with so many of my favorite ingredients!
We finished with the GREEN TEA OPERA, a beautiful dessert composition. There’s a green tea genoise with a dark chocolate ganache topped with fruit and a scoop of matcha ice cream on the side. Definitely recommend.
What an amazing meal! Maybe a tad expensive for Vancouver, but not a bad deal when you convert it to US dollars.

This review is for Minami ToY 2015. It was pretty much a prix fixe menu and you get to sample many of their items which are on the regular menu. So it’s a pretty good deal if you want to get a feel of what the restaurant has to offer.
The menu consists of the following:
Appetizer
Minami Appetizer Trio (⁴⁄₅): We got the aburi sushi sampler, the market citrus salad and the Brome Lake Duck Confit Drummette. I’ve never had aburi oshi sushi prior to this and often hear that it’s a melt-​in-​your-​mouth kind of sushi. But that night I got to experience what that really meant. It literally melts in your mouth! Absolutely delicious! The not-​so-​well executed part of this dish was the duck confit drummette. It was rather small and dry. The presentation looked almost worse than one from KFC. Plus I couldn’t tell that it was duck had it not said so on the menu. I had the citrus salad between bites of the dumette so that it serves as a palette cleanser as well as to give some hydration to the mouth. What stood out the most in this salad was the aburi grapes which was sweet and juicy and somewhat resembles a dessert wine I really enjoy.
Entrée
Surf & Turf (3.5÷5): The entrée consists of Sable fish & Fraser Valley braised pork cheek and crispy pork belly. The sable fish was cooked to perfection and seasoned well. The braised pork cheek was tender but could have used a bit more sauce. The crispy pork belly was not crispy at all. The skin was rubbery and hard to cut through. The overall portion of the dish was not too big especially compared to the vegetarian dish. One might wonder if you’d be full after this.
Dessert (3.5÷5): For dessert, we had the mixed berry Sakekasu Bar and a vanilla-​sakekasu & rhubarb-​ume ice cream and some caramel sauce smeared nicely onto our plate. The mixed berry sakekasu bar was ok, nothing too special. Due to my dislike for walnuts, this didn’t strike my interest too much. The ice cream seemed as if it was a blend of vanilla-​sakekasu ice cream and rhubarb-​ume sorbet. So your one scoop is half of each flavor. The sake ice cream was creamy and delicious, the sake flavor was not overpowering and the rhubarb was sweet and tangy which cuts through the creaminess of its better half. Even though the caramel seemed like it served no purpose, it was delicious and I enjoyed scrapping it off my plate.
Surprisingly, on a Sunday night this popular restaurant was not fully packed. It had a good amount of people and a few tables with at least a group of 6. I did also noticed that they ordered off of the regular menu instead of the ToY menu. I would assume these are regular diners as they no longer need to sample various dishes from this restaurant and knew exactly what to aim for.
We had a bit of a hard time flagging down the server to take our orders and service was utterly slow. I can almost say that it took longer for our meals to come out than to eat them.

We went here to try their Taste of Yaletown 2015 menu ($ 45 for 3 course). They only have 2 choices: the vegetarian and the regular one. I chose the regular option.
The appetizer consisted of 3 types of food, which was aptly called Minami Appetizer Trio. They had their famous Aburi Sushi sampler, Citrus Salad and Duck Confit. It was a good size appetizer and their aburi sushi was, as expected, delicious. Their citrus salad is fresh. The size of the duck confit was not really consistent, I was one of the lucky ones to have a larger piece while the rest of the table got some really small pieces. The duck meat was fall-​off-​the-​bone and very crispy but it tasted more like chicken than duck.
The main course was Surf and Turf, consisting of Miso Sable Fish, Crispy Pork Belly and Soy-​Braised Pork Cheek. The sable fish was seasoned really well and melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious. While the pork belly was just meh, the pork cheek was so tender and seasoned right.
The dessert was Mixed Berry Sakekasu Bar, consisting of some kind of walnut crumble and ice cream. I feel that the dessert is quite weak.
Overall, $ 45 is quite a deal and Minami doesn’t disappoint.