I always eat in the tiny strip mall on Cook Road (across Richmond Center) but I never had the urge to try the Japanese restaurant called Torarenbo.
The exterior looks unappealing but surprisingly, it looked very different on the inside.
The decor reminds me of other Japanese houses in Richmond like Seto and Ichiro. It was completely different than what I expected going in (thanks Meta Knight for the recommendation :D).
I read online that people found their menus expensive. I went during lunch time and I actually found their prices pretty reasonable for the lunch sets.
Standard miso soup.
I liked how they left the teapot at our table. Makes for easy self-refills considering how tiny the tea cups are.
Meta Knight got the
Sushi Combo ($11.95) which consists of udon, fresh fruit, green salad, tempura, nigri sushi, and miso soup.
The fish was fresh, though nothing particularly outstanding. Overall, Meta Knight enjoyed his set and thought it was a great value.
I got the
Sushi Sandwich Combo ($9.75) because when have you ever come across sushi sandwiches?!
The set also included miso soup, udon, fresh fruit, and this fried squid/taro fried cake (I think).
The sushi sandwich was totally interesting and up my alley in unique foods that taste good. The 'filling' of the sandwich tasted like egg salad except made with cooked salmon. Combined with the crunchy tobiko on top, this was a winner for me.
I honestly had no idea what this was made of but it was executed well and left no feeling of grease.
Surprisingly, I really liked Torarenbo even though I was SUPER skeptical about it before going in. I say give it a try for lunch if you're around the Richmond Center area and want to sit down from some good Japanese eats.
Service Rating:
3.5/5
Food Rating:
3.5/5
Price:
$-$$
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Happy Eating!
so hungry... i want what meta knight had!
ReplyDeletei wanna go back for that poblano soup :P
ReplyDeleteDitto! I can have a full bowl of that goodness
ReplyDeleteAs an avid Buckstop patron, I have to say that it's a bit unusual that the food was bad. I've been at least a few dozen times since it opened. They've expanded and evolved the menu since they're still newish, but I know they've also had a change in chefs recently—the one who was there during tasting plates is no longer with them. I'm pretty confident if you decided to give them a try again you'll have a better experience. You'll probably bump into me there too stuffing my face with fried pickles! :)
ReplyDelete