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Rikka serves home-cooked style authentic Japanese food. Includes sushi, bento's, rice and sushi bowls, teriyaki's, noodles, katsu's, party trays. Japanese-owned, Japanese-run. Used to be in New Westminster; restaurant has relocated to Vancouver location in Fraserview, in the same plaza as Killarney Market.
Rikka has the outer appearance of any other sushi joint (you know the kind, they're everywhere in this city and they all taste the same), but in reality it is on a whole other echelon. Originally situated in New Westminster and owned by a Japanese and Korean couple, they have in the last year relocated to the Killarney area. Upon returning, I am happy to say the food is still incredible, if not better.
I ordered the pork shogayaki dinner special, so I will start from there. First, the presentation is absolutely impeccable. Unlike bastardized fushion places that are all about hype, like Ebisu, these guys do not use fancy plates and sauce-art to dress things up but instead rely on sculpting their sashimi with various shapes and swirls. There was a single oyster in shell, slightly grilled, topped lightly with roe, placed with a kabob of tomato, scallop, zucchini and shrimp. These, along with all the sashimi and nigiri sushi, tasted really fresh, without a tint of raw fishiness. The nigiris themselves are amazing: the rice is tiny compared to the fish, unlike other places that have a rectangular chunk of rice with a slab of fish on top, these nigiris are more like little ovals of rice with large slices of fish resting on top, so much larger that they fall and curl around the rice. The nigiris were tuna and shrimp. The sashimi were tuna and sockeye salmon tataki, which were incredible, especially the latter, being lightly grilled on the outside. There was a little mound of something which at first I thought was mashed radish, but turned out to be finely chopped tuna with a bit of dressing. Quite delicious. The main dish, pork shogayaki (ginger flavored pork), came with sliced seaweed, sesame, green onion, red and yellow peppers, sprouts, zucchini, onions, and sliced carrots topped on rice. Quite a far cry from all the other places where one gets a single broccli and/or onions and/or a chunk of carrot with thick terriyaki or something slathered in sauce. All of this topped off with some nice salad and homemade mashed-potato cake tempura.
Also, everything appears to made on the spot, which conversely, is also why the service is sometimes a bit slow, their only flaw. Not recommended if one is in a rush.
The Japanese dishes and specials at Rikka's are quite something, unlike a lot of other places, which offer mundane and prosaic things like california rolls and terriyaki bowls. Rikka offers things like that as well on their menu (and they do it quite well), but the Japanese specials would be better and highly recommended. Like their slogan says, try real Japanese food.
I stumbled upon Rikka's about a year or so ago when it was still in its New Westminster location and decided to give this tiny restaurant a try. I ordered the California Combo, which was a decent price for what it had. Of course, sushi rolls will always just be that. It was good, so I came back the next time I could and tried something else.
I was always impressed by how fresh everything is. The wait may be a bit long sometimes, but I always found it to be worth the food they serve me. Their sashimi, though could be better cut, is fresher than anywhere I've been with the same prices.
What really keeps me going back is their authentic Japanese (and Korean at times when offered) dishes like the catsu curry and teriyaki. Don't miss out and only order sushi! The combos are the way to go!
The staff is very nice, and if they get your order wrong (I don't think their english is very good unfortunately) or you have some feedback for their food, they would gladly rectify the problem.
Give them a try! Two friends and I had made this place our regular stop when we wanted sushi, and now we'll probably go back very often even if it's out of the way.
After putting up with so many mediocre Japanese restaurants in Vancouver, you come across a casual place like Rikka Japanese Kitchen and wow is it refreshing - you are hooked! Rikka is a casual place but the food is really great -- I couldn't taste any MSG in the food - no weird aftertaste whatsoever. The prices are very reasonable, given the quality. I ordered takeout - the chicken teriyaki dinner bento which came with a white miso soup (tasted good - couldn't taste any MSG!). The presentation was wonderful. The sashimi included three pieces of sockeye salmon, and two pieces tuna. There was also another three pieces assorted nigiri (regular salmon, tuna and ebi). The bento also included a few pieces of tempura (one was ebi), some salad, and a bit of other slivers of veggies stir-fried and seasoned well. The ginger was not the pink kind - it looked like they made their own pickled ginger (because it is colourless). Needless to say, there was more than enough food for me! A dinner bento is $16 plus tax but it is very much worth it. The food is prepared with much care to detail.
I would say that overall this is a very solid business operation and that I will be back for more at Rikka!
Rikka attempts to provide a more authentic Japanese dining experience than the typical Vancouverian style of Japanese food that we've been eating since Aki in the 70s. To that end, the presentations are unusual and creative, the sushi is absolutely fresh, and the ambiance is significantly more high end than one might expect from this tiny backwater of a mall.
Unfortunately when I go to a tiny backwater of a mall, I actually do want the Aki type of food, and lots of it, at a reasonable price, and in good order. None of that happened and I was pretty choked about it. I suppose that there is something to be said for trying, but it's not like Japanese food is this rarity in Vancouver which demands intensive searching. I would not like this review to make the restaurant fail. I would like this restaurant to serve us more substantially and less negligently!
In Vancouver you cannot get away with being average when it comes to sushi. The problem is this is below average. The California rolls were done earlier in the day as the rice was hard and cold. Yes this place is run by a Japanese owner and yes that is a Japanese sushi chef but seriously that has nothing to do with some restaurant common sense. The rest of the sushi was slightly better because he had to make it fresh but the sushi is not properly rolled and is put together very "sloppily." Agedeshi tofu was oily. I mean the sauce over the agedeshi tofu is like mostly oil. The teriyaki chicken rice bowl was acceptable.
The server has some comprehension issues as I can appreciate that english is her second language. (English is my second language too.) Anyway I pointed out to her I wanted the bento box with chicken teriyaki but I ended up getting the chicken teriyaki rice bowl somehow.
Prices here - not super cheap. Their menu mimics sushi garden (spicy tuna combo).
The one thing good is that it is a newly renovated restaurant is very clean.
My hope is that they get better otherwise they wont last.
| 1. | Wing Wah Bakery (17 m) | |
| 2. | Yu Kee BBQ Kitchen (22 m) |  |
| 3. | Columbus Pizza (22 m) |  |
| 4. | Rikka Japanese Kitchen (28 m) | |
| 5. | Wally's Burgers (73 m) | |
| 6. | Starbucks (128 m) | |
| 7. | Subway (829 m) | |
| 8. | Victoria Restaurant (834 m) |  |
| 9. | La Tandoori Restaurant (834 m) | |
| 10. | Neighbour's Restaurant & Pizza House (836 m) |  |
