Dorinku Osaka

Location: 10328 Jasper Ave

Dorinku Osaka, the sister restaurant to Dorinku Tokyo is situated right downtown, close to bustling 104th street. Just like the Tokyo location (review coming for that on a later date!) Osaka focuses on providing their spin on Osaka street food and nightlife.

Since it has been absolutely miserably hot, and my apartment lacks air conditioning (a tale extremely common in Edmonton right now) I opted to not turn on the oven to make dinner and head up to Dorinku Osaka. Full disclosure, I am pretty familiar with this location. I usually opt for a bowl of ramen but on a day like today I wanted something a little lighter! My meal consisted of their Japanese “Hai”Ball, 2pc Pork Belly Kushiyaki , 6pc Avocado Pressed Sushi and Beef Tataki. Let’s break it down!

Cherry “Hai”Ball – The word “hai” in Japanese means yes – and I would absolutely recommend saying yes to any of the Japanese style hiballs on the menu, but cherry is my top pick. Subtle enough in flavour but just sweet enough to make my taste buds happy.

Pork Belly Kushiyaki – Grilled Skewered Pork Belly and Green Onion, severed over a quick swipe of a parsnip puree with shredded ito togarashi on top. I’m not a fan of the ito togarashi, a type of red pepper, so that quickly got shuffled off to the side. The Pork Belly was grilled to perfection – it was tender and had the perfect char taste. Personally, I don’t feel the turnip puree added anything to the dish.

Avocado Pressed Sushi – If the name didn’t give it away, this Avocado sushi is on a bed of pressed rice, with a shio leaf hidden between the avocado and rice. Topped with an amazing miso sauce and Japanese 7 spice, this sushi is really something else. I often find myself dreaming of the miso sauce on top (Dorinku team! This is your hint to sell it by the bottle!!!) Its the perfect hot day sushi, with the flavours all playing off of each other extremely well.

Beef Tataki – I didn’t get the photo of the coolest part of this dish – which is they bring it to you in a glass cloche filled with smoke so that it smokes on its way to the table. While it certainly looks cool, I don’t think the beef tenderloin gets any of the smoke flavour – which is fine, as the fried onions and chili dressing give this dish a perfect balance of flavours. This is easily one of my favourite Beef Tataki preparations in Edmonton.

Overall, I really love Dorinku Osaka. Nothing on the menu screams miss to me, and the team clearly knows how to prepare food with care in order to deliver you the best version of their dishes. The waitstaff is incredibly kind,and the vibe is just immaculate. I am looking forward to when they are able to host events again as well!