Shikiji Calgary

I forgot to post about Shikiji – a “Japanese” restaurant in Calgary that Jeff + I tried out the day before I left.

A moderately pleasant store front.  Moderately.

That’s Jeff doing his “model pose”.  The first thing I noticed when we entered the restaurant, was no scream of, “Irashaimase!!!!!” from the staff.  Immediately, my trust was squashed.  Squashed!  The host told us that reservations are required, (Oooh, la la!!  Chi chi!!!) unless we didn’t mind sitting at the teensy counter.  Yo, no problem holmes – just seat us.  Here is the interior:

Why does 87% of Japanese restaurant decor in North America look 80’s + has predominantly black furniture???  As an appetizer we ordered tuna tataki.

Hold up!!!!  What the heck is all that mess????!!!!  It looked like someone threw up garnish all over the tuna!!  The tuna itself was great quality – so why you gotta get crazy + saucy + put all that crap all over it?!  And the presentation?!  Oh noooo!!!  I said to myself, “Methinks this is not a Japanese owned establishment.”.  Correct me if I’m wrong, Calgarians!!!  Calgary-ites?  Japanese food is relatively simple + unadorned.  Call me a purist, because I am one.

My entree was the Chili Goma Ramen.

The broth was muddy.  Does that make sense?  It was REALLY heavy – don’t get me wrong, there are some Japanese ramen shops that do a thick, pork based broth, but something about it didn’t taste “clean”.  In Japanese the word “sappari” means, “clean, light, simple”.  This was not sappari.  The mince pork was really overpowering.  The noodles were good, how’s that for being positive!

Jeff ordered the chirashi.

Again, an unusual presentation.  And the egg roll didn’t look home-made.  It looked dense + like it had been frozen.  Now this is chirashi:

Recognize!!!!  Sushi Gen in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles!!!!  The Defeater!!!!!!  Look at that presentation!  That fluffy egg roll!!!  Drooool!  There’s my mom in a cameo.  Hi mom!   Good ol’ mum is in Japan partying this month.  Lucky…..

In summary, Shikiji wasn’t horrible – even though I sound like I’m demonizing it.  It just didn’t taste authentic to me.  I will say that the sashimi was excellent.  I will go back, but next time I will just order sashimi!!!  Arigato-gozaimasu!!!!!  Sayonara!!!

Photo by Gwaar