The newly opened Dosanko restaurant in Vancouver caught my attention because they serve home-style Japanese food instead of sushi or ramen. So I took Mr. Chau there for lunch to check out their menu. We’re hoping to find some of the flavours we’ve had in Japan at Dosanko. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo of their lunch menu. So I’ll be taking a guess at what some of the ingredients are for each of the dishes mentioned here.
The Japanese Milk Tea
I love drinking milk teas in Japan. Unlike the typical milk tea, the Japanese milk tea has a higher milk to tea ratio so it’s creamier. We liked the milk tea from Dosanko, it has just the right sweetness and you can definitely taste the richness of the milk.
The Onigiri
The lunch menu at Dosanko restaurant have 2 kinds of onigiri. We ordered one each of the chicken karaage and poached albacore tuna onigiri to share. The tuna onigiri is simply filled with poached albacore tuna mixed with (guessing) mayo. The chicken karaage onigiri has a small piece of chicken with a (guessing) soy based sauce. The sauce is great and goes well with the rice. Personally, I found the onigiri to be light on the seasoning side. It could be a bit saltier but is probably perfect for kids.
I find that both onigiri has more rice to filling ratio. It would’ve been nice to have a bit more filling. In the case of the chicken onigiri, one bite of chicken is all that you get. Poor Mr. Chau didn’t even get to try the chicken because I didn’t know there’s only one piece inside. The rice is fantastic, very close to the Japanese rice we’ve eaten in Japan. I would prefer the rice to be more packed because the chicken onigiri was falling apart after 2 bites.
The Tonkatsu Sandwich
Sandwiched between two pieces of soft housemade milk bread are perfectly deep fried pork cutlets. This sandwich is so good! The pork cutlet was lightly coated and deep fried for a golden, crispy exterior while the inside is still moist. Please do eat this sandwich right away once the plate arrives. After I was done photographing the onigiri and the sandwich, the sauce had soaked into the bread making it soggy. It was still super tasty though! Some would say the bread should’ve been toasted. But I’d argue that if you toast the bread, you’d lose the softness of the milk bread! Plus the soft bread provides a nice textural contrast to the crispy deep fried pork. Oh and don’t forget to eat your greens! The salad had a very nice koji dressing which I really liked.
The Matcha Milcrepe
The waitress recommended the Match Milcrepe for dessert. It looked so pretty and delicious when it arrived at the table. Up on closer inspection, I can see that the crepes were thick and dense. No problem, maybe it just looks thick but it’s actually very fluffy. When I tried to cut it with a fork and my suspicion was confirmed. The crepe cake was hard and fell apart when I cut into it. Compared to other crepe cakes I’ve eaten, this one seems to have very little cream between the layers so the cake seems a bit dry. The cake itself was not sweet. But they drizzled some (guessing) simple syrup on top which added moisture and sweetness to the cake. I was pretty disappointed with this and likely won’t order this again.
Given that Dosanko is a new restaurant, they probably need time to work out the kinks. The staffs were friendly and service was prompt. I’d like to go back to try their dinner menu as it looked promising.