Editor’s Note: This business is no longer at the address listed below.

Kaz Japanese Restaurant
#100-1619 Store St.
Victoria, BC
N/A

E: After ten years and a switch in management, I must say nothing has changed at the Kaz. The food is good, the waitresses are pretty and the sushi is still top notch. But what happened to the tea?

J: The green tea was nice and hot but I found the brew to be a little weak. I prefer my tea stronger and after a number of disappointing sips, I put aside my cup and hoped it wasn’t a sign of what was to come.

I can safely tell you Kaz is definitely my newest choice for Ramen noodles. As a Japanese restaurant, you can have a plethora of dishes but a restaurant is incomplete without decent ramen noodles as your anchor.

E: I couldn’t agree with you any more, James. The beef ramen ($8.95) that I ate had a lot of colour to it and I’ve eaten a lot of ramen in my time. And with all the sushi I ordered as a side appetizer, I used the marinated ginger in my bowl of noodles instead of with the sushi. They’re supposed to clear the pallete between eating different types of fish. But in ramen, it helps gives the dish an added pickled kick.

J: I’ve never consumed sea urchin before as sushi or in any other dish. But I was willing to jump in. I ordered two. At $2.50 apiece, both had very thin cucumber slices tucked to one side of the roll and arranged like a Japanese fan. I liked that.

It’s hard to describe my my first time at eating sea urchin. It felt like I had something still living in my mouth. I was rewarded with the taste of an open ocean. I knew then that this sea urchin was fresh. It reminded me of cooked fresh oysters and Nova Scotia lobster.

E: So are we going on a sea-food diet now?

J: Sure, you can use it.

E: Yeah, says the guy who also had another dish on top. All I snacked on was a deluxe order of nigiri sushi ($16.95). Although the plate only consisted of the basics like tuna and salmon, I’m glad I ordered a few more pieces of sea life to sate my appetite for all things raw.

I just had one dish and James ordered two, namely the Unagi Don ($13.95) which is a meal in itself. All I could do was shake my head.

J: The eel had a nice smoky flavour and it melted in my mouth. What could I say? The tamago (egg) mixed in with the warm rice was heartily welcomed.

And don’t let the amount of food I consumed scare you. The ramen soup egg noodle with tempura alone would satisfy most people’s appetite. And at $9.95, it’s well worth making the Kaz a place to regularly visit.

3½ Blokes out of 5