Background on Vancouver Restaurants

As part of my trip to Vancouver (partially to watch its international fireworks competition), I did much research via chowhound, Vancouver Magazine's restaurant awards, Fodor's discussion boards, and other web sites on good restaurants within the city.

Context for this Particular Restaurant

There wasn't much on my list of recommended restaurants in the West End that were open for lunch. Thus, the day I was in the vicinity, I ended up at one of a few ones, a Japanese place called Yoshi's.

http://www.yoshijapaneserestaurant.com/

I snuck in at a quarter to two, just before closing.

As I entered, I was impressed with the live fish swimming in an aquarium by the entryway.

Yoshi's Review

Yoshi's served me a more interesting bento box than I usually see, though only one item really impressed me: the simple salmon rolls. Improving my lunch experience, I got to eat on a nice second-floor balcony overlooking Stanley Park, with mountains in the distance. This was my view:

Here's a picture looking back at the inside of the restaurant:

Now to deconstruct the bento box itself.

The cold, eggy kugel-like thing was interesting.

The moist pork and ginger mixture (in aluminum) was much like the pulled pork one finds in a barbecue sandwich. A nice way to get some protein.

The tempera was mostly batter and, though a little greasy, still good. 

The chicken teriyaki was bad, with too high of a skin/fat to meat ratio. 

The salmon rolls were excellent -- some of the best I've ever had. This surprised me, as the piece of salmon in each roll was so small. Yet the salmon was so fresh, its flavors came through clear as a bell. I wish I ordered more sushi, as Vancouver's naturally good at it for geographical reasons. Instead, I hedged my bets with the bento box. 

The California rolls were pretty sad, mostly because the avocado wasn't ripe.