We’re rarely in the Dunbar/Alma area so when we found ourselves with an excuse to eat there one night, we decided on Rajio Public House
KUSHIKATSU
Rajio Public House is the only place in Vancouver we can think of that serves Kushikatsu. This originated from Osaka and is a bite-sized portion of food (typically meat or veggie) and coated with breading. It’s stuck on a skewer and deep-fried. Sauce is provided for you to dunk it in.
In the left picture, we have an array of skewers (chicken pork, beef and lamb pops) and in the right picture, we ordered halibut which was the special of the day.
We both loved the halibut one and had mixed feelings about the others. We thought the lamb katsu was overpriced at $5.20 for each piece and the other cuts of meats didn’t blow us away. My personal favorite was the chicken because it was fairly juicy and tender. The beef didn’t impress me very much because I thought it was a bit dry and flavorless.
THE OTHER FOOD
We were surprised to see aburi on the menu. Because big fans of that smoky charcoal flavor, we ordered it. While they were very generous in giving us large chunks of saba fish on top, the flavor profile felt a bit off. Howie typically finds saba fish too oily and is not one of his preferences.
Grilled salmon neck is one of our favorite dishes…when it’s done right. We’re not sure why there was so much sauce on this dish but it made the crispy salmon skin soggy very quickly. This was featured on the daily menu and should we see it again, we would pass.
I had high expectations for this dish since I’m a big fan of udon noodles. When they put this plate down on the table, I was surprised at how little noodles there were. The picture makes it seem like there’s more than it is. For $10.80, I felt that the value wasn’t there. There was a nice creaminess to the noodles and the kimichi added a bit of a kick to the flavor. However, this was another disappointing dish.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We wanted to like Rajio Public House a bit more. It was great seeing Kushikatsu served in a Vancouver restaurant but we’re not sure if that’s enough to entice us to come back. This was a $80 meal and we weren’t satisfied or full afterwards. Maybe we picked the wrong items but for now, I think we’ll just stick to our favorite Japanese restaurant.
