Irashai Grill held an open house last night and invited the Dot Com Crew down for a night of food and Sake tasting. When the invite says free food and Sake, we don’t need much pushing to attend. Located in the heart of Coal Harbour in Vancouver’s downtown core, Irashai Grill serves upscale Japanese dishes inspired by the best of Tokyo, Paris and Rome.
Under the direction of General Manager Ray Mok and Executive Head Chef Ikoma Kenjiro, Irashai Grill offers deceptively simple creations — mixing and melding French and Italian techniques and materials with Japanese classics and a variety of Asian spices.
While the room isn’t very big, it is nicely done with a good mix of East meets West. The food that we sampled were extremely fresh and tasty. The chefs in the open kitchen did a pretty remarkable job at maintaining their composure considering how slammed they were. Lucky for Sarah and myself, we got there early so there was lots of dishes to sample. As the night went on and more guests showed up, it became a feeding frenzy. A server would barely get three foot out of the kitchen before getting mobbed by hungry vultures guests.
We will have to try Irashai Grill again on a regular night to get true taste of the menu. However, from the dishes that I’ve tried during the open house, I can tell you Irashai Grill would rank pretty high on the list of favorite Japanese restaurants.
