Niwa: New Japanese farm-to-table restaurant in East Vancouver

Niwa is a new Japanese farm-to-table restaurant in East Vancouver. Their menu focuses on locally sourced seasonal ingredients and allowing these natural flavours to shine ✨.

We came here on a date night to try their omakase menu priced at $85 per person. I am a big sucker for omakase because I don’t need to decide what to order 😋! And it’s kind of nice to do omakase if you have the budget for it at a new restaurant or restaurant you’ve never been to because you get a little taste of everything.

📍 Niwa
1875 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V5L 1H8

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The vibe

I really like the Japanese-inspired aesthetics Niwa has 😍. There’s a lot of warmth in the wood design elements and the warm beige tones and lighting.

The restaurant space is not very large but they can fit quite a few tables of 2-4 seats, plus bar seating where you can see into the open kitchen.

Seating was comfortable although table space is small. My only gripe is that we came during a hot summer night and it was quite stuffy inside with no AC. They had a portable fan but it was still really hot 🥵.

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Food review

The omakase included 6 courses in a shared family style priced at $85 per person.

First course: Snacks

Our first course was a selection of small snack plates including:

• Assorted pickles 🥒: these were more of a palate cleanser and lightly pickled – not super strong flavours but healthy and clean start.
• Jalapeno crudo 🌶: The jalapeno sauce gave this crudo a refreshing kick without being too spicy – very unique!
• Garlic eggplant 🍆: I love eggplant and this had a nice juicy burst of flavour. It did taste like a Chinese steamed garlic eggplant dish.
• Pork terrine with chili crisp 🐷: This had the most flavour out of all the snacks with the saltiness and spiciness of the chili crisp. The pork terrine was a good pairing for this – again, this dish tasted quite Chinese to me.

Second course: Chilled egg tofu

The second course was a small cold appetizer with a smooth texture. Think of something like chawanmushi but more dense because this is egg tofu! It was silky and jiggly with a light taste and homey taste.

Al le carte price for this is $11.

Third course: Heirloom tomato salad

The third course was a very pretty tomato salad featuring tomatoes of all colours 🍅 (and really, only tomatoes). I kind of see the vision behind this dish – they are letting the tomatoes do the talking. They tasted sweet, refreshing and fresh with minimal dressing.

I have never been a big fan of salad and even though I like tomato, I do think this dish can be a little on the plain side. Not sure if I would order and pay for this salad al le carte for $26.

Fourth course: Duck and potato

The main course!

The meatiest dish of the omakase was this dry-aged duck breast with crispy skin. The meat was so tender and I liked how they sliced it up thinly like the way peking duck is served 🤩. Niwa pairs it with plum and jalapeno yuzu pulp.

As a side, there are also potatoes, which were cooked in big chunks and soft with some sort of sauce. Overall, this side was forgettable.

Fifth course: Wagyu rice bowl

Just when we thought the heaviest part of the omakase was over, they hit us with a carb course! Thank goodness because although I am not the biggest eater, I was worried my husband would still be hungry after the omakase.

We were presented with a small wagyu rice bowl 🍚 – the wagyu is braised cheeks and served with sweet corn and a tomato (that’s not an egg yolk!). This was surprisingly more saucy than it looks but definitely more corn than wagyu.

Sixth course: Peach granita

It was stone season when we visited so the dessert was some peach granita 🍑 – so sweet and refreshing!

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Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We had an intimate and romantic dinner at Niwa trying their 6-course omakase menu for $85 per person.

I believe Niwa has a very strong focus on their values of farm-to-table dining and using fresh seasonal ingredients. Every dish really empowered the ingredients themselves to shine without overly strong flavours or fancy elements like truffle or gold flakes to distract customers from the essence of the dish. The fun part is that the menu is always changing based on what ingredients are in season.

Out of all the items we tried, my favourites were the crispy duck, chilled egg tofu, and the peach granita.

All the dishes felt simple and elevated – a mix between a homecooked meal by a Japanese granny in Japan’s rural countryside and a modern restaurant establishment run by hipster chefs who want to make a difference in the culinary world.

They also re-use a lot of similar ingredients. Even in our omakase, we kept seeing corn or jalapeno pop up and it is clear the chefs tried to make use of all or as many parts of an ingredient as they can, which is cool!

As a foodie couple, we enjoyed the omakase and think it was interesting and unique and worth $85 for a try. I can see other folks dismissing it as too plain or expensive for what it is – again there is a highlight and focus on simple natural flavours, so if you are looking for something very rich and heavy in protein, this omakase may not be right for you. Most of the al le carte and omakase courses heavily focused on vegetable ingredients.

Sincerely, Loewe