Stem Japanese Eatery: 30th birthday dinner
Stem Japanese Eatery is a local Japanese restaurant located in Burnaby. They offer traditional Japanese dishes in a rustic and home-cooking style. Kappo cuisine, is the Japanese culinary art of cutting and cooking with seasonal ingredients.
Stem is probably one of my favourite local restaurants. I find it to be a true hidden gem because it offers high quality sushi and Japanese tapas like the restaurants you find in downtown Vancouver, except it’s located in Burnaby so it is much closer to those who don’t live in the core of Vancouver.
I’ve visited Stem Japanese Eatery a few times now. Once for Valentine’s Day, which was an amazing omakase deal. And another time with some friends. This time, my fiancé took me here to celebrate my 30th birthday. I think it’s safe to say by now, we’ve pretty much tasted their whole menu (although it does change seasonally).
Recommended: Read my previous review of Stem Japanese Eatery’s Valentine’s Day omakase in 2021.
Food and drinks review
Here is everything we drank and ate for my 30th birthday dinner at Stem Japanese Eatery.
Yuzu mule ($9) and Lychee sake ($9)
The yuzu mule is the fruitiest cocktail they have (they mostly have beer, ciders, shochu and highballs). It has a nice sour taste to it from the yuzu.
The lychee sake came in a pretty small glass so I took little sips in order to savour it. The nice part is that it is pretty strong for how much they give you, and the taste is also very fruity and has a nice sweet taste. Just wish they would give me more 😭.
Fresh catch chef’s omakase sashimi ($95)
There are several assorted sashimi platters to choose from. We chose the most expensive one/has the most sashimi, with 7 kinds of fresh catch sashimi and 2 pieces each – perfect for a couple to share.
Our sashimi platter included hamachi, mackerel, two different kinds of snappers, a mysterious white fish (I forgot the name), uni and fatty ootoro. As you can see, it is beautifully plated and at $95, I think it’s worth it because I don’t see any basic sashimi in here like salmon, tuna, squid, etc. All of them are more premium cuts of fish.
All the sashimi tasted very fresh and the uni was also really creamy and sweet – good quality!
Dashi maki tamago with snow crab ($13)
My fiancé loves dashi maki tamago. It is a very heartwarming dish because it’s a simple egg roll, but it is usually soaked in some sort of dashi broth, making it full of umami and it just warms your heart!
The dashi maki tamago from Stem Japanese Eatery exceeded our expectations. We thought the snow crab was just to entice folks and we expected very little snow crab meat, but there the inside stuffing actually has quite a lot and the flavour of the snow crab really stands out. The egg is soft and jiggly and eating it was like being hugged by our moms 😭.
Squid nankotsu karaage ($8)
This is a seasonal menu item, and it is essentially deep fried squid cartilage (??) with a curry mayo sauce. The squid is fried well and it doesn’t really taste like cartilage (not crunchy or anything) and the curry mayo was very interesting because it made it taste non-Japanese. But we did find the overall taste to be too salty.
Charcoal grilled A5 Miyazaki sirloin ($62)
Stem Japanese Eatery has a few dishes that incorporates wagyu (like croquettes, beef shank, etc.), but this chargoal grilled A5 Miyazaki sirloin is the most expensive meat dish on their menu. I am actually glad Kelvin convinced me to order it since I was a little hesitant on the price. This dish is AMAZING.
The portion itself is not big, only around 80g of A5 Miyazaki but between two people, you’ll get at least 3-4 pieces per person. It is cooked in a Walla Walla onion soy sauce and every bite is melt in your mouth delicious and seared perfectly 🤤. The cut of the meat definitely speaks for itself.
Wild sockeye salmon staub gohan ($37)
Stem Japanese Eatery has a selection of different staub gohans. They cook seasonal ingredients into a cocotte with dashi broth and rice and the ingredients are always different. This time, we chose one with wild sockeye salmon, yu-an, BC ikura, maitake mushrooms and fried bean curd.
I found this staub gohan to be just ok. It wasn’t super flavourful and the salmon wasn’t that moist.
We mostly order the staub gohan because we were worried we wouldn’t have enough food (um yea we definitely over-ordered again so not sure why we had this worry 🤰🏻). It is certainly a filling menu item because it has a lot of carbs. The actual pot is not that big if you share it with 4 people, it will be a small bowl each, but with 2 people it is a lot. We packed the remaining.
Grilled miso BC sablefish collar ($24)
I love sablefish so I was excited to try their sablefish collar. This item might be a bit difficult to eat if you have never eaten fish collar before, but you essentially kind of pick at it with your chopsticks. The meat is really soft and yummy and you can get quite a bit of it in the collar surprisingly.
I was also surprised at how many collars they gave us! More than 4 pieces of fish collar – a pretty good deal. We also packed the rest of the fish collars and ate it with our staub gohan the next day.
Japanese bluefin tuna & BC uni hand cones ($21 each)
We ordered these hand cones the last time we were at Stem Japanese Eatery and they were so good! The hand cone is has a generous serving of bluefin tuna (so fatty and delicious) and uni (creamy and sweet). They also arrange the filling so that you get some fatty tuna at the tip/end of the cone as well – very thoughtful!
Matcha tiramisu
The matcha tiramisu was complimentary at the end of the meal for our birthday, but they have a dessert menu where you can order this al le carte from. The matcha tiramisu had a lot of mascarpone cheese in it (just the way I like it) and it was a nice sweet way to end our very filling meal.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As expected, Stem Japanese Eatery was delicious but also expensive 💸. In total, we spent about $357 before tax and tip. What was not included in this review is also 3 nigiris we ordered – 2 spot prawns and 1 big scallop. So yeah, definitely not a cheap casual dinner date, but it was my 30th birthday so I guess it’s ok 🥳.
Recommended: Read my full review of Miku in downtown Vancouver, where I took my fiancé for his 30th birthday dinner.
Now that we’ve tried almost everything at Stem Japanese Eatery, I can say that the must orders are:
- Charocoal grilled A5 Miyazaki sirloin – if you can splurge for the $62, get it!!!
- Bluefin tuna and uni hand roll – perfect combo if you want to try both fatty tuna and uni. I think it is a better deal than ordering it via sashimi or nigiri.
- Dashi maki tamago – your soul will be saved
If you are interested in their omakase, you have to order in advance.
I highly recommend Stem Japanese Eatery to all my friends who love sushi and Japanese food. It may be best to come here for a special occasion as the dishes and prices can add up very quickly, and a reservation is recommended because they are a small restaurant.
Recommended: Read my previous review of Stem Japanese Eatery in Burnaby when we ordered al le carte.
Sincerely, Loewe