Stem Japanese Eatery: Valentines Day Omakase

Stem Japanese Eatery is a local Japanese restaurant located in Burnaby. They offer traditional Japanese dishes in a rustic and home-cooking style. They have won awards for best new restaurant and best Japanese in 2020.

I’ve wanted to try Stem for awhile and we decided to check them out for Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day gets booked up very quickly. I started making reservations on January 15 and found my initial first picks for restaurants were already fully booked. Thankfully, I was able to book Stem’s Valentine’s day omakase for a normal dinner time.

This review is based on an in-dining experience.

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Interior

The interior of Stem is very cute and Japanese. It feels almost like an izakaya. It is a medium-sized restaurant and all the staff speak Japanese. Overall, it gives off a very authentic Japanese vibe.

Tables are properly spaced out and there is also a bar where you can see the chefs prepare the food.

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Drinks

We try 2 different drinks – a shochu highball ($9) and the yuzu mule ($9). I was excited to order the highball because I miss drinking those in Japan. The highball tastes almost like soda water but it is quite strong.

The yuzu mule is much better tasting with a lemon flavour.

Valentine’s Day Omakase ($145 for 2 people)

We pre-ordered their Valentine’s Day omakase, but we were also allowed to order additional items al le carte. The omakase has 6 courses and the price is $145 for 2 people.

Course 1: Wagyu tempura

Our first course is a wagyu tempura appetizer. The wagyu is wrapped and fried in a shiso leaf and then topped with uni, wasabi and umami soy.

This was an interesting appetizer because of how it is wrapped and fried in the shiso leaf. It gave off a more refreshing and less oily taste. The wagyu was tender and delicious and the uni on top made it feel creamy.

Course 2: Black cod

The next course featured Haida Gwaii black cod yu-an with a cauliflower goma tofu in a miso dashi. The also include sake kasu and cherry blossom.

This was another interesting dish. The black cod tasted delicious and broke apart easily when poked. The miso dashi is very flavourful and a great pairing for the fish. The most interesting part is probably the cauliflower tofu – it was chewier than normal tofu with almost a melted mochi-like consistency. It soaked up the miso dashi broth and tasted great.

Course 3: Shirako, ika, mackerel, clam, snow crab

This course is a plate of small delicacies. It contains 5 different little bowls.

Hokkaido shirako

This is cod milt and if you still don’t know what this is, I will simply explain it as “fish cum”. So yes, here we have some fish cum with orange jelly and a dashi vinegar.

I’ve wanted to try shirako for awhile now because it’s so unique but I’ve also been worried that I would not like it. It looks like a squiggly dollop of lotion. The taste is creamy but nothing weird or foul. The orange and vinegar helps give it a tangy flavour.

Hotaru ika

These are little firefly squids from Japan with a yuzu sumiso sauce on top. I find these little squids very cute and I’ve never tried it before. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the yuzu sauce but it didn’t taste bad on it. The squids are lightly grilled, a little smoky and have nice chewy texture.

Japanese toro sawara mackerel

This is almost like a tuna crudo except with mackerel. They use a sesame ponzu and shungiku. It’s a cold appetizer dish and is savoury due to the sesame ponzu and the natural taste of mackerel.

BC manila clam

This features some manila clams, rapini, mustard and dashi. Out of all 5 little dishes, I would say this one was the least unique. The clams didn’t have too much flavour, but it was a nice little dish.

Koubako snow crab

This is like a small nigiri with snow crab, ikura, sushi rice and shiso flower. I tasted more of the ikura than the snow crab so it had the flavour of the sea, but I wish it had a stronger crab flavour.

Course 4: Yarrow meadows duck breast

This would be considered the main entree. The slices of duck breast are placed in a sesame soymilk dashi. The dashi also has Chilliewack siegling potato, BC leek puree and fried leeks.

The slices of duck have a smoky aroma and taste great – not overcooked or anything like that. My boyfriend claims this is the best duck breast he’s ever eaten.

The dashi, again, is super flavourful and strong. Potatoes and leeks are a very classic combo.

Course 5: Chef’s selection of nigiri sushi

We are presented with 5 different types of sushi – toro with caviar, hamachi yellowtail, saba, squid and negi-hamachi roll.

I usually look forward to the sushi course but this one was my least favourite out of the 6 courses. I never really like ika/squid nigiri because I find the wasabi underneath kind of just slides off and doesn’t mesh well with the fish so my nose starts singing and all I taste is the wasabi flavour. This happened again with this squid nigiri and the hamachi nigiri as well. The toro was yummy, as expected.

The miso soup was too salty for my taste.

Course 6: Dessert

There are 3 different desserts in the dessert platter. First, there is a matcha chocolate terrain. Second, we have the tsu-en organic houji-cha and chocolate cheesecake. Third, we have a small scoop of pomegranate ice cream.

I liked all 3 desserts but I ate them in the opposite order. I ate the pomegranate ice cream first because it was melting and it was refreshing like a sorbet. Next, I had the chocolate terrain which resembled the taste of a melty kiss (if you know that chocolate brand). The cheesecake was yummy and rich but lacked a little in the sense of having that roasted green tea taste.

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Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

We really enjoyed our omakase at Stem Japanese Eatery. We thought most of their dishes are unique and had elements we’ve never tried before so it was a fun experience. I feel like Stem Japanese Eatery puts a lot of effort into their dishes. We left feeling full and did not order additional menu items.

I find their non-sushi dishes to taste better and their menu actually has quite an extensive list of seasonal Japanese dishes vs. your regular sushi joint.

For the price, this is a pretty amazing deal. I thought I had heard incorrectly over the phone when they told me $145 for 2 people. Usually, an omakase is already $100+ per person so at this price point, it has great value – on Valentine’s Day too!

We will definitely be back to try their regular menu and takeout!

Sincerely, Loewe