Koko Japanese Restaurant

East Van Treasure. Koko has long been one of the best kept secrets in East Van. If you are a serious fan of Japanese food, this in one of the better places you'll find in the city

The Neglected Mainstay. E: Koko has been around long enough to not need to prove itself. Showing up at 11:30 gets one an empty restaurant, the pick of the menu and the chance to converse with the staff. The chef did not have any special fish on offer, but had several days' special.
Lunch, therefore, started with Gyoza seeing that the restaurant and staff are Japanese. This was disappointing. It was made the way I do not appreciate: it was limp and filled with soft vegetables. Admittedly, my dumpling tastes veer crispy, fried and crunchy a la Mandu (Korean). Still, I very much like Gyoza, just not Koko's. At least, it was served in even numbers. One always gets Gyoza in odd numbers, which is not optimal when sharing - ha!
The chef suggested salmon, shrimp, Uni ('Sea Urchin Gonads') and Toro ('Tuna Belly'). Since I said no to salmon, the chef picked Kani ('crab') instead. Oddly, the Toro and the shrimp came first which is out of traditional order. The Toro was excellent. It was succulent. The rice and fish were absorbed without any chewing necessary. According to the chef, it was local Tuna. The Ebi was large and so were the grains of rice. I am not clear that nigiri rice should be this large. The Ebi had a bitter aftertaste. The Kani was chewy and I added a little soy sauce. Again it was a large portion. The Uni was not as good as one hopes. The taste was what I refer to as 'metallic' and not just as an aftertaste. It tasted metallic. I added more Shoyu ('Soy sauce') for my second one. The chef then suggested Shime Saba ('pickled mackerel'). I couldn't tell the difference between this and a regular Saba nigiri maybe because Saba is always marinated before serving anyway. Also had "Hamachi from Japan." For this, I opted for Temaki in order to try the Nori ('seaweed') and it was good. The chef added a whole Shiso ('perilla') leaf to it. It was the first time I had experienced this combination. Shiso is usually served with other fish.
For what I ate, including a steaming Miso soup, this was the cheapest meal in town at $52.08. Each order comprised of two nigiris and was larger than average.
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A: The restaurant's logo looks like a lube shop's. The area is not exactly desirable, but is away from the epicentre of governmental and societal neglect that is East Hastings and Main. The interior layout is not organized in a geometrically diametrical fashion. Half a dozen booths, an angled bar and a large dining area across constitute the restaurant.
Koko is one of the bigger Japanese restaurants around. It does not feel cramped. The restaurant is not as big as Tojo's, but is bigger than the old Aki and Richmond's Seto. The East Vancouver location probably deals them the upper hand in the rental cost sweepstakes. I suspect diners regularly skip Koko simply because of its location. When in 2010 I suggested that a friend and I drive to Koko for dinner she was downright hesitant. Up until the last minute she was debating whether another visit to Aki is preferable to trying a restaurant in East Vancouver and Hastings. She was later gratified to have opted for Koko.
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T: The service was quick and prompt. The Gyoza arrived quickly and so did every nigiri I wanted. The bill was quick too. They were especially timely given how they had a group of twenty, as well as several other booths and tables occupied. Walking by the back of the kitchen one sees how big it is. There are at least three waitresses, two chefs and three kitchen staff working for lunch. I had plenty of time to make it for a guided walk I had planned for 13:30. By the way, if you have not been to Dr Sun Yat Sen's Chinese Garden you should. I had timed my first visit for an accompanied walk with a group guide and was fascinated. Not sure why I had never been before!
Koko offers complimentary parking downstairs, which is accessible from the alley behind the restaurant or through the A&W parking lot. My car was safely nestled there when I found the door to the stairway leading to the restaurant locked. Turns out I was supposed to use the outside door and not the one inside the underground parking. I couldn't open that door and had walked all the way around to enter through the front door. I should have known as I had used it last time. The locked door is for tenants and residents' usage. No matter, because the chef was telling people to simply park on the street in the front.
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S: The waitresses and the chefs were Japanese. The second chef who came out and joined the owner also spoke Japanese. That is usually a positive prerequisite for superior Japanese food. It is not a guarantee; rather a good starting point. Funnily, the chef was in Bermuda shorts. Objectively, it makes no difference to the food and its quality, but I wondered if he thinks people do not notice as he is behind the bar.
The restaurant was empty at 11:30, but soon a group of 20 East Asian seniors walked in for a reservation and the Bentos (Japanese prepared lunches) began to flow. No wonder Koko has lasted 30 years. Amusingly, one lady from the group soon walked to the wait staff station in front of the bar and asked if she can substitute her chopstick for a fork. Soon several groups, including a Japanese group, and a lone customer entered and occupied the booths and the bar. At this point, they were almost full.
The washroom is old, but well maintained and clean.
The chef's name was Kuni. He introduced himself as the son of the founder of Koko. He explained that the restaurant has been there since 1982! It is a feat that the staff and chef are still friendly and talkative (or the chef was today) after 30 years of being in business. Whatever they are doing - which invariably must include good sushi - must be working.

Koko restaurant has enclosed sections for half the tables, making it comfortable for you and your guests to have an private table while you dine. The restaurant is fairly big, but it was more than half empty. We wondered if it was going to go out of business. My guest who had gone there a few times long before me said it looked run down…I could tell that the restaurant has been there for a while, but it wasn’t disgusting or filthy in any way. As a graphic designer, I must point out that they have a really terrible logo…I dunno, it reminds me of Midas…an automobile repair shop…very ugly. Awful colours. Nothing about it says ‘authentic higher-quality Japanese sushi’…Perhaps I should go there next time to propose a new logo…and branding… There was only one waitress, but since there were only 3, 4 small groups dining, the service wasn’t delayed or sacrificed. Like an authentic Japanese restaurant, we were given hot wet rolled-up towels to clean our hands. I ordered my favourite Negitoro ro