After a quick - and impressive - interior renovation, Yume Japanese Fusion restaurant has opened up at 410 W 2nd St.
Situated near the Canada Line's Olympic Village Station, Yume replaces the short-lived Sunny Side Up, a breakfast and lunch operation that ran in the space for the first few months of the year before shuttering.
Previously, the space was home to one of Vancouver's remaining DeDutch locations.
Yume is a first-time restaurant venture and features several contemporary presentations of traditional Japanese fare, including soba noodles, sukiyaki, sushi and sashimi, and udon.
One section of the menu is dedicated to Yume's futomaki, which are wide sushi rolls that contain pickled vegetables and tamago (egg), with options like beef, negitoro (tuna belly with green onion), or cooked salmon (called the B.C. roll).
Among the sushi bar selections is Yume's take on aburi (torched) sushi, served on round mounds of rice, and offered with toppings like tuna or hotate (scallop).
Items like cold soba noodles make for nice hot weather slurping with a nice kick of wasabi (stir thoroughly!) and the tako wasabi is equally as refreshing; it's a small dish of chopped raw octopus with wasabi served with dried seaweed pieces.
A heartier item like the katsu sando is rich and filling; it features a large golden-fried pork cutlet on soft white bread with a special house-made egg sauce. The bread is just a shade too thin to stand up to the thick, crunchy pork and creamy sauce, but the flavours are all on point.
Much of the menu is easily shared, from appetizers to sushi selections as well as mains like beef sukiyaki in regular or spicy broth and Yume's "kitchen special" Donmahawk, which is a deep-fried pork tomahawk steak with rice, potatoes, and a sweet sauce.
Yume's space is light, bright, and modern and reflects a significant update from the yellow diner vibes of its predecessors.
The new restaurant does not have a website but you can follow them on Instagram @yume.dining. Yume is open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
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