Robson’s only Japanese-style spaghetti restaurant, SPAGHeTEI, is set to close its doors on September 10. The news broke on SPAGHeTEI’s Facebook Page and reached me by way of Nosh & Nibble. Located at Robson and Denman, SPAGHeTEI had been serving Vancouverites for over three years and is SPAGHeTEI’s second restaurant. The original SPAGHeTEI is still operating in Aomori, Japan and has been serving up Japanese-style spaghetti since 1975.
SPAGHeTEI Menu
If you haven’t tried SPAGHeTEI before, I highly encourage you to check them out. SPAGHeTEI’s tantalizing menu includes 12 signature spaghetti dishes including Tomato Cream, Double Meat Sauce and Chicken Peperoncino to name a few. For side orders, they have Stir Fried Scallop with Garlic Butter and Pork Chili Oil Bread.
What I Tried
Disclosure: I was invited to a media tasting. All food was complimentary. Opinions are my own.
I was first introduced to SPAGHeTEI last year (see review here) and recently revisited them for a blogger dinner thanks to Nosh & Nibble. In this post, I’ll share some parting thoughts on SPAGHeTEI from my last meal there before bidding them adieu.
For our blogger dinner, we tried the following (as compiled by Nosh & Nibble):
- Starters & Sides
- Green Garlic Bread (complimentary)
- Mushroom Salad ($7.80)
- Stir Fried Scallop with Garlic Butter ($5.60)
- Spaghetei Dishes
- White Sauce ($12)
- Clam Soup Spaghetti ($12)
- Double Meat Sauce ($12)
- Mentaiko ($13)
- Barayaki ($13)
- Chicken Peperoncino ($11)
- Dessert
- Matcha Powder Snow ($4.80)
- Red Bean Powder Snow ($4.80)
Starters & Sides
To start, we had the vibrantly coloured Green Garlic Bread which is complimentary with every meal. The French bread was nicely toasted, sweet, crispy and had just the right amount of garlic flavour. The lovely green colour is from a mix of garlic pesto, spinach and parsley.
The Mushroom Salad had a mix of brown beech mushrooms, green beans, radish, cherry tomato peppers, and broccoli. Nice earthy flavours from the mushrooms and refreshing for the summer since it is a cold salad. For the health conscious, a great way to eat more veggies.
The Stir Fried Scallops were wonderfully buttery and juicy. I would recommend this as a side dish.
Spaghetei Dishes
We tried 6 out of the 12 spaghetti dishes including Double Meat Sauce, Mentaiko, White Sauce, Barayaki, Chicken Peperoncino, and Clam Soup Spaghetti. The choices are overwhelming but it really comes down to what sauce (red, white, Teriyaki etc) and protein (chicken, shrimp, seafood etc) you like.
As a white sauce and seafood lover, I took quite a liking to the White Sauce (shrimp, bacon and mushrooms) and Clam Soup Spaghetti (clam meat, bacon and various vegetables) dishes. Both were wonderfully creamy and comforting. Very balanced flavours between the cream, seafood, bacon, and vegetables.
Meat lovers would certainly love the Double Meat Sauce Spaghetti dish with sliced beef topped with diced boiled egg.
Of if you like Teriyaki flavours, the Barayaki with pan fried beef, onions with Barayaki Sauce would be a good choice.
For those who like a little less sauce, the Mentaiko is worth trying. It comes with mentaiko (marinated roe of pollock and cod), shrimp and mushrooms topped with dried seaweed. The “little balls” of mentaiko are a nice textural contrast; it also adds a more complex flavour to the dish due to its spicy and salty taste.
The Chicken Peperoncino, with crispy grilled chicken, asparagus and broccoli, is a conservative but still tasty choice.
Desserts
To finish off a delicious pasta meal, we had Matcha and Red Bean Powder Snow. Refreshing and sweet, the desserts were shaved ice made from frozen milk and topped with matcha or red bean. I enjoyed the beautiful, fine texture of the ice.
Overall Impression
All in all, Spaghetei serves some affordable, tasty and hearty Japanese-style spaghetti dishes. Be sure to check them out by September 10 which is when their doors close forever. Rating: 4.5/5
Website: www.spaghetei.com