Japanese-French Fusion.
Let’s eat together and share the delight
Group 10
Before Chef Alex moved to Vancouver to open these two restaurants, he had lived in Montreal, where the cuisine was influenced by European and often added French touch. Alex surely understands and has an endless passion with French cuisine, but he wants something novel, he decided to combine French and Japanese cuisine. That is the reason now why Kitchen by Yugo has French flavor.
The fact that Chef Alex Jin opened a test kitchen silently which is Kitchen by Yugo in the western End. Just some lucky people had a chance to taste Alex’s cooking on French and Japanese fusion style. Everyone was curious about how Alex marry Western cuisine with Eastern cuisine and they love it.S
After having target market, Yugo restaurant has used social platform flexibly to promote the conversation with their guests and sales with lower costs for investment.
The first social network for advertising is Facebook, their ads are really unique that the guest can pay attention to the Japanese fusion style with a touch of French cuisine. The menu of foods and drinks for special days, interests or other incredible value coupons are updated regularly on Facebook or can be posted on top of the main page.
Furthermore, Yugo advertisers begin to look at Instagram regularly when they tend to perform their longer and bigger videos and high-quality images for their campaigns. It is a good idea that each images and videos remind their customers about a nice and cozy atmosphere with flavor meals in dining time. Instagram hashtags also become a good idea to connect and identify the niches audiences. Ex: #Dineout
How about Twitter advertising? Compare with Facebook and Instagram, Yugo restaurants gives the viewers certain context (food and drinks, events) with images that draw attention.
Overall, Yugo restaurant had already successfully found their target to use the effective social media tools, the places where these people can actually see it.
Most of the reviews, comments about Yugo told about the Japanese food culture and how they impact to their experience. Furthermore, good service, serving on time, cooking process, design, cleanliness, or value of food can be also mentioned to evaluate the restaurant. In the overall reviews, Yugo restaurant gives the guests a sense of good experience and high recommendation about this location. I prettily sure that from these reviews, it can be a way for restaurant advertising, and their published reviews can be the potential to affect restaurant’s abilities to profit.
And now! Let look at some reviews in the websites to see what the details that promote their value are!!!
“The best late night restaurant I’ve ever been to. The food was fancy and delicious and presented perfectly. “
“The staff were the coolest and nicest people we’ve met in Vancouver. Very cool atmosphere to end the night.”
“Fabulous food and service. Cozy little restaurant with big flavours for your taste buds. Amazing house soy and sauces that go just perfect with the fresh ingredients. “
“Service was good. That was a nice discovery for this comeback trip in Vancouver”
“ We order sashimi, pork belly, scallops and their signature roll. Honestly, the most unique Japanese restaurant I’ve been to in years. If you’re looking for Japanese beyond sushi, give Yugo a shot!”
“1 stall washroom for each gender, clean and neat. The food is very tasty and happy hour is reasonable. “
While receiving some good reviews, there were also some customers’ complaints that can break the restaurant’s revenue. But luckily, the restaurant always keeps an eye in the reviews and if there are any mistakes or complaint, they try to respond early and politely.
“Do not recommend kids/family but they should be able to accommodate. “Wanted to “
“Flavour Wise the dishes we tried were pretty good but the courses on the menu were not coherent.”
“They provided stainless steel straws in an attempt of being environmentally friendly but we didn’t use them as we noticed it’s not properly cleaned.”
“Not really what I expected. I found it to be a bit overpriced and a bit bland.”
“We literally tried calling them on a Monday to try and make a reservation for Friday. No one picked up. Left a message. No call back. Sent email next day. No reply. Kept calling Wednesday and Thursday.”
And this is the way they respond to customer “Hi Winner, sorry that we are temporarily doing upgrade for our Denman location. The restaurant is closed for couple weeks. Please call our Main street location for reservations. Thanks. Yugo restaurant”
Comparing to the numerous choices from the online food menus, the options for the 3-courses set menu during “Dine-Out” week were made lack of selections obviously. And its sorrow that we were not allowed order those signature sushi and dishes recommended via social media.
Aperitif – Tuna Tartar or Carrot with Yogurt (V)
Tuna Tarter has been centrally positioned in one elegant rectangle plate, covered by one piece of crispy seaweed on the top, and served with little scallops and smoked pepper sauce. Although the portion was not that big but the taste was very special and delicious, especially when you mixed the seaweed together with the tarter before chewing.
Carrot with Yogurt contains puffed wide rice and apple oil, which was extremely refreshing and could be a good choice as the starter for the vegetarian.
Entrée – Poached Salmon or Pork Belly or Pumpkins Risotto (V)
Our entrées were arriving before we finished the appetizers. Never mind, we can share them together.
Poached Salmon has been glazed by Miso sauce, gently fried and dipped in the cauliflower puree. The side dishes included some seasonal greens, tofu and mushroom. The portion fit well and no right or wrong about this course.
Pork Belly was variable as it was a big bar of the grilled pork belly indeed. The portion was quite big and it’s bit fatter for us to finish it. We all gave very high compliments to the side dishes such as the yams, potatoes, carrots and even the greens for the previous salmon dishes. All of them were so tasty and delicious as we can’t wait to finish the side dishes first. We thought it must be made with ‘magic’ Japanese soy sauce!
Pumpkins Risotto was the only vegetarian option and was the one we loved the most among the entrée. By looking at the picture, you can tell that the item has contained a lots of parmesan cheese and cream. And it did really when you took a full spoon into your mouth! So great!
We glad that restaurant has also given the wine options to be served with the main course. They suggested to having fish with Masumi Junmai, pork with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for risotto. One of us picked Chardonnay and other one chose plum wine instead of Masumi Junmai for the main course.
Desert – Tiramisu with Vanilla Ice Cream
Tiramisu with ice cream was the only dessert option. The presentation looks unambitious but the taste was quite Italian!
In general, it’s hard to tell either French or Japanese or Fusion cuisine by trying the set menu provided. Each portion was not that big but we felt quite full even though we only ordered 3 sets for 4 persons sharing. Last but not the least, we need to highlight the beverage list as it has got various choices from soft drink, hot tea, sake, plum wine, red & white wine to all kinds of tailor-made cocktails etc., Two of us ordered the signature cocktails which were Lady Guava and Moscow Mule. The presentation were chic, taste was great and very suitable for ladies dine out.
We do look forward to have another attempt for their usual menu after the dine out week.
The layout for the restaurant is not that big and maximum capacity is about 6 to 7 tables in total; most of them set alongside the entrance and another individual table is available at the window side. Each table with candle decoration which created romantic and cozy atmosphere when entering the restaurant in the evening. It was kind of quiet with light background music on and only one table was occupied by that time.
Furthermore, we evaluated the restaurant’s sanitation through what did we see, hear and smell, and we are quietly pleasure. The outside from the window to mirror, everything was clean until we entered into the restaurant, there was no fingerprints in the water glasses or any dirt in the corners. Especially, the washroom could be the important aspect when it was neat, clean, sparkle and smelled pleasure.
In service, some people said that no matter how delicious your food, your customers mood could relax if they have good experience with the service, and we totally agree with this point. When enjoying the time in here, we thought that the owner has hired some good servers who love to serve , to welcome their customers and to take care of customers needs. The waitress was so nice to us, she always checked our table about drink refills, spoons, sauces that make our experience dining turn perfect.
With the integration of modern food and beverage trends, Kitchen by Yuko has announced itself as fusion restaurant which contains not only Japanese & French cuisine, but also the European and East Asian food. You may notice there are lots of greens, fresh and healthy ingredients such as apple, pumpkin, yogurt and all kinds of cheeses as well. This is very interesting and we glad to enjoy both Japanese & French food in ethics style.
We joined in this restaurant by the dine out Vancouver, $35 for each in a group, not included any taxes and beverage. Attract to new customers. We notice that the tissue paper offered was made by 100% recycled materials which can tell that the restaurant does have sustainability concept and concerns about the environment protection.
References:
Wolak, R. (n.d.). KITCHEN BY YUGO. [Online] vancouverfoodster.com. Available at: http://vancouverfoodster.com/2018/02/01/kitchen-by-yugo/
Peng, D. (2018, April).Newly opened Restaurant Yugo bridges French cooking to Japanese cuisine in Riley Park. [Online] pickydiners.com. Available at: https://www.pickydiners.com/www/newly-opened-restaurant-yugo-bridges-french-cooking-to-japanese-cuisine-in-riley-park/
(2017, November). Kitchen by Yugo – Harmony of Japanese and French Cuisine. [Online] eatingwithkirby.com. Available at: http://www.eatingwithkirby.com/2017/11/kitchen-by-yugo-harmony-of-japanese-and-french-cuisine.html