One of Victoria’s newest Japanese restaurants, Shima Village Japanese Restaurant is a welcome addition to the city’s dining scene. The latest in a long line of establishments to inhabit the location at 1218 Wharf Street, hopefully Shima can make a success of the spot. It’s always been a nice room, the two-story floor to ceiling windows allow for peeks at the Inner Harbour, although partially in the shadow of the Victoria Regent Hotel.
The Shima menu is large and varied, offering the traditional Japanese dishes expected at most sushi lounges. From the looks of what was served to other diners, everything looks nicely presented and fresh. The surprise came toward the back of the menu under “Special Suggestions”, both my dining companion and I went for selections from this section. The Sushi Pizza and Rice Burger were too unique to pass by.
We started with tempura appetizers, the ample portions were very nice and crispy. Then our entrees arrived, both beautifully presented. The Sushi Pizza is a deep fried rice patty topped with a choice of spicy tuna, spicy salmon, tuna salad or salmon salad. The server recommended spicy tuna, which my friend Anita was pleased to find to be the ‘right’ choice. The crunchy rice base was quite thick, we think next time, we’d ask for it to be half the base portion so it would be a crispier bite throughout, instead of soft rice in the middle. But otherwise, it was a great tasting, unique meal.
The Rice Burger was the same crispy rice patty as the pizza except it was sliced in half to form the ‘bun’. The topping is a choice of beef or chicken teriyaki, I choose the chicken, with cheese. The cheese helped to hold the meat together as a patty but the burger is difficult to eat with your hands as a burger, a fork and knife makes it easier. The crunch of the rice, the smooth, flavourful chicken teriyaki made for a nice combination of flavour and texture.
The whole meal was recommended and we’d like to return for more.
Shima Village Japanese Restaurant is located at 1218 Wharf Street in downtown Victoria, BC
For reservations call 250.590.7370, open daily at 11:30am, Sun-Wed until 9:30pm Thu-Sat until 10pm.