By Diana (Foodology),
Special to The Post

Rajio offers delicious food near UBC. The food and interior connects you to Japan, and the small meals are great for sharing with friends.
The team at Vaneats.ca are currently offering a ‘Turn on the Rajio” dining package for $20. The package includes 4 items: Kushikatsu, Banga Cauda, Sashimi Salad, and Heavenly Ebi Ramen.
I visited on a weekday with three of my good friend to enjoy some good Japanese food. We used the Vaneats.ca package, and also ordered a few items off the menu. We tried the complimentary cabbage with a light acidic dressing, and it was great. The Bagna Cauda has fresh vegetables with a dipping sauce made from garlic, anchovy, olive oil, and sweet Japanese white miso. This was a really strange dish to see because it was served in a Pyrex measuring cup. The sauce blew us away and complimented the vegetables perfectly.
The Sashimi Salad has the Chef’s omakase sashimi with crisp romaine lettuce tossed in kalamata olive soya dressing topped with tobiko. It was a very good sashimi salad. 
Kushikatsu is what Rajio is known for and includes four deep fried, panko breaded, bite sized skewers with dipping sauce. Heavenly Ebi Ramen is a new item and has tender ramen in deep-golden shrimp broth, embellished with slices of cha-shu pork and shrimp infused garlic oil. It is a bit disappointing to see there isn’t any ebi shrimp in the dish. It tasted ok but I felt like it was still lacking something.
Overall, the Vaneats Turn on the Rajio package is a good start to dive into the Rajio menu, but you will need to order a few more dishes to round out the whole experience. We ordered a variety of additional drinks and snacks, starting with the Smashing Hit Punch ($13). It is punch with watermelon, orange, grapefruit, vodka, rum, and white wine, and all served in a watermelon. It looked interesting, but we thought the beverage could have been colder to enhance the flavours.
Chicken Knees is actually chicken cartilage with some meat. Some people may think this dish is weird, but it’s just like chicken karaage but with added cartilage. The Tontoro Yaki is grilled pork jowl with shredded onions and yuzu kosho, which is a citrus dressing. The KFC ($7.80) has boneless chicken karaage coated with secret spices. We also ordered more Kushikatsu, including chicken, mochi, and bacon wrapped tomato Kushikatsu. 
Tako Wasabi ($3.80) has raw chopped octopus with pickles marinated in a wasabi sauce. You take the mixture and scoop them onto the seaweed and eat it together. I like this dish because you get a nice kick of wasabi.
Overall, my friends and I had a great time at Rajio. We casually chatted over beer and food, and the ambiance was great because they actually played some good music.   
Foodology is a top ranked food blogger on UrbanSpoon. These are the tales of her dine-out experiences. Read more at www.foodology.ca.

We Rate Rajio: 3.5/5
 
Rajio Japanese Public House
3763 W. 10th Ave. Vancouver
www.facebook.com/RajioJapanesePublicHouse