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At , bright blue lights pulsate through frosted-glass clouds that float from the ceiling. In Japanese, miku means "beautiful sky." And the effect is supposed to be cheerful - like rays of sunshine on a wet, gloomy day.

But at night, when reflected off the restaurant's tall windows, glass waterfall sculpture and bright white walls, the blue lighting is quite harsh, highly unflattering and somewhat eerie - like the artificial glow from an LED light box used to treat seasonal affective disorder.

Miku is a new restaurant brought to Vancouver by Toro Corp., which operates an assortment of seven casual sushi joints and fine-dining establishments in the city of Miyazaki in southeastern Japan. This is the company's first foray into North America.

Aburi sushi - seared with a blowtorch - is the house specialty. This lightly cooked version of the classic raw fish staple is all the rage in Japan right now, a waiter tells us, because the heat renders out the fat, making it healthier. The general manager later concurs, going on to explain that Miku is all about offering "healthy, organic, local" foods.

It's true that aburi is a growing Japanese trend and fairly new to North America. A few Vancouver restaurants (Hapa Izakaya, Kingyo) offer aburi-style dishes torched tableside, mostly saba (mackerel) or toro (tuna belly). But there aren't many restaurants this side of the Pacific that feature a full range of aburi sushi and main entrées.

Still, this whole "healthy" concept, much like Miku's blue sunbeams, feels contrived. Aren't the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oils supposed to be good for you?

The menu could also be a lot more user-friendly, especially given that aburi is a relatively new concept and Miku is going several steps further by offering a medley of other unusual sushi styles, some "infused with savoury French sauces."

Our waiter helps as much as he can, dashing in and out of the kitchen to answer our questions. But we're still not sure what we've ordered, even after three platters arrive at the table in rapid succession.

The Tsubaki Sushi platter ($38) features five pieces of aburi sushi - ika (squid), hamachi (yellowtail), sake (salmon), hotate (sea scallop), maguro (tuna) - along with four oshi (pressed) sushi, two rose (twirled like a flower) sushi and two temari sushi (rolled into ornamental balls).

The aburi sushi is gently scorched on the top, but still raw in the middle, giving the fish a faintly marbled char and soft pillowy texture. Imagine biting through a barely roasted marshmallow. Rather than rendering the fish oils, I think the heat actually accentuates the rich fatty flavour.

There are probably some fish more conducive to aburi than others. The naturally chewy squid, for example, tastes a lot more tender prepared this way. But I don't think it does much for the tuna.

Personally, I prefer sushi raw. If you're eating fresh, fatty, premium-grade fish, it should melt in your mouth without any help, yet I can see how aburi's slightly smoky flavour and less slippery texture may entice squeamish diners.

But let's back up for a minute and ponder that charred, smoky flavour. When I call the restaurant later, general manager Tai Hasumi tells me that the cooks place a piece of charcoal between the fish and the butane torch so the sushi doesn't taste like gas.

Hmm. I sure hope the fatty fish oil isn't dripping on the charcoal and releasing nasty hydrocarbons.

The Miku Roll ($18) doesn't taste too healthy, either. It's a huge, creamy, crunchy monster stuffed with salmon, cucumber, sea urchin and crab mayonnaise, rolled in golden tobiko (flying fish roe) and topped with browned Miku sauce - a yolky, house-made mayonnaise that may be preservative-free, but still packs a wallop of cholesterol.

Tora Oshi Sushi ($15) is an interesting platter with six different types of what look like double-decker sushi. Each piece comes with a layer of rice on the bottom, a pressed piece of salmon, another layer of rice and a piece of lightly seared fish or chicken with its own unique topping: tuna with a dot of avocado, salmon with jalapeno, yellowtail with green onion salsa.

We like some (the sea scallop with fish roe is a winner); others not so much (nobody wants to even try the chicken tossed in mayo and topped with pickled vegetables). But we certainly are curious about the salmon, which has a distinctive petal-pink hue.

"We're using Atlantic farmed salmon because our cooks think it has more marbling than wild salmon and tastes better," Mr. Hasumi later confesses, adding that he has personal reservations. The kitchen uses endangered bluefin tuna from the Philippines rather than local albacore tuna for similar reasons. The use of unsustainable fish kind of knocks the sunshine right out of Miku's healthy, local and organic mantra.

Vancouver may warm to the idea of seared sushi. But I imagine that farmed Atlantic salmon and hyped-up marketing will be a lot harder to swallow.

Miku: 2-1055 West Hastings St.; 604-568-3900

*****

Side dish

Holiday Specials

and Setbacks

In Vancouver's tony west side, cheap cuts of meat such as stewing chuck beef and brisket were once harder to find than a cigarette-smoking yogi. Take a deep breath. "Meinhardt offers comforting, money-saving tenderness for tough times," the high-end food emporium trumpets in a recent media release. In addition to free slow-cooker recipes, the meat department at the new location (Arbutus Street and 16th Avenue West) is offering a 10-per-cent discount on the next two Mondays before Christmas.

NU Restaurant + Lounge celebrates the holiday season with complimentary canapés to enjoy alongside an afternoon cocktail from 3 to 5 p.m.: 1661 Granville St.; 604-646-4668.

Parkside Restaurant is also giving recession-weary diners a break. In addition to its new à la carte pricing, the West End dining room has doubled its regular $65 three-course tasting menu to a whopping six plates: 1906 Haro St.; 604-683-6912.

Gastropod has brought back its early-bird special, a three-course prix fixe menu available from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The restaurant will also be open for weekday lunches until Dec. 23: 1938 West 4th Ave.; 604-730-5579.

On the heels of its new menu and cocktail list release, Habit Restaurant and Bar was hit earlier this past Sunday by a kitchen fire. The Main Street restaurant will be closed for at least a few months.

Mon Bella Bistoria couldn't decide if it was a French bistro or an Italian trattoria. Now it seems the restaurant is having trouble settling on a chef. After weak reviews, the owners introduced a new menu and chef (Lauren Campbell) late last month. Two weeks later, they have announced that Brian Fowke (formerly of Metro and the defunct Rare) has stepped in temporarily as executive chef: 1809 West 1st Ave.; 604-569-2741.

Alexandra Gill