Sushi Manifesto
The neighbourhood sushi shop — one of the jewels of Vancouver’s city culture.
“People eat more sushi in Vancouver than they do in Tokyo,” I once read, and if the sheer quantity of sushi vendors in Vancouver is any indication, I certainly believe it. The only type of establishments more numerous are coffee shops, and that’s not saying much. If sushi could be sold in vending machines, people here would do it.
Being sort of a foodie, one of the first questions I started asking people when I moved to Vancouver was, “What are the best restaurants downtown?” In most categories there were one or two clear favourites, but when the question rolled around to sushi, I didn’t realize how big a can of worms I had just opened. “Expensive sushi or cheap fast sushi? How big a selection are you looking for? Do you like rolls or sashimi?” The list I had been scribbling down veritably exploded when it came to all the sushi suggestions.
The underlying reason for all this? In Vancouver sushi isn’t so much a cuisine as a choice — a clothing style, a wet-the-toothbrush-before-or-after-the-toothpaste habit, a cloudy or sunny weather predilection. Price, variety, location, quality, speed, atmosphere. One person’s sushi indulgence is another person’s dive. A place right down the street from me with consistently rewarding wild salmon sashimi may forever disappoint you in its lack of a yam tempura roll. Your favourite place for a chopped scallop roll doesn’t do much for my shellfish allergy. How important is it that the owners are ethnic Japanese? Offer vegetarian dishes? Serve the rolls only after the sashimi?
You can’t predict the relative value of these things to people, and can’t measure them, either. What does 4 stars mean when it comes to a sushi place? Anything? At any rate, it’s still great to share suggestions, however, so what’s your most frequent sushi haunt? What does it offer that keeps you coming back? What does it lack that could make others hate it? It’s like sushi poker — place your bets.
I’ve got a pair of skipjack tuna, a pair of king salmons, and this:
Sushi Maki, at Hornby and Nelson. Small, fast, and cheap, with terrific wild pacific salmon and good local tuna. The smoked salmon and avocado “Angel Roll” is one of their best custom offerings. Downsides? Not a very impressive atmosphere if you’re trying to wow your out-of-town guests. Also, doesn’t have much to satisfy your more exotic cravings — they stick to the tuna and salmon basics, with the occasional eel, shrimp, and octopus as needed.
What’ve you got?
Related posts:
Cheap and big slabs of sashimi - Samurai Sushi at Cambie/41st
AYCE - Tomokazu (they have chopped scallop rolls)
You forgot categories in addition to expensive or cheap AYCE and tapas!
i’ve got a thing for ‘urban sushi’ on granville. it might not be the cheapest of the cheep cheep sushi places, but the #20 (yam and avocado roll special) makes me happy.
Toshi Sushi, on 16th just off of Main, is exquisite. I haven’t had a single thing there that sucked, and almost everything I have tried (or that anyone I’ve gone with has tried) has been exceptional. It’s well worth waiting in line for.
It’s been such a long while since I’ve sampled a variety of sushi places around Vancouver, that I can’t say I have any favourite place anymore.
However, after living in Japan with a traditional Japanese family, all of whose members had discerning palates, I’ve begun to notice the differences in quality. I am afraid I find that only Japanese-run places serve things the way I now like them.
Out of all the sushi places here I cna only remember having eaten at Sushi Maki and it was pretty good for non-Japanese sushi.
My two favourite sushi place, though, are Kasuga Sushi in New Westminster and the sushi bar at the Blue Water Cafe.
I really love Kasuga Sushi’s Bossa Nova rolls - mango and avocado! Not traditional rolls but something I would have expected to eat in a modernized sushi joint in Japan.
Plus, there’s just something about the atmosphere…it’s just like Japan…It must be the meet’n'greet when a customer walks in the door.
As for the Blue Water Cafe, I once kept ordering food just so I could watch that sushi chef. He was so exact about the slicing of the fish, the wiping of his tools, starting from the beginning if a dish just didn’t look right…ahhh!!
Urban Sushi. Great food. It always hits the spot.
Haven’t been disappointed yet.