http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/tunadna/

(New Toronto review coming very soon!)

First off, an apology for not updating in something like 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I’ve been laid up in bed for nearly all of this time with a case of the dreadful nasties. However, all things pass and this has as well. So whats one of the first things I do when [...]]]> Big Sushi
388 Bloor St. W

First off, an apology for not updating in something like 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I’ve been laid up in bed for nearly all of this time with a case of the dreadful nasties. However, all things pass and this has as well. So whats one of the first things I do when I feel better? Well, my appetite is back, so it’s time to get me some Sushi!

My friend Jackie had recommended Big Sushi to me a few months ago, but like I’ve mentioned a few times, I’m trying to keep the Bloor West strip free for when the Canadian winter hits. Since I’m still not quite up to marathon walks, I decided to break my own rule and go some place easy to get to. Oh, and within a close proximity to a Starbucks for a post lunch Mocha. I’d make a joke about ubiquitous Starbucks locations, but I think Toronto has more Sushi.

Since I was a tiny bit concerned about how my stomach would react to raw food, I decided to play it safe and go with a few favorites. First up was the Crunch Roll (Salmon, Cucumber, Avocado, Masago, Tempura) for $6. I ordered this because I knew it would be just a tad on the bland side, and I was actually somewhat surprised. While there could have been a bit more salmon in there, everything else (especially the tempura flake!) was quite generous and actually quite tasty. A single strip of (Oyster? Teryaki?) sauce along the top was a nice touch and it passed the soy sauce test. Just the tiniest amount was needed.

I get a bit of flak from the Sushi purists (read: snobs) that I eat a lot of Sushi Pizza. There’s a reason for this. It’s good. I really like the stuff! But the Big Sushi take on it was a little different, so I had the perfect excuse to give it a whirl! For $7.50 you actually got a little more than the usual. A fried rice patty with salmon, mayo, oyster sauce, and tobiko, but toss Avocado slices and imitation crab meat on top as well. As with most places, they went waaay overboard with the tobiko, but the avocado slices made a really nice touch. A bit of added creaminess to the salty goodness. I couldn’t really tell the crab meat was there, but I stuffed myself silly on it. Did I mention that the rice patty was much thinner and had a much larger diameter than usual? It filled me right up and felt like a bargoon.

While I was warned that Big Sushi was a little more expensive than others in the area, I didn’t really see it. There were some good lunch specials as well. Thumbs up!

What a wonderfully deceptive fall day. A look out the window promises a cold, wet adventure. Actually going outside reveals that it’s actually quite warm for late October and not a drop of rain from the heavens. Sounds like the perfect afternoon to grab my camera, go for a walk, and hit [...]]]> Sushi World
281 College St.

What a wonderfully deceptive fall day. A look out the window promises a cold, wet adventure. Actually going outside reveals that it’s actually quite warm for late October and not a drop of rain from the heavens. Sounds like the perfect afternoon to grab my camera, go for a walk, and hit a sushi restaurant.

This week we venture into a neighborhood that is very dangerous to my wallet. The College and Spadina “tech alley” where all of the good downtown computers stores are. Near the corner, close to a sign that promises deli food straight from the late 60s or early 70s is a fairly new sushi joint. It must be a year old or so, as there used to be a computer store or somesuch in it’s location. Plus the interior is brand spanking new, simple, and comfortable.

I’ve walked past Sushi World a couple of times on recce walks with friends, and as it appeared to be a simple, inexpensive place I dubbed it in the category of “a place to visit when by oneself.” This afternoon qualified as such, so off I went. At 1:30 in the afternoon I was nearly the only customer, so unsurprisingly the service was quick and attentive.

Now sushi, generally speaking, is a pretty healthy food. But I’ve demonstrated in the past that if there is a way to make a salad a cholesterol and calorie filled fiesta, I’ll find it. So with that in mind I tried to make at least one healthy selection. First up was the deliberately green Avocado and Cucumber roll at $4.25. I know what you’re thinking. “Todd, isn’t that encroaching into your Sisters territory?” Well, she was off Zombie Walking (Graaaains! Graaaains!) or something, so I had to fill the roll. Or eat the roll. How droll. There’s something to be said for the thinly sliced “stalks” of cucumber. It brings out the flavour just that much more. An excellent roll that kept even the most demanding omnivore interested. Could have used a touch more avocado, but thats just my own addiction shining through.

Now, I was reading a few other reviews of other restaurants before heading out, and I noted one woman raving about how much she enjoyed Salmon skin maki. You know, I’ve never tried that. So no time like the present! For $4.55 I was treated to what must be the equivalent to a potato chip roll. I can bet there was next to no nutritional value here whatsoever. Yes, we’re firmly back in my comfort zone. The Spicy Salmon Skin combined salmon skin with avocado, tempura, and just a touch of spicy mayo. This had a fishiness quotient slightly higher than, well, fish, but less than Unagi. Plus it brought out the taste of the nori. A bit more crunch would have been in order, but the spicy level was just about perfect for “junk food” as opposed to the wasabi infused heat of “real” nigiri sushi.

With prices on par with Junjun down the street, but with a nicer atmosphere how can I give this anything but a thumbs up? There were even plenty of lunch specials and a 10% discount if you showed your U of T student ID.

In my mind I had reserved the Bloor St. sushi strip for the dead of winter. However, I met up with a friend today, and this was the area that was easiest for both of us to get to, so I broke my own rule by a couple of months. Next [...]]]> New Generation
486 Bloor St. W

In my mind I had reserved the Bloor St. sushi strip for the dead of winter. However, I met up with a friend today, and this was the area that was easiest for both of us to get to, so I broke my own rule by a couple of months. Next week I’ll have to head to College St. or something to “make amends” to my own schedule.

I’ve heard many things, both good and bad about the more popular places like New Generation. What I’ve discovered is that what is one mans nirvana is anothers hell. The reviews by folk on such places as BlogTO are so all over the place that it was easy to go in with no preconceptions.

One thing that has always struck me is why the heck is there two locations close enough together that you can see one from the other? Well, it’s pretty simple. One is devoted mostly to Sushi, the other focuses more on the Korean BBQ. This location was the Korean BBQ one. I honestly didn’t care for the tables, I’m not a big fan of the gas stove tables necessary for the BBQ. It’s overlooked when I’m grilling my own, but it gets in the way otherwise.

I perused the menu and decided I’d go with a couple of completely new things. First up was the Scarlet O’Hara Roll at $6.95. OK, this was a mistake. Why? Well, what did they put in it? Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. The menu states mixed fish with onion, and boy did they put everything but the kitchen sink in there. Salmon, Tuna, Crab, possibly a bit of whitefish and some squid. Damn. If the squid had been spelled out on the menu I would have passed. Raw squid has such a strong flavour, that you just have such a hard time tasting anything else. While an interesting idea, I think they would have been better served to pare down a couple of ingredients so it wouldn’t be such a flavour clash.

But next up was something that always gets my attention. Lobster. Apparently a Canadian Roll ($7.95) contains Lobster Claw, cucumber, asparagus, mayo, and is topped with salmon. I’m not exactly sure what part of Canada screams “asparagus”. This was another roll where keeping it simple and “less is more” would have been a good idea. Too many things can lead to some interesting combinations, or just a mish mash of flavours. This was the latter. A bit heavy on the mayo, this could have been much improved by removing the asparagus and tossing in a bit more cucumber. It wasn’t bad by any means, but I found tastes fighting for my attention instead of co-existing peacefully.

Since I had a sushi neophyte with me (and who ordered Korean stir fry) I decided to try out the Salmon Pizza ($7.95) and see if the “gateway drug” could hook someone else who was really unsure about the whole “raw fish” thing. Unfortunately, the pizza didn’t pass the new comers taste test. But thats OK. No-one has to like everything. But I’m not complaining one little bit. That meant that 5/6th of a salmon pizza was all for me! Compared to most places, this pizza was rather light on the salmon, and the patty was somewhat thick. But with one arm twisted behind my back, I struggled it down!

Overall I’d give a minor thumbs up. In the coming months I’m going to hit the “sushi” location across the street and see the difference. But there were a number of people enjoying the BBQ, and I’m going to have to come back and give that a try!

Hello world. It’s been over a week. Have you missed me? Well, you may not have missed me, but I certainly missed having sushi. But what screams a Canadian thanksgiving weekend louder than sushi? I know, traditionalists are going to give us noise about turkey, but I didn’t see any turkey [...]]]> Sushi Garden
30 Eglinton Ave W

Hello world. It’s been over a week. Have you missed me? Well, you may not have missed me, but I certainly missed having sushi. But what screams a Canadian thanksgiving weekend louder than sushi? I know, traditionalists are going to give us noise about turkey, but I didn’t see any turkey teriyaki rolls, so I’ll just leave that to Jon at Sushipalooza.

With a little bit of forethought, I went out into the bright sunshine this afternoon with my camera. I didn’t specifically go out with sushi in mind, but it was a gorgeous day, just about lunch time, and I certainly wasn’t going to spend it all indoors. I needed to pick up a few things from Future Shop over at Yonge and Eglinton, so I figured if I found a place I’d hit it. If not, so be it.

By such a strange co-incidence I managed to run into a place before I even got my shopping started. You never really notice just how many sushi places there are in this city until you start actively looking. I’m beginning to wonder how so many can survive. We must be a city of ravenous crab stick eaters. With even more luck there was a seat available right in the window so I was able to take advantage of the natural sunlight for optimal photography goodness. A quick perusal of the menu tells me that this is more of a general Japanese restaurant with plenty of Teriyaki, Udon, etc to go along with both Nigiri and Maki sushi. There were plenty of combos and specials to choose from, but I went with my tried and true method of random maki selection.

By an even stranger coincidence, someone I met recently was extolling the virtues of a Spicy Avocado roll, describing the japanese mayo and tempura flakes and generally making me hungry over the phone. While desperately trying to choose between a couple of dozen rolls, this one jumped right out at me. A whopping $5.99 for a huge hunk of avocado with spicy mayo and tempura. It was excellent, a little bit too mushy in texture, but that might be easily remedied by more tempura. Still, it was delicious with an interesting teardrop shape and presentation. It was also a nice treat to have the nori on the outside.

After having the Spider roll at Hosu last week, I decided to see what this place made of it. To a certain extent, deep fried soft shelled crab is deep fried soft shelled crab. But Sushi Garden brought back my faith by delivering a generous helping of the crab. At $9.95 it was the same price, but I’d have to say a better value. The one thing that struck me about both rolls was the absolutely perfect amount of rice. Not too much, not too little. It’s nice to fill up on sushi and not be hungry again a few hours later because most of it was white rice.

This is proof, however, that you can have a perfectly good sushi lunch and avoid any notion of it being healthy. Avocado and Mayo loaded with fatty goodness, and deep fried crab with lots of tobiko, which must be nearly pure salt. Still, I imagine it must be better for me than a cheeseburger, but I’m not in a huge rush to find out precisely.

The restaurant itself was nice enough, clean without being fancy. The service was quick and unobtrusive. The overall atmosphere was humble, friendly, and un rushed. It still surprises me that no-one ever raises an eyebrow when I bring out the camera and start snapping away. Nothing jumps out that screams “You must come back here!” but I definitely had a good lunch at a pretty affordable price!

Well, the first summer of Sushi is officially over. The weather has turned to a typically Canadian grey and drizzly fall, and the nice days will have to be taken advantage of as much as possible. This means that the pace of reviews around here will slow slightly, but I’ll always try [...]]]> Hosu
254 Queen Street W

Well, the first summer of Sushi is officially over. The weather has turned to a typically Canadian grey and drizzly fall, and the nice days will have to be taken advantage of as much as possible. This means that the pace of reviews around here will slow slightly, but I’ll always try and get a meal and some photos in once a week. I’ve saved certain areas of the city for when it gets really bad, but I still have notes on quite a number of places to visit.

Almost appropriately the summer of sushi is marked with the very last place (that I know of) within a short walking distance of both mine and my sisters offices. It was with great help from her that I was able to visit a number of diverse places, and our sushi thursdays were a lot of fun. I’ve eaten at Hosu probably a dozen times or more over the past couple of years, but I’ve never once ordered sushi there. A Japanese/Korean restaurant (with 3 locations in the city) thats always, always busy should be a good indicator if you’re new to the area. There isn’t a time when the place isn’t bustling and people are waiting for take out. But the real treat is staying.

I’ll admit, I don’t know the names of the appetizers that are served with every meal, except for the Kimchi and the Edamame. However the real draw for me is the spiced, sliced potato and (fermented?) soy beans. If I could find that stuff jarred like you can with Kimchi, I’d have it in my fridge *always*. Of course, all perfectly vegan/vegetarian friendly. As were the Gyoza that Laura ordered. She also had a Veggie combo, and her dedication to photographical symmetry was such that when I asked her to move a piece of sushi for a shot, she hurled it to the floor! Then cursed her butter fingers.

My own choices were a mix of the old and the new. As I’ve noted a few times in the past, I tend to go for one “cheap” roll and one slightly more extravagant. The cheap selection this time around was the Boston Maki ($4.95) which contained crab, cucumber, mayo and tobiko. I honestly wonder sometimes just how much crab stick I’ve eaten this year. My only real disappointment with this roll was that besides the crab stick, the other ingredients were few and far between. Mayo *should* be used sparingly, but more cucumber please. I need my green vegetables. The “expensive” roll wasn’t really, as I went for the Spider Roll for $9.95. Ah, soft shelled crab, you can do no wrong. An acquaintance of mine once wondered aloud when the hostilities broke out between the crab and the monkey. All I know is, I’m glad they did!

The Spider roll suffered from the same lack of vegetables, but both rolls paid out in sheer size. Big and filling, some pieces were nearly too big to chew politely. It was also curious that they were both nori-out instead of the uramaki nori-in style. It was a nice change of pace, and I always appreciate that seaweedy goodness.

I’m not sure if I’d order sushi at Hosu again, not because it was bad by any words, but it’s more a reflection of how addicted I am to their Teriyaki, Bulgogi, and Bibimbap. Good and filling, I could never give this place a bad review. :)

This isn’t a review as such, although we have done Sushi Xtra waaay back in the day when this site first started. Nope, this is more just an excuse to take a few pictures of the food that was ordered for Beer Bash.

Whats Beer Bash? Well, the company that I work [...]]]> Sushi Xtra
423 Queen Street W

This isn’t a review as such, although we have done Sushi Xtra waaay back in the day when this site first started. Nope, this is more just an excuse to take a few pictures of the food that was ordered for Beer Bash.

Whats Beer Bash? Well, the company that I work for, Organic Inc. orders a keg of beer and munchies for the office every Friday afternoon. It’s a way to wind out the week and chat with people you wouldn’t normally interface with on a day to day basis.

Every so often, Sushi is the food ordered for Beer bash. Usually we order from E Sushi, which prompted a review of that establishment.  This time around, our intrepid receptionist who is in charge of deciding what food gets ordered and from where took a page from my book and gave one of the Queen St. establishments a try. At $80 for a 110 piece tray, I figure it’s a good deal. (Well, it’s free to me and that makes it a perfect deal!)

Yep, it’s been nearly 2 weeks since I posted a review. After 4 months of constant sushi eating it was time to take a small break. One cannot subsist on raw seafood and rice alone! It’s getting a little silly in a very entertaining way. whenever any of my friends feel [...]]]> Ninki Sushi
12 Adelaide St. W

Yep, it’s been nearly 2 weeks since I posted a review. After 4 months of constant sushi eating it was time to take a small break. One cannot subsist on raw seafood and rice alone! It’s getting a little silly in a very entertaining way. whenever any of my friends feel like having sushi, the first person they call is me. I have a very hard time turning down dinner out with friends, so my “off the blog” intake has been creeping up lately.

This week I decided to take my mother out with Laura and I for our usual Thursday sushi lunch. It’s getting harder and harder to find places close enough to work for me, but luckily my mom works right at Adelaide and Yonge, and there’s a place I tried to check out almost 2 months ago right at that intersection. So off we all went to Ninki Sushi.

I can’t remember how I first heard about this place, and I’m thinking it was just a google search. We arrived at 1pm, a little later in the lunch hour as I figured that the place would be packed at noon. How right I was as we still had to wait a few minutes for a table. The service was a tad slow, taking our order took a little longer than I would have liked, but with the volume of people in the place it’s perfectly understandable.

Now, my mother has only ever had California rolls. So this was just as much a proper introduction for her as it was a review of the establishment. But I want to take a moment to defend the poor maligned California roll. The sushi snob will turn his or her nose up at the most common of all North American maki. This is totally the wrong attitude. California rolls are a gateway drug. Through them people who would normally balk at the idea of eating raw fish will give sushi a try. This isn’t about keeping it all to ourselves people, this is about trying to get people to try new things! So with all of this in mind, my ordering for the both of us was definitely “pedestrian” but I knew that a few basic selections would win her over to the raw side of the force.

So first up was to give the California Roll ($4.95) a go. If nothing else met her palate, at least she wouldn’t go hungry. Also up was Salmon Pizza ($7.95) and Spicy Tuna ($6.95). Laura had a “select your own” vegetarian combo of any two rolls for $8.95. The interesting part was that you had a list of something like 8 choices of vegetable and they would make monomaki from your selection.

My suspicions are right. Get ‘em hooked on California rolls and they’ll try anything. Unfortunately, that meant that the other sushi started disappearing quicker than I would have liked! The Spicy Tuna was of the sort with the Nori on the outside, a nice slab of tuna on the inside and spicy mayo drizzled on top. I enjoy the “traditional” maki style every so often as I’ve found that I really like the fishy taste of it. Strange that the strongest “fish” flavour in sushi usually comes from the Nori. The Salmon Pizza was almost a nerve wracking decision to make. I’ve had very good, very odd, and very bad Pizza. Would my Moms first encounter be with a good variety? It was! Though the rice patty could have been a tad crispier, there was no cheese(!), and it wasn’t drowned in mayo. Best part was, she loved both of the selections.

Ladies and gentlemen, not only have we discovered that Ninki sushi is a pretty darn good place to eat with very reasonable prices, but we have another convert!

Sometimes reviews come from the strangest places and circumstances. Such as yesterday when I finally tried Crosstown Sushi. Back when I first started this, there was a few times where I just randomly headed out along Eglinton. It’s close to where I live, and there’s a few places to choose from. [...]]]> Crosstown Sushi
524 Eglinton Ave W

Sometimes reviews come from the strangest places and circumstances. Such as yesterday when I finally tried Crosstown Sushi. Back when I first started this, there was a few times where I just randomly headed out along Eglinton. It’s close to where I live, and there’s a few places to choose from. While walking east along Eglinton I noticed that there was a convenience store with larger than usual signage advertising that they had sushi. At first I assumed that it would be, at best, a kiosk of pre-made maki. It turned out to be an actual mini-restaurant in the back. But not a terribly nice one.

Flash forward a few months and I decided that I wanted to go out and try a new place, but somewhere within walking distance. I figured, I’ll hit Crosstown. At worst it’ll be fast food quality and I didn’t have to go all that far. Well, things have changed in the last little while. They put some real effort into fixing the place up. It’s still primarily a take out place, but now there is a single table and counter seating at the sushi bar and along one wall. The menus had been re designed as well and now no longer look like cheap photocopies. I was pleasantly surprised.

I decided to keep it simple this time around, because looks can be deceiving. But again, I was pleasantly surprised. I went with the staple Spicy Tuna ($5.49) and something I haven’t had in a while, a Rainbow Roll ($9.95). They also have daily specials as noted on a blackboard inside. The first thing that caught me off guard was when a Spicy Tuna Temaki (hand roll) was presented. I stammered a bit that I hadn’t ordered it, and the chef explained it was on the house while I was waiting for my order. Maybe the camera gave me away or something, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I’ve actually never had a hand roll before. But it was darn good. It feels a little strange to be eating sushi like an ice cream cone, but it did give me the energy to walk my order back home.

After my order was handed over, you take it to the cashier in front in the convenience store half. $17 later and I was once again enjoying the day on my walk home. The real treat of it was the rainbow roll. I’m sometimes left in awe at how the chefs can get so much into a roll without it falling apart. A rainbow roll is essentially a california roll with sliced fish on top. In this case it was Salmon, Tuna, Shrimp, and Whitefish. The one thing that really jumped out at me was that the tobiko was really sweet rather than salty. But let me tell you, I had a hard time getting it all in my mouth the pieces were so big. I don’t think I’ve had shrimp on my rainbow rolls before either. It was a nice change.

The spicy tuna was just right. The perfect size (hey I’m at home, sushi is finger food in  my books) and just the perfect level of “spice”. Hot enough that 10 minutes after it’s done you can still tell you had something spicy, but not so thermonuclear that your eyes water. It’s interesting to note that just about every place does such a simple roll differently. This time around the spice was added with spicy mayo on top of a simple tuna roll. Tempura flakes were tossed on after. I think I’ve seen about a dozen variations on it now, and each technique leads to subtle changes in flavour. This is one thing I’m happy to investigate further!

If you’re in the neighborhood and either need some quick sushi to go, or some lunch while shopping, I’ll point my thumbs in both an upward direction and towards Crosstown. I went in expecting fast food kiosk level maki, and instead got good quality stuff quickly at a reasonable price. I’m holding on to the menu for the next time I have people over and we need delivery food!

So back a few weeks ago when we were featured on Blogto, another guy popped out of the wood work and said how much he liked this site. Co-incidentally enough, he does his own sushi blog. Jon at sushipalooza has a nifty gimmick, where he started at the closest place to where [...]]]> Asahi Sushi
640 Church St

So back a few weeks ago when we were featured on Blogto, another guy popped out of the wood work and said how much he liked this site. Co-incidentally enough, he does his own sushi blog. Jon at sushipalooza has a nifty gimmick, where he started at the closest place to where he lives and started out from there to the next closest, and so on. We chatted a bit and I tossed out the idea that we do a place together. It was decided it was a good idea, and he suggested a place on Church street. I haven’t been there, so my criteria was met. He’s actually already posted his review, but I’m not reading it until I’m done!

The first wrong that needed to be righted was the fact that Jon had never had Sushi Pizza. I didn’t jot down the price, as it was ordered for him, but I did manage to sample a piece. A bit heavy on the onion, but better than I’ve had in at least a few places. A different approach with diced onion and cucumber on top along with the salmon and mayo. Edamame ($3.95) was ordered for starters, and while it didn’t come in a nice sushi boat, it was done perfectly. Sadly, I have had edamame that was done wrong, so it *is* possible to mess it up.

A big shock to everyone who read this, my sister Laura had the Vegetarian sushi dinner ($12.95) which from my perspective looked a little different from usual. I’m not sure I’ve seem the shitake mushroom nigiri, and the avocado nigiri looked really good. I’ve developed quite an addiction to the fruit. I had had a large lunch, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and ordered but a single roll. Two would have been pushing it and I might not have enjoyed it, leading to a lukewarm review. I usually try and get the “signature” roll if there is one, and there was an Asahi Roll ($11.95) on the menu. This was basically a Dynamite roll (Tempura Shrimp, Crab Stick, and the usual) topped with spicy Salmon. The spicy salmon was a tad on the “too spicy” side, which did detract somewhat from the rest. Sometimes less is more, and as strange as it sounds this roll probably would have been a bit better with a little less of the salmon.

I looked on with a little greed at what Jon and his sister had ordered, but portion control is sometimes a good idea. I’m actually quite surprised at how well his photos turned out, quite true to how delicious his sushi looked. The real fun, however, was actually getting a seat on the patio. It was a nice breath of fresh air when people weren’t smoking on the bar patio next door.

I’d definitely come back here again, but next time with a much larger appetite!