As much as I begrudge the fact that the hospitality industry in Vancouver is saturated with sushi restaurants, I must credit this experience for forcing me to look beyond my sushi no-fail dishes. Although the five-week renovation of Kadoya (it really needs the new coat of paint), has caused many disappointed adorers to settle for their second choice, I did discover a hidden treasure on the eve of it's closure. The kani salad. They may have been trying to get rid of all of the left-over crab prior to closing the place, but I'm not going to complain because the bowl came with a mondo pile of diced-up crab. SO DELICIOUS mixed with sunomono salad. And as many times as I have tried to duplicate this experience at other sushi places, it has been unsuccessful because there is no universal standard for the kani salad.
Tokyo Miyako Sushi Restaurant
I may have been high on Psuedophed when I ate here in February, but I think in combination with my cold-dulled taste buds, it all evened out in the end. This place gets lost in the strip-mall of sushi restuarants on Davie. Not too thrilled about the space, it's too big and bland, nothing about it really stands out from the crowd. I actually don't even remember the service or the atmosphere. Now that I think of it, I don't even remember what I ate.Sushi Maro Japanese Restaurant
I feel sorry for this business because it is right at the end of Davie, stuck in the construction warzone of pre-olympic Vancouver. Generally the closer you get to Yaletown, the higher the prices go, and in this case you get what you pay for. I had insanely fresh and tasty salmon sashimi, my new 'best-yet'!; homemade miso soup, and you could tell that it wasn't the freeze-dried variety because they used fresh ingredients; tiny inari; and lastly this place takes the crab salad to a whole new level. It was avocado, tiny fish roe, and huge chunks of king crab covered in a light sauce, well worth the seven bucks. Other than the horrible construction on the doorstep the atmosphere was alright. I think that Sushi Maro has the best ceramic ware by far, the tea cups had these adorable animated octopus on them blowing bubbles, I was more than tempted to slip one into my purse. 8.5 out of 10.
Oishii Sushi Japanese RestaurantThis little bastard brought my total to 17. Oishii is relatively new, or at least newly renovated or new owners, I'm not really sure, but in any case it's cleaned itself up. I was a bit skeptical to eat here because I had heard bad reviews about the previous establishment. Really really great green tea in the tiniest cups ever. I had the inari nigiri and kani salad. Good quality and medium-pretty rolls. I probably wouldn't go back, it's like a 6 out of 10.
So as I was walking out of Oishii, exhaling in relief that it was my final sushi stop, I spot a sushi take-out place directly accross the street. I'm done, finished, caput, I'm over it and I refuse to acknowledge it's very existence.
