It's official. I have been converted! I actually like a sushi roll, make that plural, two rolls. It all started with a little visit from Kimmi and Naka on my lunch break, I was perusing through the shinny new menu at Downtown Sushi, the sun was streaming through the smudged windows and all of a sudden I saw it. THE DESERT ROLL, accurately titled "The Honeymoon Roll", was deep fried banana topped with sliced kiwi, strawberry, mango, and drizzled honey. And the dipping sauce? Whip cream! SO DELICIOUS. No gagging involved, nothing lodged itself in my esophagus, I didn't have to spit it out into a serviette, it was a magical moment. Round two was the spicy tuna roll from Kadoya. And I don't even like spicy food!! Now I might be brave enough to attempt the inari roll, who knows?
Honjin Yaletown Sushi Restaurant
Waaaaaay down at the end of Davie, in the heart of Yaletown. The best service I've had yet. Best Miso soup. Best salmon sashimi. Great atmosphere, totally loved the place. Nothing to possibly complain about, just a little to far from home for me to be a frequent flyer.
Jako Sushi
This place is a dive on so many levels. It gets nominated for worst renovations ever, weakest green tea on the face of the planet, and most frequented by bridge-and-tunnel douches. I was HANGRY (too hungry = angry), so I jumped the gun and tried the inari roll when I should have just stuck with my gut and gotten inari nigiri, which is my sushi no-fail dish. That's right, the Japanese junk food, the bean curd sac. My new-found love of rolls has been crushed and basically I reverted into my old ways and ended up eating only the inner contents of the inari roll. The service was nothing special, the place was hideous, the menu was greasy, but the reason that it was relatively busy? Everything was dirt cheap. Real crab sunomono salad was like two bucks and change, and it didn't taste half bad.
Yamato Sushi Restaurant
I am nearing the end. At this point there are only three venues left to visit, and before I have even finished this category, I am debating which one is up next. I am definitely looking forward to changing things up.
I dragged Naka to yet another hole-in-the-wall in the strip-mall of sushi restaurants between Granville and Seymore along Davie. This place had only 8 table settings to sit at and about the same number of bar stools. Don't let it's small size deter you because it is usually packed during peak hours. Theoretically, if a place is popular it's probably good, but it's also annoying when the server asks you every five seconds if you're ready to order and it feels like the people who are waiting for take out are hovering over your shoulder, watching you eat like it's feeding time at the zoo. It probably didn't help that I ate half of a patient's meal while at work, but anyway, in my second dinner of the evening I had salmon and tuna sashimi, inari nigiri and miso soup (I know, surprise surprise). Very yummy very salty miso soup. I had the innards of a couple rolls, apparently they are very fresh and a good bang for your buck. Tasty, cheap menu, cute atmosphere, persistant but bubbly service. This place gets an 8 out of 10.
