fish and rice

If forced to eat only one type of food the rest of my life, I suppose it would have to be sushi. Despite living in the Greater Vancouver region, I didn’t grow up on sushi. In fact, I don’t think I had a single piece until I was 16 or 17, and I hesitated at anything beyond a California roll until my early 20′s. Only after dining in the Tsukiji market during my trip to Japan did I fully acquire a taste for raw fish. Now I can’t get enough of it.

I’ve become snobbishly picky about my sushi over the years. True Japanese sushi must be bite-size and not fall apart when you pick it up with your chopsticks (or, more correctly, your hands). It must also be esthetically pleasing and use the freshest of fish. When you’ve had great (not just good) sushi, everything else will forever pale in comparison. Not to say I don’t ever grab a bite from the cookie-cutter restaurants constantly sprouting up around the Lower Mainland — you know, the ones that mass-produce their rolls, pre-package them, and/or stuff them huge until they’re about to explode. If I’m hungry, they help to hit the spot and save me a couple bucks. But it’s definitely nowhere near the same.

Sushi bar

Seating

Green salad

Spicy agedashi tofu

Ika karaage

Rolls

The hubby and I ate at our favorite Vancouver sushi restaurant yesterday. Toshi Sushi is a tiny Japanese-run hole-in-the-wall establishment known for long line-ups before it even opens, and often all the way until just before closing. For us, the wait is most often worth it.

Sure, service isn’t always perfect. In fact, there were issues with the bill each of the first two times I visited Toshi. (First, my friend M mysteriously got scammed $1000 from his bank account after using his debit card there. Then Al and I were blatantly overcharged the second time.) But we’ve never been treated anything but pleasantly, and we’ve never had another major incident since. Plus, what can one expect, considering the jam-packed crowds and the relatively low prices?

What keeps us coming back despite the bill issues and the occasional sub-par service is the food. I won’t go into much more detail other than… it’s downright yummy.  Our order varies with each visit, but we never tire of including the spicy agedashi tofu, ika karaage (looks more like squid fries with spicy mayo, but Mmmmmmmm….), negitoro roll (tuna and green onions), and house roll (the best!). Sometimes, particularly if we’re introducing someone to Toshi, we order the baked miso eggplant and the mango-smoked salmon roll. In addition Alex, my dear miso-king, always gets a bowl of soup. He is very picky about the quality of his miso, but will order it no matter where he goes. Consistently rating Toshi’s a B-plus to A-minus is actually a great compliment from him! (His A to A-plus range is what he lived on during his 9-month stay in Japan.)

We believe the value for the money is perfect. The food presentation is not extraordinary, but it’s quite apparent that the sushi chefs take great pride in their food. If it wasn’t so great, there wouldn’t be such long line-ups, and we wouldn’t keep going back.

Toshi Sushi
181 East 16th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

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Disclaimer: I am not a seasoned critic, and I do not claim to know food. I just eat. If I like, I like. If I don’t, you can’t say I didn’t try.

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