The city of Vancouver is blessed with some of the best of Japanese cuisine and all-you-can eat sushi spots outside of Japan. In fact, we are downright spoiled. From high-end to budget, from traditional to inventive, the city is littered with quality sushi spots. If you are in downtown Vancouver, or are lucky enough to live in the area, here are 6 restaurants where you can dine it or dine out, and feel like you have traveled to Japan.
Because of the amount of raw ingredients involved, there is one quality that separates excellent sushi from average sushi: freshness. Sushi Bar Maumi is famously fresh and excellent. In fact, it is one of the few spots in Vancouver that gets a bulk of their fish delivered directly from Japan. The menu rotates nightly, and pretty much everything on in melts in your mouth, from the Omakase (Chef’s Choice) nigiri to the buttery tempura.
Recommended: The Kanpachi (yellowtail) nigiri.
Located at the very North end of Granville Street, with amazing views of the water and Stanley Park, Miku is high end sushi worth every penny. Miku is often credited with introducing Vancouver to aburi, a traditional Japanese technique of lightly searing the sushi with flames. Miku is also known for oshi, where the ingredients are placed in a box and pressing down on them. Both techniques are not only traditional and inventive, but also result in a melt-in-your-mouth dining experience.
Recommended: the Aburi Salmon Oshi
Located at the Northern end of downtown, in Yaletown, is Minami, another restaurant known for its aburi and oshi sushi. Everything, from their rolls to their sashimi, is fresh and undeniably delicious. For those who like their raw fish a little less raw, Minami also offers an assortment of aburi (seared) sashimi, which is pretty darn amazing.
Recommended: the Pacific Roll – tobiko, scallop, cucumber, wrapped in smoked salmon, sweet soy yuzu kosho, sea asparagus-tomato herb salsa.
A hugely popular spot open for both lunch and dinner, located smack dab in the middle of downtown Vancouver, Shizen Ya ticks off every box for a quality sushi spot: fresh, creative, and yummy. What makes Shizen Ya somewhat unique, however, is their use of organic brown sushi rice. While some traditionalists might scoff at the idea of using of brown rice (and even some quinoa!) in the place of white rice, they would be wrong to scoff. Not only is the brown rice “healthier,” is also adds a slight nuttiness to the flavour of the rolls. In other words, it’s a must-try.
Recommended: the Dragon Magic Roll – wild sockeye salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, organic brown rice, grilled salt water eel (anago), topped with organic avocado and homemade anago sauce.
Sushi Mugen, a modern style Japanese restaurant, is located on Davie Street in Downtown, Vancouver. It boasts of a variety of fresh, tasty selections of modern fusion specialties at very reasonable prices. The chefs are always pushing their creativity to offer a menu of fresh Japanese classics which are totally Insta worthy!
Recommended: Tuna tataki sauce, Aburi Saba, Chicken Karaage, Sushi and sashimi.
Located in W Broadway, Vancouver, Suika is a modern informal Japanese izakaya with colorful decor and a sake-bottle chandelier, serving creative, intricate plates of food. Their menu is a perfect combination of traditional and contemporary Japanese cuisine. A great place for its Japanese and Korean inspired tapas plates, along with delicious cocktails. Perfect for evenings with the crew!
Recommended: the vegan mochi ice cream, unagi pizza, mapo rice cakes, beef brisket bibimbap and wasabi tako.
With the sun out and temperatures rising, is there a better summer meal than sushi. We don’t think so. Grab some friends and be sure to hit up one of these sushi spots this summer. If you are looking for more low key meal, you can use the ParcelPal app to order from these and many more restaurants.