Ottawa Foodies

My elder son just returned home from his party tonight and brought me a box of sushi from Genji. This was a nice treat to mom! I ate one piece and my husband ate 2 pieces before I remember to take this photo. Yum!

Hmm,

Genji so far is the most consitent sushi place I've been to in Ottawa. It's fresh and the flavours are pretty close to the real deal. The rice can be a bit vineagary sometimes though.

Sushi is definitely Genji's strength although the Unagi on Rice and the Tempural Udon is quite good. Opt for the buck wheat noodles if you want the extra earthiness of the wheat.

A tip I got from a Japanese friend is to check if the sushi rice is soft. Most Japanese places will take extra care to ensure this and non Japanese usually do not. He's been right everytime so far in this and more often than not softer rice has led to better quality in overall preparation.

my test for sushi is to order Toro, then Uni, but when they don't have fresh tai.... I start to wonder...

The night I was there they only had Maguro, Himachi and Saki.... By the way, Salmon is a recent western phenom for sushi as in teppanyaki....

the sushi chef/cooks are chinese.... sorry I wouldn't try fugoo here....

on the positive side this is a great value restaurant for the price of what you get in terms of their package dinners, miso soup is good, hot stuff not bad... but fish is not good... I had their seared tuna, which sucked....

presentation great, service great, prices great... but not raw fish... or even slightly cooked fish... think the fish is just not fresh enough....something to do with the chefs....

We were supposed to have either tekka (tuna) or shake (salmon) maki from Set Dinner A. But they allowed us to substitute Sweet Potato maki for their menu's maki (sweet potato maki is my favourite).

The photo was a bit blurry since I forgot to use the macro funtion from my camera.

Finally got to try Genji on Friday. I ordered the 14 piece sushi plate. I wanted to try the sweet potato maki, which wasn't offered on this plate, but they cheerfully substituted it for a few of the fish ones instead. I was glad they did, because I really enjoyed it (Good call, Ashley!) but I have to say that 14 pieces is a LOT of sushi and I ended up having to have 5 pieces packaged for me to bring home. Everything was fresh and nicely presented, and what I could see of the open kitchen in front of the sushi bar looked clean enough for my ailing grandma to have surgery in. Service was friendly and efficient...the salad course did puzzle me though...was I supposed to eat it with chopsticks?...with my hands? I asked for a fork, and was brought one right away. Also the lettuce and other vegetables were cut very small with a gigantic tomato wedge sitting on top.
One of the cooks chatted with me about his experiments putting fruit into sushi. The philadephia roll with strawberries sounded more like dessert than dinner, but I have to say that the 5 berry sauce works well with the sweet potato maki. I liked all of the nigiri except for one that had a texture I didn't enjoy...I think it was squid. This was actually my first time ordering sushi in a restaurant. I make vegetarian sushi for my daughter sometimes, and I've had it prepared for me by the chef at work and gotten it as takeout. I'll definitely go back but I think I'll order a smaller dinner next time!

After having so many rich meals during the Christmas holidays and knowing that we are going to have New Year Brunch Buffet the next day, I really want someting light and healthy on New Year Eve. Here is the refreshing Canadian maki with lots of goodies (e.g., lobster, advocado, Boston lettuce).

I think this is my best food photo I have taken. (I think mine is better than the one posted at their website.)

Anyway, the sushi pizza there was pretty tasty. But have to agree with Mark that it is quite rich and is best to share with someone.

NB. I finally got the technique to take a good picture with blurry background. Just set your Aperture to the lowest number your camera allows (e.g., f/2.8) along with zoom len.

More sushi picture. Sweet potato maki and spicy tuna maki. I orderd with Set Dinner A. So yummy. Worth every penny. Next time I will take more pictures.

Ordered their sushi party tray for take-out (sorry! the picture is not very clear) Fresh and delicious sushi and nigiri! Highly recommended.

...and I love their green tea crême brulée as well!

Here's a sushi plate from Ichibei. My favourites are unagi (BBQ eel), mackerel (saba) and tuna (maguro maybe?).

More Ichibei sushi. God this makes me hungry!

A sampling of sushi from Ichibei, again from 2001.

As I said above, my boyfriend and I think that this place has the best sushi in Ottawa. I always get the vegetarian platter, and the staff is always nice about substituting out avacado (which I hate). The rice is always the perfect texture and flavour, and the seaweed wrappers are never soggy. I find the amount on the platter to be just right with soup and an appetizer.

This is so far my preferred sushi place in Ottawa. I was excited to see an old favorite "Hawaiian roll" on the menu (even if it only has a few nuts inside instead of being rolled in them! - it's not as flavorful as it could be, but it's a great price at $6.95). The Volcano roll is DEFINITELY HOT (spicy). Keep your beverage handy.

I see the majority seems to prefer Genji, but I did a take-out order from them and was really disappointed. Perhaps I'll try again?

It was nice and fresh.Pieces were a bit large and difficult to fit in mouth all in one bit as I believe is intended, but definitely means great portion sizes for your money. Usually not a Maki person but they do quite a good job here. On my next visit I will indulge in more.

The Volcano specialty roll was quite good and spicy, topped with baked octopus. Check out the neato avocado "leaves" on the side!

Nicely presented but not exceptional. The unagi maki was quite good but the bbq salmon skin maki was the driest I've had (and I always order salmon skin!).

The platters in which they present the sushi. The don't just set it down, that would be to coarse. They explain the two selections on the platter and you say how much you want of each.

Went to Totoya last weekend, and it was really good. I usually cannot all you can eat sushi, as it usually guarantees bad quality, but Totoya's all you can eat experience is really unique. They bring out two types of sushi rolls at a time (pictured). Its feels very classy for all you can eat, the sushi is exceptional, and you get to try out some of their very unique rolls while still enjoying the classics. I highly recommend this place if you're looking to go for sushi for dinner, even in place of Genji (Totoya may be my new favourite). O, and the nigiri is excellent too, I tried tuna and scallop, and they were top quality.

My boss sprung for sushi for our staff party. It was nice and fresh, nicely presented and tasty (although it didn't look as good as the picture of the sushi from Genji). Unfortunately there were a couple of kinds I couldn't try (allergic to shrimp) but my 11 year old daughter liked them. We also had some oysters from the Whalesbone and some curried tofu from the Thai place down the street, but the sushi trays disappeared the fastest.

I think I'll have to try some sushi at Genji to compare.

My favourite source for take-out sushi! An unagi maki, a kanpyo maki, and a bbq salmon skin maki for me please. Salad rounds out the meal well.

I decided to try the vegetarian sushi combo. I think it's a recent addition to the menu but I could be wrong. It's chef's choice as far as the varieties. I got 3 kinds;

-avocado (front)
-cucumber and fried tofu (I think - back)
-green onion, carrot and daikon (again, I think - right)

I had already eaten a plate of edamame so I saved the fried tofu ones for lunch the next day (still awesome) to save room for fried bananas. I still exploded.

This was the generous sushi/sashimi platter that came with our meal deal. Good sushi, with nice trimmings. We were not disappointed!

Notice that, in addition to what the menu promised, there is an extra piece of nigiri sushi, a fried tofu potsticker thing, and a little pile of seaweed. It's the little things that make a difference!

The sushi here is consistently well assembled, artfully presented, and the rice is perfectly cooked. As you can see in the photo, the kanpyo maki (pickled gourd) is more generously portioned than other places. This gives it a mouth-feel more like raw fish. Good for them!

If you seek good sushi in the west end of town, Taste of Japan is an excellent choice.

I went here for lunch today based on a great review from my coworker.

I got the lunch special to go, where you pick 2 of 8 items for $9.99. Choices included tempura, edamame, chon (veggie pancake with dipping sauce), and 4 rolls (cali, avocado, spicy salmon, crunch roll).

I decided to go for 2 rolls, and picked the spicy salmon roll along with the crunch roll. The crunch roll basically consists of a avocado and crabstick roll briefly fried in tempura. The outside was still warm after trekking back to the office, but the fillings were cool. The salmon roll was simple, with nothing other than salmon and the red spicy sauce on top. Both were absolutely delicious! I also spoke with the cook, and you can tell that he does put a lot of heart into what he does.

Although the picture cannot do justice to how good it tastes, keep in mind that it probably looked a lot better before I started trekking through the snow for 3 blocks to get back to my office.

I will definitely be back to try some of their regular menu items soon.

P.S. Please ignore the fact that one piece of maki is already missing from the picture...I just couldn't wait.

This place is really out of the way, its in the basement of a business building which kinda blends in next to the lord Elgn. But, don't let this fool you. Jade has the best cheap sushi in Ottawa, hands down, Joy has nothing on Jade. The sushi is well sized, always extremely fresh, and the miso before hand is excellent. I've talked with the cook, and sure he isn't asian (his wife is though, and she is the other cook) but he is a real stickler for fresh fish, you can really tell he truly cares about quality. This is my spot, and I hope more people check it out.

I think this was a California Classik, and it was very enjoyable. Interesting because it was not made "inside out" like most California rolls.

The sushi here isn't the world's best but it's pretty darn great and very convenient. I'll pop in again for sure!

The Pacific maki (salmon, smoked salmon, avocado, tempura, masago, mayonnaise) was super tasty and tender. Yum! You'd better like lox though -- the taste is quite strong. Highly recommended as a snack or light meal.

I had the Go Chef's 11 piece box to go. It included 5 futomakis (Boston, California classik, Spicy Salmon) and 6 hosomakis (Chef's favorite). Very fresh and reasonably priced at $5.75 + tax which came to $6.00. The Spicy Salmon piece wasn't remotely spicy which I find in most sushi I eat where they claim to be a spicy roll :(

As a vegan, I appreciate an interesting selection of veggie sushi (asparagus, seaweed, tofu...), but wow, the price! If you want good veggie sushi and don't mind shelling out, this is the place for you.

I used to work nearby so once in awhile I'd pickup a quick bento box for lunch. Prices are reasonable compared to downtown sushi bars. They have a wide selection of creative rolls. Friendly service. I would return if I was ever in the area.

The sushi and nigiri were made exceptionally well. The rolls were made tightly and didn't fall apart; the nigiri featured large pieces of fish on decent-sized beds of rice. The fish had tremendous flavour, especially the salmon and hamachi.

My family and I are regulars at Sushi Kan and Sakura, so we thought we would try this new AYCE sushi place... BIG MISTAKE...

CONS:
- Discoloured seafood; the salmon and shrimp were really gross looking, like they were sick or rotten or something
- spicy salmon was disgusting
- the waiters refused to fill up our water glasses more than halfway for some odd reason we had to keep asking for more water
- my brother ordered an udon soup and couldn't recognize half of its contents. My mom couldn't finish her miso soup
- the shrimp tempura was a lot of tempura and very little shrimp
- there was loads of mayonnaise on the shrimp tempura sushi and rolls
- staff cannot speak english, and are hard to get a hold of... even when the restaurant is empty. They couldn't describe menu items and so we got some sushi types we didn't order, which we named 'lost in translation' sushi
- we never got many of the things we ordered

PROS
- the seaweed salad was a larger proportion than usual, and tasted rather good
- the restaurant is very nicely decorated and very comfortable

The only thing that could've been improved upon here was the unagi. Mr. Nanook and I both found it rubber y and lacking flavour. Everything else was fantastic. The presentation of our nigiri and rolls in a large plate was beautiful. I wish I'd had my camera!

Went with large group of colleagues for the dinner AYCE. We didn't order anything too adventurous so we filled up on spicy salmon/crispy salmon rolls, soft shell crab rolls, and lots of sashimi. Everything was fresh. The rolls could use a little less rice and more filling in some cases.

Service was great, not one dish was missed the entire evening and we weren't rushed out or made to feel like we were intruding. At my time of visiting this restaurant didn't have a liquor license so we were confined to soda and ice water which was too bad.

Overall a decent 'all you can eat' experience, I would return.

Very fresh! Melts in your mouth.

Today my lunch consisted of two maki rolls (each 8 pieces - I was stuffed!)

911 - tuna, avocado, green onion, tempura, masago, hot sauce, sesame seeds - $6.50

Probably my favourite roll at Sushi Shop. Perfectly spicy and always tasty.

Deux saumons - salmon, smoked salmon, avocado, green onion, masago, wasabi mayo, sesame seeds - $6.25

Very good. Somewhat spicy, mostly due to green onion. Smoked salmon provides good balance without being overpowering.

We ordered the Kinki Roll, Fire Roll, Rainbow Roll, Hamachi nigiri(Yellowtail). The Hamachi was amazing: there was a large slice on a average to smaller bed of rice.

The presentation was very well done - the 12 pieces (happy hour portions) of each roll came on a square plate and was accented using small pieces of palm, ginger and little balls of wasabi.

The rolls were all very good - the Kinki roll could've used a bit more tempura and were slightly awkward to eat. Because of the size we had to bite it (what a no-no) or risk not being able to talk for a good two minutes. The Fire roll wasn't exactly hot or spicy, but definitely had some flavour. The rainbow roll was decent.

Over the past few years I've dined here numerous times with colleagues and friends. Nice decor and ambiance, but the sushi just can't compete with other local establishments. The KINKI roll was alright for a specialty type roll (flash fried and drizzled with a sweet sauce). I can't stress this enough - avoid the hot & sour soup!

The server on my last visit was very knowledgeable about the menu (especially the sake) and our wait time was reasonable. I would return, but not on my own accord - maybe if someone else is footing the bill :)

kmennie, if you want good vegetarian sushi, try the "Land and Sea Roll" at Sushi88 (vendor 903). It's a typical inside out (sesame coated) maki roll, filled with wakame (seaweed), and cucumber. About as tasty as vegetarian sushi gets! ;)

I'm ashamed to admit this, but I tried sushi for the first time just recently.

From this place. And?

Meh. That's it? Bland, boring.

Caveat: this was vegetarian "sushi."

Had sushi a couple of times here, and each time was pleased -- good flavours and textures, well-presented. Best I've ever had? Not at all. Good enough both times to leave satisfied? Yes.

Last time there, I had the 'mango unagi' maki, which was excellent -- grilled eel and cucumber with a splash of mango drizzle; a good combination, and the eel had a particularly nice flavour. Mrs. Ozonator had the 'ichiban' maki -- salmon and avocado, in a large-ish roll, also tasty.

I enjoyed the sushi that I had, but it wasn't spectacular. I had the wakame rolls (very good) and the cucumber rolls (good).

My bf had the spicy salmon and another spicy fish roll. They were pretty much identical, and he said they were a bit large (both in the amount of the fish and rice) to be eaten in polite company. A couple of times, they almost exploded out of his mouth when he bit down. They were tasty, however.

Ugh, this place was not great, even if it is open late, I won't be going back. The sushi was tasteless, the rice not properly cooked, it just wasn't good sushi. Admittedly I fealt fine afterwards (which I cannot say about every sushi place in Ottawa) so I don't want to completely damn. Get a soup, much better.

The sushi rice was a bit on the sweet side but the Kamikaze roll was really good. Again, not something to drive across town for, but if you find yourself needing a hit of sushi after doing the cougar thing in the Elgin clubs then do give it a try! ;-)

3 of us went out for sushi here, one being a total newbie for sushi. So we played it safe with some of the rolls....cucumber, spicy salmon, and avocado and crab I believe. The two of us who've had sushi before, both said that we've had better. The rice we found was a little overcooked and the ingredients in the sushi not all that tasty, or as tasty as it could've been. The cucumber rolls though were really nice.

On my last visit I ordered the Dragon roll (white and red) and quite liked the change to the baked roll. I also recommend the spicy crispy salmon and the Yummy Yummy roll.

Thought this place was great! It may not be the real Japanese Sushi, but it'll do for the price they ask for. Have been back here maybe 4 times in the last month. Thought lunches are better than dinner.

I had the BBQ eel today for dinner at this restaurant. It was very good, not over-cooked and well seasoned. The soup it came with was a little bland and only had a couple slivers of button mushrooms floating in it, but the salad was nice with a pleasant dressing.

Yes stay far far away from that sushi! I bought some a few years ago and had an upset stomach afterwards. I figured since it was California rolls with just rice and veg and being sold in a grocery store perhaps someone was carrying it around in their grocery cart for awhile then decided to put it back. Being a glutton for punishment I went back to Loblaws a few weeks later for groceries and decided to give their sushi a second chance. Big mistake - I was quite sick after. Two of my colleagues have since reported similar problems after eating Loblaws sushi.

Never Again!

Oftentimes on a weekend after picking out the groceries, I'd head over to the Sushi counter and choose a tray of sushi to enjoy with a glass of wine, as a reward following the days errands.

Unfortunately this came to an end recently. "The Man" and I had a terrible experience with Loblaws sushi and will NEVER go back.

Although the product was freshly made, there even is an individual hired to make sushi on the weekends in the Loblaws we frequent, the sushi was off. I know it wasn't us who mishandled it, we chose a dated package (made today), and it was cool to the touch, we took it right home and refrigerated it while we put the groceries away, and chilled the wine. Upon opening the package, there was nothing amiss. It was only in the hours (and 2 days following) that we knew the truth! FOOD POISONING.

This got me to thinking about the Canadian Tv show that discussed cleanliness in our Grocery Stores. Of particular interest was cross-contamination and handwashing. I've since decided not to take any more chances with raw fish or seafood (of any kind) at Loblaws.

Unfortunately, I can no longer enjoy sushi as frequently or conveniently.

:-(

The orange california roll at loblaws is amazing. Delicious. And the soy sauce and wasabi that come with it are perfect complements. Its the best california roll i've had in town.

The philadelphia roll is disgusting however.