Ottawa Foodies

2

felinefan, it's the complete lack of details a regular customer would put, and the service-industry jargon reading like a press release that tells us it's a shill. "Their menus are affordable and delicious at the same time" - what, with a little salt? :)

The only reason I could see is that there were no reviews in almost three years.

For actual content, I went there once about 2.5 years ago, and like most other reviewers, found it quite fine, a few very nice items; I also realised brown rice nigiris and makis might be an acquired taste, but had no problem with the quality of the rice itself or of the fish. I have been meaning to go check them out again, I'm just seldom in that end of Elgin. It would be worth a re-visit and see if it still holds out. (but that would mean the shill served its purpose of upping business... then again, if we can do it for Manotick, we can do it for Elgin!)

4

Maybe it is an honest review, given the other positive reviews. If so, the person who posted the review must feel like they are less than welcome on this site.

2

Weird part is, all the downthread reviews are positive, so i don't see why they felt they needed to throw in a ringer.

4

Oh, I don't know, New User 5242's is quite sensible of one reads it in the original Swedish (chef) - I myself greatly love this cuisine (though I have not yet tried Kochu Sushi) of BeepBeepBeepimbep:

"It hes beee a vheele-a seence-a I feesited Kuchoo, boot I cun nefer furget zee greet ixpereeence-a ooff teste-a und serfeece-a et zee restoorunt.

hey ere-a meeenly fucooseeng zeeur oopereshuns oon teke-a oooot und deleefery, hooefer, zeere-a ere-a spece-a prufeeded fur zee coostumers vhu vuoold leeke-a tu injuy zeeur meel inseede-a. It hes cuzy und breeght etmusphere-a, und zee steffffs ere-a freeendly und velcumeeng! Zeey ere-a fest und eccoorete-a vhee zeey ere-a mekeeng zee cooeesines. Seence-a it hes un oopee keetchee intereeur, yuoo cuoold tell hue-a cleun und neet zeey ere-a vhee zee impluyees ere-a prepereeng zee deesh.

Zeeur menoos ere-a effffurdeble-a und deleeciuoos et zee seme-a teeme-a. Its a Kureun/Jepunese-a zeemed restoorunt vheech hes veede-a runge-a ooff menoos; frum mekee rulls tu Kureun menoo celled BeebBeepBeepimbep. I treeed zee 'Kemeekezi shreemp' und zee 'Helff und helff Rulls' veet a freeend vhu hes a peecky teste-a. Kuchoo use-a zee fresh und creesp ingredeeents vheech I ves eble-a tu tell joost by luukeeng und testeeng zee deesh. Zee cheffs ere-a skeelled und zeeur fuuds ere-a su guud und testy! Nut oonly zee decur ooff zee deesh is vunderffool boot zee teste-a is unffurgetteble-a. My freeend und I reelly injuyed zee meel und she-a seeed thet she-a veell cume-a oofftee tu thees restoorunt.

I trooely theenk thet Kuchoo's preece-a, fuud, cleunleeness, und serfeece-a ere-a ell greet! It mekes me-a feesit zeeur plece-a egeeen und egeeen. I recummend Kuchoo fur ieteeng oooot, teke-a oooot, und deleefery. I dun't theenk uny oozeer coostumers veell regret fur selecteeng Kuchoo tu ixpereeence-a Jepunese-a/Kureun deesh! "

4

Sorry, Kochu management - I mean New User 5242, you have a lot to do to get even to the ankle of New User 5207's fabulously incoherent shill review. It is the new standard here now.

I've ordered take-away and randomly purchased sushi from Kochu on numerous occasions for lunch at work.

Space: I have not eaten in at Kochu but I have waited for my food on occasion ;). It's very bright (which I'm sure is due, in part, to the giant windows above the restaurant) and always clean. It's nice to be able to watch as the staff prepare your food; there is one bar by the prep area, and two little tables along the wall. It is very small and I've seen it PACKED with people before, so be forewarned...

Service: Excellent service every time I've been. Phone orders are quick and efficient, everything is confirmed by reading it back to you. Very pleasant vibe from all the staff - each time I've been served by Misun Jang herself (one of the owners) and she is a wonderful host.

Menu: The menu is very easy to read - there are takeaway copies as well as sheets on the bar place settings and on the wall in the restaurant. There is a variety of maki, sashimi, nigiri, rice dishes and hot food. Right by the entrance there is also a small cooler with drinks, daily combos, salad, etc.

Food: I cannot express enough love for utterly fatty crazy roll (avocado, cream cheese, spicy sauce and crab stick), the spicy shrimp tempura, and the dynamite rolls. Smaller rolls (i.e. cucumber or sweet potato) are actually pretty large and are very well made. I was not a fan of the bulgogi roll, but I believe that is a taste preference. The lunch combos (often with a shrimp/salmon nigiri and variety of rolls) are a good deal and delicious.

The gyoza are tasty and are not the frozen ones you seem to get everywhere in the city. The edamame portion is large and well-salted. I have had the Spicy Pork on Rice dish and the flavour was good, but I was personally not expecting so much sesame oil flavour to come out of the dish - so much so that it was almost overpowering.

Also, the option to get your rice as brown rice is pretty fantastic; the brown rice is always very well prepared and tastes perfect.

Overall: A little bit different from the sushi you would "normally" expect, but remember that this is a Korean restaurant and as such, their food is not going to be perfectly in line with a Japanese sushi experience. I think it is wonderfully outside the Ottawa norm, the service is friendly, and it is incredibly convenient. I am sad to not be working so close to them anymore!

excellent service - attentive, enthusiastic and fast.

great menu selection and good prices comparable to other places. good quality. dumplings were very yummy, inari was great and the dynamite roll and shrimp and mango roll were very good. Would definitely go back.

had the bulgogi roll over the weekend
the beef was tender and flavourful
th lettuce and other veggies added freshness

every nice roll!

the dragon roll is for avocado and shellfish lovers

Having been to the other small sushi place on Elgin (Green Tea), I was a little worried that there would be limited vegan selections at Kochu as well. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised!

They have a couple of tables outside where I enjoyed a quiet dinner with a friend. I had the Vegetarian Sushi Combo (vegetarian, sweet potato, cuke and avacado rolls), inari and miso soup. I traded the avacado rolls in my combo (my most hated vegetable/fruit) for her wakame rolls. The rice was very tasty, and it was fresh but not warm - thanfully. The flavours in the vegetarian roll worked very well together, and they weren't over stuffed which made them easy to eat. (I've found some multiflavour rolls at other restaurants get huge, unwieldy and almost gag inducing.) To top it all off, the presentation was simple but nice.

With green tea, my meal came to just under $20 which I found quite reasonable for the quality and quantity of the food. I will definitely be heading back as soon as my next sushi craving hits.

I agree that these are indeed great. I was a little worried because they have tempura flakes in them which can be very drying if over used, but they were a very pleasant addition to this roll.

These are our new favourites in the realm of Sushi.

We discovered these at Kochu several months ago and they keep us coming back. The taste is like nothing else. We could make an entire meal out of them.

miso, in this case

very light, mild, tasty, just enough of that "cheesy" miso flavour without being too salt

great flavour
nice and garliky
I do fancy mine spicier but still......

yes they do
I forgot to mention there is an extra charge
50 cents on rolls and 1$ for the bowls but more than worth it

Chef Obi, does Kochu happen to do any brown-rice sushi?

because I'm currently doing a carb kontrol diet, white rice is out
not always a big fan of brown rice BUT the brown rice offered as an option in lieu of white rice blew me away

very flavourful! light and fluffy

in this case, pork bulgogi aka Gochujang bulgogi, was very very good

being an afficiando of pork, this ranks up there
tasty!
sweet, spicy and salty
num num num
stirfried with onions and carrots
sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds and served on brown (white available) rice..wow!

My wife and I ordered bibimbap from Kochu a few weeks ago. Along with the usual veggies, rice and egg, their version includes beef strips which I think are marinated in bulgogi sauce. Quite tasty, and reasonably priced at $6.95.

5

We ordered delivery from Kochu on New Year's Eve. Ordering online was great and we placed our order early for a later delivery which was nice. The food was ok, not great, but I would give it another chance on a non-holiday meal when they might be less busy.

I had the veggie gyoza and it was my least favourite part of the meal. I found them over cooked and shriveled up. The filling was mashed together so I couldn't identify any particular flavour. There was definitely no way to tell what bits were mushroom or not.