Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Yasu, One of the 3 Top Restaurants for Sushi in Canada

Yasu, essentially has no menu. It is omikase based on whatever is the best and freshest from the market that day. A list of fish and their sources are affixed to the wall, but, not all of the fish on the menu are available that day. Everything is intentionally served as sushi.


An array of some of the fish available today. 


Two of the special sakes that my friend and I enjoyed. Ideally, I prefer daiginjo sake. 


 Striped Jack.


 Fluke (hirame).


 Maguro tuna marinated with soy sauce.


 Sardine with scallion and ginger.


 Kampachi (amberjack).


 Live scallop with yuzu and ground pepper.


 Monkfish liver with grated daikon.


 Sea bass.


Sea urchin. This was the only item served that was not as expected. Everything else that we tasted in this very long menu was rather pristine. We could not understand this exception and how the chef could have possibly overlooked the uni. My first clue, when I was served, the surface of the urchin did not have the classical top of the tongue appearance and instead it was featureless and smooth, although the piece was intact and held its shape. Any other time, I would have chosen to not have eaten what I was served, but, after the outstanding experience so far, my friend and I (he is very experienced with eating at the very finest sushi restos in Japan and travels to Japan just to eat at least once a year) decided to trust the chef. Disappointing.


Salmon roe (ikura).


Scorpian fish.


Sea bream.


Snow crab topped with ponzu and lime juice.

Norwegian mackerel (no photo).


Bluefin toro.


 Preparing a chopped tuna hand roll stage 1.


 Stage 2.


 Stage 3.


 Stage 4.


 Stage 5.


 Ready to eat!


Anago (eel).


Tomago (cold Japanese omelette).


Ocean Trout toro. 


Fluke fin.

For dessert, we were served some fresh fruit. Overall, a truly exceptional sushi experience compared to the vast majority of sushi that I have experienced over the years in North America.

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