Dinner at Sushi Club KZ

I have a backlog of posts, but I wanted to do this one right away because Sushi Club is officially closed as of Oct 31 😦 Apparently the Chefs are going into retirement as one of them has a shoulder injury (or something like that).  I am really upset as they are one of my favorite authentic Japanese restaurants in the City and I’ve never had a bad meal there.  I have booked another dinner there for this weekend and K and I will be going for lunch next week.  If you love the restaurant, this is pretty much your last chance to eat there!

I try not to do reposts for restaurants that I have already visited, unless there was a special menu or for a different meal.  I have ate lunch at Sushi Club numerous times to the point where they know who I am when I call, but I have yet to eat dinner here.  My friend J loves sushi, lives in Kensington, and wanted to meet for dinner, so we both agreed to Sushi Club.

Here’s what we tried tonight:

Aburi Salmon Nigiri – $10.20 (4 pcs)

We almost couldn’t get this b/c the Chefs ran out of Habanero tobiko.  When I asked if he’d be willing to make it without, he said it’s up to me, but it taste better with spicy tobiko.  Then he offered a solution: use regular tobiko but add hot sauce on it.  I said if that’s what he recommends, I’ll eat it however he will make it because he is the expert! And he laughed.  After tasting this, I can see why the Chef was adamant about using spicy tobiko.  The seared salmon was quite neutral in taste, but coupled with kewpie mayo you need some flavor from the tobiko and the hot sauce was perfect.  Just enough heat to give you a bit of a kick – this was delicious.  Always listen to the Chef 😉

Bluefin Tuna Nigiri – $4.70/pc

This was a special for the night.  I’ve had bluefin tuna before and since it’s so hard to come by, I had to get it.  This was so fresh.  The texture was soft, the fish was sweet and ultra flavorful and I got a nice big slab of it on top of the rice ball.  It had a clean cut so it was easy to bite it in half.  Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Midori Dragonfly – $10.90
Unagi, Avocado, Flying Fish Roe, Wasabi Tobiko, Green Tea Powder

For dinner time, special rolls seem to be what the restaurant specializes and although I’m trying to stay away from rice, I really couldn’t really get away with it here.  With ingredients like unagi and avocado, you can already expect a creamy roll.  But instead of dousing it with sauces like… a dragon roll (similar ingredients), the flavor comes from the wasabi tobiko which gave it a nice kick.  The matcha powder gave the roll a nice fragrant which we really enjoyed.

Hawaiian Shrimp Katsu Roll – $15.00 (Back)
Breaded Shrimp, Yam Tempura, Tomato, Cream Cheese, Tonkatsu Sauce, Mango, Avocado, Crushed Pineapple, Coconut Milk, Chili

K recommended two of their rolls, and this was one of them.  Again, I’m not crazy about having fruits on my roll, but seeing how this may be the last time I get to try it, and the rest of the ingredients sounds pretty good to me I decided to go for it. I really liked the sweetness of the pineapple and mango and they greatly enhanced the rest of the ingredients.  Even though there is tempura in this roll, the roll itself wasn’t crunchy per se.  There was just enough cream cheese so it didn’t become overpowering (a problem in some rolls such as Alaska) to give it a bit of a tang.

Sunkissed Roll – $13.00 (Front)
Smoked Steelhead, Avocado, Thin Sliced Lemon, Flying Fish Roe, Unagi, Maple Syrup

Maple syrup… on a roll? This I gotta try.  I was expecting strong maple flavors but the dominant flavor here is the steelhead, which had delicate, smokey flavors.  I was hoping to taste the maple syrup but I actually couldn’t taste any of it.  If you like smoked fish, give this roll a try.

Marinated Daikon Roll – $13.00
Salmon Tempura, Scallop Tempura, Flying Fish Roe, Cream Cheese, Unagi, Avocado, Mayonnaise, Marinated Daikon Outside

This was the other roll that K recommended.  I mentioned on a previous visit that I saw one of the sushi Chefs skilfully cutting a daikon into a long, thin sheet. Now I know what it’s used for! I really like this roll.  I like the fact that it’s a warm roll and packed with a lot of ingredients.  The Chefs really like to use tobiko and there’s a few types in this roll – my toddler loves them and kept asking to eat it 🙂 The daikon sheet adds a bit of refreshment between each bite.

I can’t believe it took me this long to have dinner here… I will be going all out and ordering bunches of nigiri this weekend when I go! Hopefully they will have more special cuts of fish.  Service, as usual, was excellent.  It’s nice to go to a place where you feel welcomed – I’m going to miss them greatly but good thing I have at least two more meals planned there.