Raymond’s Sushi Adventures: Episode #229: Hong Sushi

The primary restaurant that I ventured to after I had develop into bored of SFU’s campus meals was Sushi City. At the moment, I used to be conscious that Hong Sushi was even nearer to campus than Sushi City. Nonetheless, I ended up going to Sushi City as a result of it appeared the extra well-liked of the 2, and extra importantly, I used to be too lazy to cross the road previous to consuming. Hong Sushi ended up in my record of eating places I needed to attempt however forgot to, till Jeff from my workplace talked about how he used to frequently order their very low-cost and filling combo: 18 items of sushi + miso soup for simply $6.95 (now $7.95).

Thus, the 2 of us went to Hong Sushi throughout one in every of our lunch breaks to check out their $6.95 combo amongst different issues. Hong Sushi is Chinese language-operated, and though it’s moderately small in bodily area, its menu will not be small in any respect. There have been sufficient appetizers and particular rolls to provide me a tough time deciding the way to assemble my final tasting expertise.

One notable factor about Hong Sushi is that they serve every little thing on foam dishes, which enhances their budget-friendly focus. One other notable factor in regards to the restaurant is that you simply order utilizing tablets (there’s one at every desk). Given the low quantity of dine-in clients, I am unsure if the tablets actually contribute to enhancing the restaurant’s effectivity. Nonetheless, they’re nice in case you discover human interplay terrifying and are mortally afraid of truly having to speak to a server.

Salmon Roll – B

California Roll – B+

Yam Roll – B

The $6.95 combo comes with a Salmon Roll, a California Roll, a Yam Roll, and a bowl of miso soup (not pictured). The rolls turned out higher than I had anticipated. The California Roll featured candy imitation crab, whereas the evenly fried tempura yam within the Yam Roll had an honest quantity of crispiness. The Salmon Roll got here with contemporary, buttery salmon, though we thought the sushi rice may have been a bit of extra flavourful. All three rolls had been neatly constructed and got here in moderately massive parts. 

Salmon Sashimi – A-

Toro Sashimi – B-

Subsequent up, the Salmon Sashimi was creamy and buttery and got here in neatly minimize, beneficiant slices. I additionally favored how the items weren’t too thickly sliced. The toro didn’t fare as properly, because it was barely fishy and never particularly melty. 

Appetizer Tempura – B

The Appetizer Tempura got here with one prawn and one piece every of kabocha, zucchini, candy potato, and carrot. A number of the vegetable tempura was well-prepared and turned out savoury and juicy. Nonetheless, the batter tended to be fairly thick.

Scorpion Roll – B+

Subsequent, we had the Scorpion Roll, an enormous roll with deep-fried prawn, spicy tuna, salmon, cucumber, imitation crab meat, gentle shell crab tempura, and masago. Regardless of their colossal dimension, the person items really held collectively fairly properly. The gentle shell crab was remarkably well-prepared and contributed a pleasant crispiness to the roll. The spicy zing from the spicy tuna additionally went properly with the opposite savoury substances within the roll.

Chopped Scallop Nigiri – B+

Unagi Nigiri – B

Saba Nigiri – B-

Tai Nigiri – B-

Hotate Nigiri – B-

After our massive roll, I used to be introduced with some moderately massive nigiri. The nigiri had been extra about dimension than high quality. The sushi rice was dry and too tightly packed. Nonetheless, a few of the toppings had been first rate. The chopped scallop had a pleasing, creamy sweetness, whereas the unagi was gentle and dressed with ample candy unagi sauce. The saba was too salty and never clean in texture, whereas the tai and hotate lacked flavour. 

The service was very minimal, because the server appeared to count on us to work together with the tablets greater than himself. Nonetheless, the meals was first rate given the price range costs. Hong Sushi will not be a spot I’d frequent, however it’s a place I can fall again on if I ever felt the necessity for a change of style from the opposite price range sushi eating places on Hastings.