Week 7: Sushi Shop (0.4 km)

Better late than never, I now present this (past) week's vacation-delayed instalment of Sushipalooza!

Apparently Sushi Shop is a fairly major chain in Montreal. Earlier this year they opened their first Toronto location at Carlton and Yonge. It has a distinctly fast-food vibe; they do have a small dining room but I don't think they offer table service. They also don't have a patio, and since it's a lovely mid-May afternoon (in early July), I did the only sane thing: got my meal to go and ate it on my balcony.

Sushi Shop's menu consists almost entirely of maki, with a few standard varieties of nigiri / sashimi. Notably absent are bento boxes, teriyaki, and noodle-based dishes. If ordering off the menu is too much time and effort, you can grab one of their pre-made "express combos" from the cooler. So I did.

The $10 Combo G included salmon and shrimp nigiri, 2 each of Boston, Dynamite, and Spicy Salmon Crunch rolls, and what the menu referred to as "chef's choice" of small maki. Today the chef chose to include some slightly wilted avocado rolls.

My favourite of the bunch was the Boston Roll, with crab stick, shrimp, and cucumber. The Dynamite (tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber) and Spicy Salmon Crunch were also quite nice.

Since the combo didn't come with the usual miso soup and green salad, I opted to augment it with a wakame seaweed salad. I like seaweed salad, and this one was perfectly good, but I could've done with about half the portion I was given. It's more than enough for sharing.

Sushi Shop is clearly taking aim at the take-out lunch market, and their quality and selection certainly seems to be a step up from the food court. It'd be a good place for a quick casual bite, or to pick up supplies for a summer sushi picnic. If you're looking for a hot sit-down meal, you might want to try one of the other kajillion sushi restaurants in the neighbourhood.