Tasting Journey #3 - Shota Sushi & Grill

Shota sushi
5688 Yew Street

Located in the heart of Kerrisdale, I would say Shota sushi is one of my favourite Japanese restaurant.  The restaurant is on a side street, tucked away from the bustling W.41st Ave which allows for a cozy ambient.  It offers quite a wide range of selection, from sushi to grill to soup noodle, and to fushion.  I would say that the dishes are considered expensive when compared to the over abundance of sushi restaurants in town, but it is definitely worth it for the quality.  If you are looking for something filling and big-portioned, then this is probably not the place to go. However, if you are looking for a fine dining, taste bud adventure, then this is the place.  Undeniably, this is one of the places where "you get what you pay for".

I've never really been fond of raw oysters because of the portion, and the texture. However, I have to admit that this dish is extremely well done.  I like how they had offered the "baby" oyster since I feel that I would have probably easily been grossed out if it were just a tad bit larger.  The sauce & the lemon was also perfectly blended so that all I could taste was the freshness of the oyster. None of those "gum chewy" texture, nor "fishy" after-taste.

Next came the spicy tuna sashimi.  Again, Shota amazed me.  I've had many many spicy tuna sashimi dishes in the past, but there's something about this dish that just completely brought this to a whole new level.  First off, unlike many other typical dishes where they simply squirt a thick red hot spicy paste of chili sauce (hence the spicy tuna), the tuna was decorated with sprinkles of furikake's. The crispiness & the slight sweet & salty texture mashed perfected with the tuna.  In addition, the chili sauce used is probably (I'm guessing), some type of spicy oil which surprisingly makes the dish much lighter to the taste.  Without a doubt, I can definitely eat an entire dish myself, and not feel disgusted.  Completely amazed by the quality of this dish, I am tempted to make some myself someday... shouldn't be too hard right? haha... ;)

 Next came the Flamed Salmon Sushi.  It was not what I was expecting. Rather than a slightly grilled salmon sashimi placed on a dough of vinegar-ed rice, the dish was actually a thin slice of grilled salmon skin on rice. The skin was crispy, and well marinated.  However, the smell of the charcoal was so strong that I felt my clothes were tainted with the BBQ smell even just after 1 piece. All of us concluded that it was probably over-done.  Though good, and worth trying, it probably won't be on my list to order next time. (Did I mention that I'm also not a fan of fish skin? well, that's another story...) 

I would say that the portions at Shota is "delicate" (aka not large), and so we've also ordered a "filler" dish for our stomach - Spider roll.  Nothing out of the ordinary, soft shell crab with masago and avocado.
Next came the prawn tempura. It is a well-fried dish, but like many other places, it is just prawn tempura.  One twist to this ordinary dish though, is that Shota added a "rose salt" dip on the side.  Very interesting combination.  Rose salt was not a 1-dimensional salty condiment, like our standard table salt.  It had a "rosey" aroma to it...almost a sweetness to it as well.  I wasn't sure what the proper way of incorporating this salt is since I've never found prawn tempura dish to be blend in taste, nor have I found a need to make it "saltier".  What I ended up doing was dipping the prawn in the tempura sauce, then sprinkling some rose salt on top of it for additional flavouring. The increase in texture was subtle, but noticeable.  

Lastly was the seaweed salad. It was awkward that they had served the salad last. Maybe they had just forgotten.  Thankfully, Shota's speed with serving has been fairly quick, so it wasn't like we had fully digested and was too full to even eat the salad by the time it arrived.  Nothing extraordinary, but I guess it was a refreshing compliment to the deep fried spider roll and prawn tempura.



My conclusion? I would highly recommend dining at this restaurant if you haven't blown your monthly budget, or if you happened to find some extra cash in your winter coat.  Treat yourself to a nice meal, especially on this cold Christmas night! :)