Sushi Ya - A Father's Day Lunch

This Father's Day, sushi was the consensus. My mother has been talking about Sushi Ya for a while so she insisted we go there. I hear many many things about restaurants, however, good value always strikes a chord with me(and at least 1 other person I know, you know who you are)!

We started with sushi, as always. I chose Pink Tuna, Yellowtail and Toro. The fish portions were nice for the price and the quality is good. This ended any sort of order, I went straight to a roll next.

This was the Tuna Bakudan, it was good however it could have been great. One thing I noticed, they use a lot of sauce and it can sometimes overwhelm everything else. The sauce itself, a spicy mayo is delicious with just the right amount of heat! The tuna was just spicy enough and the crunch from the tempura added a nice texture. The portions were nice again, just ease up a bit on the sauce. Appetizer time, yes there is no order here...deal with it. I did and I was still full afterwards.

The Soft Shell Crab was unbelievable and unlike a previous place I reviewed, I received the entire crab. It was served hot with a crisp outside and soft tender inside. The crunch from the batter was amazing and made me very happy. This one is a winner! On to the special rolls.

I chose the Magma roll and the Tornado roll. As you can see, The Magma roll on the top also has too much sauce. One quarter the sauce would have made this much better.. it made the roll to heavy. The roll itself was wonderful with tender sweet crab, cream cheese and the almighty avocado. The Tornado was a wonderful roll, simple and a good price! Smoked eel, shrimp, crab and cucumber with masago on top. What a treat and again, nice portions for the price.

Everything was good, some was great but not everything was great. I will definitely go back for another round though, you can count on it!

Sushi Ya
669 Corydon Ave
Winnipeg, Manitoba
204-452-3916



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Plans Are Meant To Be Broken - The Epic Adventure

Well, Saturday night I went out with a friend. The plan was to go to Smoke's Poutinerie for dinner, however as the oh so clever title suggests this was not to be the case(I will make it there). Parking in downtown Winnipeg sucks, there was a jazz festival in the area and parking was just non existent! We drove around for almost an hour before deciding to give up, where to now? We still need to eat, but what is open?

At this point we have no destination and are driving south on Pembina Highway. It is about 10:30pm and we are both hungry so we pull off into a strip mall to decide where to eat. Oh look, a Chinese restaurant and they are open until midnight! I believe this place is fairly new, it used to be something else.

We walked in, the decor was nothing special but somehow I sensed greatness in this place so after reading the menu, we sat down. Neither of us had been here before, or knew it existed for that matter.

We ordered and our food came shortly after, the dishes were simple:

Starting off with Mooshi, the filling was delicious! Tender strips of beef in a delicious sauce with garlic, tender mushroom and crunchy cabbage. The pancakes were authentic, and big! We could have made ourselves burritos with these. They held in the sauce, were soft and tasted great. That's a bonus in my books!

Chicken Fried Rice, always a staple of mine and they did it well! There was so much flavor without all the grease. Simple ingredients, large pieces of chicken with peas, green onions and egg. I could easily have eaten this whole plate, but that probably would not have been a great idea so I refrained!

Shrimp with Spicy Salt is quickly becoming a favorite dish of mine and it was exceptional here. The shrimp were plump, tender and juicy! Deep fried and then seasoned with Szechuan Salt they were delicious and went quickly!

On to the last dish, but certainly not least. Another winner, the Cantonese Chow Mein was full of wonderful colors, textures and flavors! There were crunchy vegetables, and lots of them and a combination of wonderfully smoky BBQ pork, shrimp and chicken. The noodles were wonderful, with some bits of crunchy noodle from being grilled, awesome! The sauce was just delicious and brought it all together.

So, things did not go as originally planned...but we both had a great time. We found a great new restaurant. The menu is large, the service is quick, the portions are great! The prices made this a great value and an even better find. Sometimes, the best plans are not planned at all.

Huang Pu River
2-1875 Pembina Highway
Winnipeg, MB Canada
204-261-4407

Happy Mothers Day - A Bit Late

Yeah, I was gone for a while...that happens when viruses destroy your hard drive. A fun experience I must tell you about, or maybe I will just talk about food and wine! Lets talk about a simple yet elegant wine and food pairing, the classic red wine and steak. Mother's Day is the perfect day for this, my mother does not like anything other than seasoning salt on her steak. This is my favorite way to have a steak.

The setting...a table. White tablecloth, simple and elegant.

The dog...Dijon, falling asleep...such a hard life!

The steak, a huge Canadian AAA t-bone with great marbling, perfect for the grill. Seasoned with seasoning salt and cooked to medium rare. The potato, baked on a BBQ and then topped with butter and sour cream. The wine, a syrah with a splash of viognier...the Vina Maipo Grand Devocion 09...dark plum and cocoa with a subtle hint of apricot.

Oh, whats that you say, another contender? Oh yes, in swoops black cherry ice cream with a fresh strawberry. You know what, lets drizzle in a little Provenance Merlot Chocolate Sauce because that definitely won't improve anything!

In the end, it was a tough night. I never came to a decision on the best part of the meal. I will call it a draw. You will have to ask mom for the tiebreaker. Happy Mother's Day to all!