Sashimiya

Often, takeout sushi is pretty standard fare found at your neighbourhood Japanese restaurant.  We all know of the "good value" spots such as Sushi Garden, Sushi Town and Nanaimo Sushi that offer up serviceable eats at a reasonable price.  However, when want quality such as Miku and Mianmi, then we are paying at least double for most likely less food.  It really depends on what the expectations are as well as the budget.  I'm not embarrassed to say I order from Sushi Garden every now and then as well as Miku.  Can't order from Miku everyday unless you have unlimited cash (and that you live nearby because they don't deliver to Burnaby!).  Now a new spot in Downtown called Sashimiya is something like a middle ground between the two (but definitely closer to Miku than it is to Sushi Garden), where it offers high-quality sushi and sashimi that is fairly priced.

I decided to put in an order for pickup to see for myself where it falls within the sushi continuum within the Lower Mainland.  To get a variety, I got the Sushi Platter consisting of Real Crab California Roll, Dynamite Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll and Nigiri (Atlantic Salmon, Hamachi, Aji, Kanpachi, Ika and akami).  This was good quality for $70.00.  The rolls were pretty good especially the fluffy sweetness of the real crab.  Nigiri was neatly constructed with supremely fresh fish that had a nice sheen and fresh smell.  By the texture of the ika alone, I could tell this was good as it wasn't slimy like most places.  Rice was nicely textured too.

For $100.00, the Family Sashimi Platter was pricey, but also worth the money in my opinion.  This sported Albacore Tuna, Ika, Uni, Saba, Tako, Atlantic Salmon, Chutoro, Aji, Hotate, Akami and Sea Bream.  As you can clearly see, the freshness (as fresh as flash frozen can get) of the fish was evident with a nice sheen and fresh smell (well at least I could smell it).  Textures were on point and due to the quality of the fish, there was more flavour and natural sweetness.  Love the butteriness of the chutoro as well as the salmon.  Uni was high quality and fresh as well.

One of their limited items is the Gokujyou Futomaki consisting of several different pieces of fish surrounded by a thin layer of sushi rice and nori while topped with ikura.  To be honest, this was a very good roll with the same fresh fish as the previous platters and since there was very little rice, it ate well.  However, for the price ($25.00), it was definitely an indulgence.  Probably better off just ordering more of sashimi if you didn't want a roll.  However, it was good and so was everything else.  Considering the quality and overall execution, Sashimiya is worth the price.

The Good:
- Higher quality ingredients than most typical Japanese restaurants
- Well-executed
- Does one thing and does it well

The Bad:
- Probably not the place to go if you are satisfied with your neighbourhood sushi joint