Mainichi Sushi

As if the economy needed any other shock waves to make it worse, the prevailing situation in the world events have made things even more unstable.  With all this uncertainty, the threat of a recession seems more and more probable.  Hence, it was already tough to do any discretionary spending on things that would be best saved.  It brings me to the problem of eating out, where it really is one of the first things to be cut from the household budget.  Therefore, any really great deals (that involves actually good food) needs to be celebrated.  That is the case at Mainichi Sushi where their "Build Your Own Combos" are coming in at $14.95 for 2 items and $19.95 for 3 items.  If you want to be a bit more deluxe, there are supplemental charges for higher priced items.  

We actually visited Mainichi twice trying almost everything available for building your own combo.  The first visit, we ended up trying 2 combos including the first one with Seafood Udon (+$2.00), Mentaiko Cream Udon (+$1.50) and Salmon Don (+$3.00).  So this actually cost $26.45 in the end, but this was very filling due to the generous size of the "mini" portions.  The food was also great as the salmon was buttery and the rice was nicely seasoned and firm.  

Next combo consisted of Prawn & Yam Tempura, Chicken Katsu Curry (+$2.00) and Unagi Don (+$5.00).  So this one ended up to be $26.95.  Sure, it cost more, but this was super filling with 2 rice dishes that weren't exactly small despite being mini.  We packed some home!  The curry was flavourful with earthiness and sweetness.  Chicken was tender with a crispy coating.  Unagi was plentiful and buttery with sweet sauce drizzled on top.

On our second visit, we were able to sample an array of items that are available as part of the Build Your Own Combo deal.  We went for some of the sashimi options including Hotate (+$3.00), Hamachi (+$3.00), Wild Salmon (+$2.00) and Toro (+$2.00).  If you are wondering what isn't extra charge, they are the Atlantic Salmon and Albacore Tuna Sashimi.  These were fresh and textures were on point.  Scallops were super sweet while the toro was buttery soft.

Some of the options for Sushi included Sushi Pizza (+$1.00), Unagi Roll, Wild Salmon, Chopped Scallop Nigiri, Dynamite Roll and Real Crab California Roll (+$5.00).  As you can see, the size of the rolls/nigiri were large with minimal sushi rice.  I particularly enjoyed the sushi pizza served on crispy rice.  Had good spice and crunch.  The dynamite roll was enormous and filled with imitation crab and ebi tempura.  Sure, the real crab Cali roll was $5.00 more, but it was full of briny snow crab.

We got a few udon dishes from that section of the menu.  They included the Seafood Yaki Udon (+$2.00) and Seafood Udon (+$2.00) once again as well as the Kimchi Mentaiko Udon (+$1.50).  As you can see, these were decent in size and were full of ingredients.  Really enjoyed the kimchi mentaiko udon as there was plenty of briny tangy spiciness.   The yaki udon was also good with plenty of savoury sweetness.  Also got the Hamachi Kama, I think?  It said Salmon Kama on the menu, but it didn't look or eat like salmon.  It was good nonetheless being buttery soft.

We had 7 examples of the rice dishes available.  We had the Chicken Teriyaki Don, Kimchi Fried Rice, Spicy Pork Don, Salmon Don (+$3.00), Unagi Don (+$3.00), LA Galbi Don (+$6.00) and Pork Katsu Don (+$2.00).  I really loved the spicy pork don as there was plenty of seared fatty pork that was definitely spicy and tasty.  Of course the galbi was great, but it did cost quite a bit more.  The pork katsu was juicy and topped with a sweet and tangy sauce.  So as you can see, there are many options to create your own meal.  We didn't even cover all of it.  There are quite a few choices that aren't extra charge and if you guessed these are more basic dishes, you are correct.  However, if you want to have your cake and eat it too, you totally can stick within the non-extra charge items and keep it to $14.95 or $19.95.  

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

 

The Good:

- Solid neighbourhood Japanese spot

- Generous portions, even for mini-size

- Affordable

 

The Bad:

- Yep, most of the more desirable dishes involve a supplemental charge, but hey, they need to make money right?

- Not a big place, gets busy