Since I’m posting pictures of food today, I wanted to share these photos of the best sushi restaurant I have ever visited. I’m a passionate sushi lover (for the dirty-minded among us: in the gastronomic sense), so I’ve been to many Japanese restaurants in my life. Here in Edwardsville we have two fairly good ones. But Montreal’s Shodan on Metcalfe Street is on an entirely different level.
Their sushi look like little works of art and taste heavenly. They are also very light because the heavy globs of rice aren’t used like they are in many Japanese restaurants on this continent.
Here is an appetizer called pizza-sushi:
It looks beautiful but, to be honest, there are places in Montreal that serve a much better version of pizza sushi. For some reason, Japanese restaurants in the US seem to have no idea what a pizza sushi even is. Whenever I ask, people look at me with pity and say, “This isn’t a pizza place. Pizza is Italian. We don’t cook Italian here.” It isn’t a real pizza of course. It’s made entirely out of seafood, covered with fish roe and has spicy mayonnaise added. Yum! Shodan’s version was stingy on the spicy mayonnaise, so the appetizer tasted bland.
Of course, as you must have guessed, the restaurant is very expensive. I’m a simple American professor, so I couldn’t really afford it on my own. This is why my sister, a Canadian businesswoman, had to invite me. 🙂
As you can see, we ordered enough food for a platoon of hungry soldiers. Whenever my sister and I start ordering food at a Japanese restaurant, the waiters always ask how many more people will be joining us.
“Oh, this is just for us,” we say. “And please don’t take away the menu. We are just getting started here.”
Clarissa's Blog 
I love sushi too but how other people eat sushi in North America bothers me. Tips: sushi is supposed to be eaten with the rice side up so you can savour the flavour of the fish. Ginger is eaten between courses to cleanse the palate not on the sushi. Buy good sake not the warm rot gut that they sell in the restaurants. The restaurant sake is heated to cover up the bite of the poorly fermented rice while good sake should be drunk at room temperature since it is very smooth. Also if you spend the money for a better drink, the restaurant should bring the bottle rather than the ubiquitous carafe so you know what you`re getting and the bottle should have the percentage milled on the side (the higher the better).
If you really like big sushi, check out this video. For gluttons only!
http://dai.ly/p2rZCz
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“sushi is supposed to be eaten with the rice side up so you can savour the flavour of the fish.”
-Interesting. But isn’t the fish going to fall off while you are carrying it to the mouth?
I don’t like sake. I prefer plum wine. 🙂
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I still eat sushi with my fingers from when I lived in Osaka, and get a lot of funny looks for it. I just wish I could afford good sake.
What I wouldn’t do to find a decent Japanese place outside of Japan and Hawaii… Maybe McGill will be my first choice for grad school after all.
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To be fair, whenever I read reviews of restaurants in Ontario at http://northerngaijin.blogspot.com/ , I curse the fact that I can’t just move to Toronto. 🙂
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Awww! My mouth is watering now!
With the veritable Sophie’s choice of restaurant delights those two metropolitan areas offer me, it’s impossible for me to make a decision without my belly aching a little.
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I have tried sushi twice. I do not like it.
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Nominatissima: my Japanese friends have told me that in Japan it is customary to eat sushi with your hands. I also noticed that in China. You can give dirty looks back to those that give them to you. 🙂
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Indeed it is! Sushi is supposed to be a sensory experience as well as a meal, and eating with your fingers enhances that. 🙂
I will just remind the glaring folk that I get more out of my sushi than they do as chopstick (or fork…) users.
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If you’re looking for other good sushi places, Wasabi’s in St. Louis and Sake’s in Fairview are both really good.
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Thank you, Kathryn!
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