If it isn’t obvious by now, mine and my companion’s go-to
dinner places are generally – if not exclusively – sushi restaurants. One of
our favourite sushi places in Edmonton was discovered almost two years ago when
our good friend, a native of Edmonton, took us to Edmonton for some
“after-hours” sushi. After our first outing there, Ichiban did not pop up on
our list of regular restaurants until almost a year later when we
“rediscovered” it while perusing Urbanspoon for new sushi restaurants outside
of the University area. We remembered Ichiban being excellent that first time
and were only too happy to try it again. Since the rediscovery, we have been to
Ichiban on multiple occasions including casual date nights, large group
gatherings, and family dinners and no occasion has ever turned out to be a
disappointment.
We were having a particularly rough week on our internship
and decided what we needed as a nice, relaxing dinner out of the apartment. It
wasn’t hard to pick which restaurant to visit, as we were both desperately
craving sushi and had some errands planned on the west side of Edmonton anyway.
We promptly made 7PM reservations and set off to satisfy our sushi craving. For
a Saturday night, Ichiban was surprisingly empty, which was contrary to almost
every single time we have visited Ichiban in the past. It could have been that
we were dining out just after the New Years and a majority of Edmontonians had
not yet returned from their Christmas Holidays. We were seated in a small table
of two in the middle of the restaurant. Since we were fairly familiar with the
restaurant and menu, we had a number of regular orders we made; however, on
this occasion, we decided to go after a few items we had never tried at Ichiban
including – baked oysters, red salmon sushi, salmon sushi, Fuji Maki, Lava Lava
Maki, Maki Maki, and Sunshine Maki.
 |
| Complimentary Miso Soup |
As soon as we ordered, a larger, four-person table in a more
private – and warm – corner of the restaurant opened up. The manager quickly
came up to us and asked us if we would like to move to that table instead of
our current two-person table. We didn’t even think of asking about a table
switch after we ordered, but I definitely appreciated the switch later on that
night as Edmonton was a chilly -30°C that night. Big points for friendliness
and service to Ichiban! One of the best and my favourite things about Ichiban
is their complimentary Miso soup. Miso soup is a simple tofu and seaweed soup,
and coming from Ottawa’s all-you-can-eat scene where I would routinely order
2-3 bowls of Miso soup during a meal, it was extremely disappointing to see any
sushi restaurant that charged $3 for Miso soup. The Miso soup was served
steaming hot and was extremely
quickly followed by our orders of baked oyster and sushi – very impressive
service, especially for peak dining hours on a Saturday night.
 |
| Baked Oysters |
I have had the baked oyster appetizer numerous times before
and usually it is served in a large oyster shell filled with mayonnaises cream,
cooked egg whites and layered over with baked cheese. Ichiban’s version was
served in a small sauce dish, which was a little disappointing because I really
did like the decorative points of having an oyster served to me in an oyster
shell. My disappointment was quickly abated as to my surprise, the baked oyster dish included two oysters! With baked oysters at other
restaurants, the oiliness and greasiness tends to sit heavily in your stomach
for a while; at Ichiban, the mayonnaise-egg-cheese sauce was silky smooth,
creamy, but surprisingly light and complimented the oysters excellently. The
only complaint with the dish was one oyster was cooked considerably better than
the other, leaving the smaller oyster (there was a larger oyster and a smaller
oyster in the dish) a tad chewier than the larger one. Either way, a must try
at Ichiban, even if it’s simply for comparison to other restaurants.
 |
| Left to Right: Salmon Sushi, Red Tuna Sushi, Sunshine Roll, and Maki Maki |
Our sushi and maki rolls came out almost instantaneously (more
service points!) as we were finishing the last spoons of the baked oyster sauce
(I can honestly say Ichiban is the first place I actually finished the baked
oyster sauce). We started off with one of our favourite regular rolls – the Lava
Lava Maki. The Lava Lava Maki consists of a soft shelled crab roll layered with
unagi and avocado. Just as delicious as it sounds! I’ve had this roll many
times before and it has never disappointed; however, on this particular
occasion, I found the Lava Lava Maki had a little bit too much crunch and not
enough of the sweet crab meat. The sweet, BBQ unagi and fresh avocado, however,
were excellent. Next we tried the Maki Maki – a roll consisting of salmon,
tuna, and red snapper in an inside out roll. The Maki Maki was our substitute
for a sashimi order that night and was a disappointing of a substitute. We both
found the Maki Maki roll a little plain and though the fish ingredients
themselves were fresh, the mix of rice in the roll just made the roll all the
more plain. Perhaps the Maki Maki roll would have been a better substitute for
a Chirashi bowl than our usual sashimi order.
In between our sushi orders, we tried our salmon sushi and
red tuna sushi. The salmon sushi was fairly good and had a nice amount of
fattiness, though nothing special compared to salmon sushi at other
restaurants. It had been a while since I tried red tuna sushi and I remembered
red tuna being a favourite of mine in the past. However, red tuna sushi at
Ichiban was much drier and a little flakier than I remembered it and was much
below par in comparison to its salmon sushi partner.
 |
| Left to Right: Fuji Maki and Lava Lava Maki |
The last two rolls of the night were the Fuji Maki and the Sunshine
Roll. Mount Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan and was a
once an active volcano. It is an iconic land mark located on Honshu Island and can be seen from Tokyo,
Japan on a clear day. The Fuji Maki is probably Ichiban’s tribute to the famous
Japanese landmark and consists of spicy tuna in an inside out roll with chop
chop on top. For the fiery volcano peak / lava, the Fuji Maki featured red
tobiko mixed in with the chop chop. With an iconic symbol like Mount Fuji
behind its name, the Fuji roll was sure to satisfy – and satisfy it did! The
spicy tuna was fresh, had a nice – but not too spicy or overwhelming – kick to
it and was complimented excellently by the chop chop, mayonaises, and tobiko
combination. The Fuji Maki was easily our favourite roll of the night and we
were glad we ordered it, as this was one of the “new” rolls we tried that night.
The Sunshine Maki was an inside out roll featuring chop chop layered with
smoked salmon. Usually, on any occasion other than sushi, I am a huge fan of
smoked salmon. Perhaps I am too much of a traditionalist, but I always find
these new North American fusion ingredients, such as smoked salmon, cream
cheese, salsa (what?! Salsa on sushi you say?! I promise this will come up in
the next few posts) always ruins the simple, clean flavour of sushi. However,
Ichiban makes the smoked salmon work in the Sunshine Maki and the chop chop –
the same one used in the Fuji Maki – really saves the dish.
Overall, it was another great night at
Ichiban, with amazing service (one of the best I have had), excellent dishes, and more than
reasonable price (our bill that night came out at $56 tax incl.). This unassuming
restaurant tucked away in the West corner of Edmonton, in a beaten down strip
mall, does not even have a website (or logo!) but is a definite must-try pit
stop for those of you who are native to Edmonton or those who are just visiting
for a day.
Top Pick of the Night: Baked Oysters
and Fuji Maki
Rating: 4/5 Erics'
No comments:
Post a Comment