Kami Sushi - Edmonton, AB

After Avenue Magazine's tasting event, we were all still fairly hungry. As we all live around the University area, we rarely venture that far south for sushi; since we were already on the south side that evening, we decided to pop into a small sushi restaurant that my companion and I had been to before. Kami advertises itself as a "take-out" restaurant, but it does have a couple of four-seater tables inside. Not much special about Kami's interior, though it is quite modern and clean. The menu is written on a large menu board over the ordering counter as well as on several printed copies, making it quite easy if you were visiting Kami just for a quick snack or take-out.

Our party of four parked ourselves at one of the restaurants and promptly ordered. Shannon decided to get one of the sushi combos while Eric went with a salmon roll and sashimi combo. As for myself and my companion, we decided on one of their specials, the Flaming Roll, as well as two of their regular rolls, the Amazing Roll and the Spicy Red Tuna Roll.

The sashimi were quite fresh and were a fair price by Edmonton standards. The sushi and the tuna roll were prepared well, but otherwise fairly standard in terms of taste.

Left to Right: Salmon Sashimi, Tuna Sashimi, Spicy Tuna Roll
Spicy Red Tuna Roll, Flaming Roll, Amazing Roll, Salmon Sushi
Tuna Sushi, and Shrimp Sushi

The special rolls that my companion and I ordered, I suspect, is where Kami's popularity (and Urbanspoon ratings!) come from. First we started with the Spicy Red Tuna roll, which consisted of spicy tuna, fish roe, and cucumber. The spicy sauce used for the spicy tuna is definitely on the spicier side of "spicy tuna" rolls, but I quite enjoyed the hot kick. If you tend to shy away from the spicier foods, this one might not be a good roll for you as I do remember consuming quite a bit of water when I first had it.

The next two rolls were the the Amazing Roll and the Flaming Roll. The Flaming Roll was offered as a special that night (Kami often has a number of "Special Rolls" which are not on their regular menu, so make sure to ask for them!) and consisted of chopped scallop, special house sauce, topped with torched salmon and fish roe. The special house sauce is essentially mayonnaise, and I wish Kami did something a little more innovative with their house sauce, but it went well with the chopped scallop. The torched salmon was a nice touch and gave the roll a unique ash flavour that you don't see in many sushi rolls. Unfortunately, the Amazing Roll was not as amazing as it sounded, as I can't recall anything particularly stand out about the roll.

Close up of Special: Flaming Roll

Kami is a quiet little shop way out in the Southern corners of Edmonton. When I'm craving something special (I quite like their "creative rolls") for a reasonable price, I don't mind making the trek out South, especially when I've eaten at Kyoto three times already earlier that week. It's definitely worth the trip and the service is friendly and fast - exactly what you're looking for if you do decide to take out from their restaurant.

Top Pick of the Night: Flaming Roll

Rating:

4/5 Erics