Ajisai Sushi Bar is a very popular Japanese restaurant in Kerrisdale and popular among the locals and visitors. I haven’t been here before and my aunt was in town, so we all went to go give it a try.
For a weekday, it was pretty busy with a line up even at 7pm. There were plenty of large groups. Looks like everyone else was craving sushi too. We waited about 20 minutes for a bar seating for 4 people.
There is free underground parking at London Drugs,
Interior
The space is not very large, so it’s hard to fit very large groups here. Best to call ahead to see if there are line ups as they don’t take reservations.
Menu
Drinks
They have a few different sake options on the menu that go well with sushi. Beer and wine is on the menu too. If you’re not into alcoholic drinks, they have pop or you can stick with water and tea.
Seafood Salad
At first, this looked like a super weird salad with corn flakes on top. This has assorted greens, tako, ebi, salmon and tuna as the seafood. It is dressed in a light ponzu sauce I think. The corn flakes added a nice crunchy texture surprisingly.
Gomae
This has spinach marinated with sesame paste. A small portion that you cna pick at before the rest of the dishes arrive.
Uni Nigiri
Uni is sea urchin and it’s in season. You can have it as sashimi or nigiri but we option with nigiri. As it is in season, it is very fresh and has a natural sweetness to it. Highly recommended.
Bluefin Tuna Nigiri
We saw this on their Chef Recommendation so we had to get it. It was melt in your mouth fatty. Very good!
Hotate Nigiri
Hotate is scallop and they had this fresh on the menu.
Tako Nigiri and Ebi Nigiri
These were on the regular menu and it was pretty solid. Tender and not chewy at all.
Ika Shiso Rolls
This roll has squid and shiso leaf. Shiso is used in Japanese cuisine and it has an interesting taste that is herbal-like.
Unagi Avocado Roll
It comes with 8 pieces as an inside out roll with the rice on the exterior and seaweed inside. It was good as the creaminess of the avocado and meatiness of the eel pair well.
BBQ Unagi
They have a small amount of BBQ items on the menu but the eel was very delicious with a sweet glaze on top. It comes with 2 pieces but isn’t too large.
BBQ Gindara
The BBQ black cod had a slight char on the edge of the cod but very fatty and falls apart. Do watch out for little bones.
Assorted Sashimi
This has tuna, salmon, hokki, octopus, and white fish. It’s not the large but the quality of the cuts were good.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the sushi here is good but expensive compared to some other places around town. The staff are very diligent about refilling tea which is good
Address:
2081 W 42nd Ave, Vancouver, BC