YVR - Kishimoto - lighting my sushi fire!

Another meal in the Big Smoke of Vancouver while visiting/businessing. We had targeted either Mexican or Sushi and my niece was in a sushi mood....so off we went to try Kishimoto.

Tucked among a million other restaurants and stores on Commercial Drive, Kishimoto can easily be found by the line-up out front. We (being newbies) were not versed in the customs, but didn't fare badly (meaning - when you get to the line-up, go write your own name on the list found at the front door; fortunately, we didn't lose our placing by missing this rather important step).

Once seated inside the bustling room we ordered some drinks and a few different items to share together. The menu is large with selections of sashimi, sushi, inventive rolls & box sushi, donburri, tempura and a whole lot more.

We started off our little buffet with a dish of agedashi tofu - piping hot and delicious....and the picture may be missing a piece as we dove in right away....

The first sushi plate to hit our table silenced us with it's sheer presentation. A cucumber roll.  Yes, a simple cucumber roll. Not sure if they fancied the plate up because it was for my niece, but it was stunning (and then closely followed by our platter, with more stunning garnishes).


Photo number one of the cucumber roll with mood-lighting (aka no flash). Next one is fully lit - (so you can see the garnish detail).

cucumber maki with tealight

same photo with a flash - incredible detail!

The tealight holder was a thin piece of daikon rolled into a cylinder and held in place with a slice of cucumber. The pinwheels were also made from daikon sheets, decoratively folded onto skewers and held in place by edamame, displayed in a tiny wine glass filed with shredded daikon.

Ah-Maz-Ing.

Our platter beautifully displayed three rolls we had chosen individually - clockwise from the top right - a salmon oshisushi (boxed sushi, finished off with a torch searing); hamachili roll (hamachi topped with half moon slices of jalapeno) and a spicy scallop roll. You can JUST make out the tiny carrot butterfly perched on the wasabi, nestled west of the tealight.

The presentation at Kishimoto is beautiful and the sushi is fabulous! We didn't order sashimi...but the table beside us did.  Their platter was so amazing, I had to paparazzi the food of complete strangers - and they were more than happy to oblige (after they finished snapping their own photos).

Complete with the fish head & fins, flowers and carrot butterflies.

I'll have what they're having.

The line-ups for this restaurant are explained. This is a fun, lively place to come for really incredible sushi. We will be back (and we still need to hit that Mexican spot too!).

Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen & Sushi
2054 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Tuesday-Sunday, lunch & dinner
On facebook (great photos of various rolls and special closures)