Caved and bought Toronto Lunch Sushi - The Sushi Shop

I have been working out of the Toronto Financial district for a couple of months now.  I'm quite isolated from any interesting lunch joints.  I'm surrounded by food courts, junk food chains and more Tim Horton's than you can shake a stick at, if shaking a stick is your thing.  After wandering out a couple of times at noon, I spent a week drinking Booster Juice for lunch.  Then one day, I decided to look up the calorie count, yeah, I stopped that.  I've walked into and walked out of the Sushi Shop near by three times.  I even grabbed a menu so I could study it.  Each time, I looked, rather forlornly at the anemic looking refridgerated rolls, sighed and left.  There some rolls that were both 'thin' on filling and barely covered in rice. Oh and to add insult to injury, it is VERY VERY expensive, well compared to the lunch places near my office in Vancouver.  Sigh.

After a couple weeks of brown bagging it with dinner leftovers, I caved in today after a lunchtime conference call with half an hour until the next meeting, and went to one of the three The Sushi Shops within 5 minute walk from me.  I didn't have time to pick a roll for order as I would have preferred. I prefer to avoid the mini-bullets that result from refridgerating rice.  My time was limited so I examined the prepackaged with trepidation.  For crying out loud! 15 bucks for a 12 piece combo of refridgerated sushi!? Well, I couldn't get another Booster Juice and I didn't want to stand in line for a sandwich so I grabbed a combo.

I grabbed a Brown Rice combo that staff had just placed out.  I thought it might have just been made.  In the end it wasn't.  I think that he must have just brought out from a larger refridgeration unit in the back.  There was NO way that was fresh rice.  It reminded me of long line ups in front of empty bars.  Is it meant to give the illusion of high demand?  I also asked for low sodium soy.  In Vancouver, I keep a big bottle of low sodium soy in my desk... seriously.  The dude told me that their 'soya' has less sodium than regular soy already.  It did.  It tasted more like a ponzu or tempura dipping sauce.  It was nice.

Overall the ingredients tasted fresh other than the rice.  The Rice and Nori (seaweed) made ahead and chilled is not a particularly nice textural experience, bullets wrapped in a rubberband.  As well, the fish was a bit sparse.  Yes, I realise I'm not on the Wet coast anymore but come on! Check on the tiny speck of Salmon in the roll on the left.  I am glad that I got the brown rice though.  At least it added some flavour to the rice, though minimal it was.   The rice was not dressed with any Sushi seasoning.  You really need that dipping sauce because the roll does not stand up on it's own like it should. 

I will likely go back in similarly desperate situations, short on time and ideas but not for a purely Sushi craving.

Ambiance: Take out
Cost: $$$$ (for take out sushi of middling to low quality)
Staff: friendly
the Sushi Shop
(416) 203-9388
25 York Street Lobby
Toronto, ON M5J 2V5
 http://www.sushishop.com/
 

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