Sushi Barshu – Vancouver Sushi Scene Continues to Improve

People will tell you that Vancouver has good sushi.  Vancouver has good everyday sushi.  Your typical salmon, tuna (not very good tuna), rolls, funny rolls etc.

For true edomae sushi, for years, the choices were limited.  At the higher end of the spectrum, places serving omakase style sushi was even more limited.  Places that had a daily fresh sheet, or stuff flown in was almost non-existent.  Again, people stuck to typical salmon, tuna etc.  Today, however, there are a couple of places you can go to experience what once required a trip to another city, which brings us to Barshu.

Sushi Barshu serves Omakase only at the bar counter (which is where any self-respecting sushi fan should sit) or at a small number of tables (I counted about 3).

Here is the menu, we opted for the omakase sushi:

The meal started with chawamushi which was delicious.  Fantastic flavors and textures.  Just the right amount of dashi.

Next a miso soup which was also good.

I am going to show the sequence of nigiri I was served, but I do not have notes on everything as: 1. there was a language barrier and 2. it was loud in the restaurant, mainly from the couple beside us.

I ordered three extra pieces – chu toro, o toro and unagi.  All were pretty amazing.

Overall, everything was pretty delicious except the tamago and hand roll.  For all the nigiri, I felt that the fish to rice ratio was a bit off, and each piece could of used more rice and a tad bit more seasoning on the rice.  Service was ok.  A couple of times, I had to ask the waitress for more tea.  Also, traditionally, the tea is served only at the end.  However, keep in mind that this place does not have a liquor license.  Overall, this is a great addition to the sushi scene in Vancouver.  I would return.  8/10