Sushi Masuda – When does price become a factor?

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you know that price rarely factors into my posts unless things are ridiculously cheap or the price to benefit ratio is way off (ie extremely overpriced). Why? To me a meal is more than just nutrition. Its a work of art, an experience, a cultural immersion, an opportunity to build relationships, pleasure etc. Therefore, its hard to place a value on this. I have also owned food companies in the past so I understand food and labor costs. I also appreciate hard work, and food service workers are some of the hardest working people.

One of the best books I have ever read about food and value was called “An Economist Gets Lunch”. In the book, the author stresses that sushi is one cuisine where price and quality have a direct positive correlation and there is no way around it. If you want good sushi, it will cost you. Also, the more Michelin stars a place has, they are generally able to raise prices. This brings me to the subject of today’s post. A new omakase restaurant in downtown Vancouver with only 5 seats. The cost for the omakase is $230. They only opened in March 2024. How does this price compare with other omakase in Vancouver?

Tetsu – $220; included in Michelin Guide

Bar Maumi – $135; included in Michelin Guide

Okeya Kyujiro – $325 dinner or $180 at brunch (this is a bit of an outlier because its not just nigiri they serve here); one Michelin star

Masayoshi – $220 (of all the ones I have listed here, this is the only one I don’t like); one Michelin Star

Sushi Jin – $300; in the Michelin Guide

The average price of the above is $238. Excluding the outliers, its about $200. As you can see, Masuda is pricing its dinner above average, with less track record than the others. Was it worth it? Lets find out.

The restaurant is located inside a different and mediocre Japanese restaurant called Kamei Royale. The entrance is separate and you enter from a printer store. Its a good strategy because I am guessing they can “piggyback” off Kamei’s licenses. The space itself is very nice, very Japanese minimalist. As we entered, the chef was grounding fresh wasabi. Always a good sign.

The meal started off with 3 appetizers. The first was very good but had a bit too much sauce.

The Ankimo (monkfish liver) was good.

The small squid was the best of the three with a really good peanut (or sesame) sauce.

Next, some geoduck sashimi. It was ok but geoduck is not my favorite thing in the world to eat, and had a slightly “fishy” taste.

At this point, the nigiri started to flow.

They served chawanmushi next. I like the grating of Yuzu the chef use on this and on certain other items throughout the meal.

A couple more pieces of nigiri.

…and then a roll that was extremely flavorful…

Then back to nigiri including this otoro which was delicious. In general, each piece was good, the rice was done well and the soy was just right. I did wish there was a bit more wasabi.

The uni was very good as was this prawn, very sweet!

The last two pieces were a pickled veg roll, lots of umami (and I like the seaweed they were using).

…and a really good piece of tamago (great texture and flavor). This one I wished I had more of.

The miso soup may of been the only thing that could of used improvement. The portion was very small and they could of developed more flavors and complexity in the broth.

At the end, I added a tuna handroll.

As I look back on this meal, I think “was it worth it?” and the answer is yes but with one caveat I will get to in a bit. I wished that they served green tea at the end and something sweet, even if its just a little piece of something. As a standalone restaurant, its excellent. However, if I compare the experience with the other places I mentioned above, and factor in the price, I would recommend the following:

If you only had one omakase nigiri meal in Vancouver, I would suggest Tetsu or Bar Maumi over Masuda. Bar Maumi if atmosphere is important, and Tetsu if you only care about the sushi (because to me, its the best but their restaurant is a bit small and does not really give you that “I am entering a temple of sushi” feeling). If you want an experience beyond just sushi (including noodles for example), then I would recommend Okeya Kyujiro. Masuda would be my pick after Maumi or Tetsu.

Overall, the service, food, and atmosphere were very good. I would probably return, if the other three above were fully booked…