Sushi Ai

Sushi Ai

4 – 680 St. Anne’s Rd

R2N 3M6

204-415-5445

Fax:  204-415-5415

Sushi houses spring like shiitakes on a stump in Winnipeg; they’re everywhere and there’s a new one every time you look.  Some make good food, some make excellent food, and some barely get by.  Because there are so many sushi houses, I have a couple of litmus tests that I apply, just as a benchmarker to begin. 

First, are the owners/operators Japanese?  I don’t want to stereotype too much but I often find the best sushi comes from Japanese chefs.  While many sushi houses have Asian cooks, you’d be surprised how many are actually Chinese (Cantonese) in heritage.  Speaking Cantonese, it’s easy for me to discern.  The staff at Sushi Ai aren’t Cantonese; they’re Mandarin.  I don’t speak Japanese, but I speak food—they don’t.  I order the standard hokkigai, hotategai, unagi, maguro and sake and she doesn’t have a clue what I want.  I have to reorder in English for her to get it.

My second litmus test uses the California roll as the benchmarker:  a great Cal roll uses lump crab meat, and you won’t find that often in Winnipeg.  Most Cals use canned crab, which gets a passing grade.  The corner cutters use pollack and disguise it as crab, which is a travesty.  Sushi Ai takes it to a lower level—they use so little pollack that I can’t taste it.  I cannot tell if this is real crab or pollack because there isn’t enough to taste and the avocado dominates the palate.  After I pluck out the piece of seafood, I’m not surprised to see that it indeed is a sliver of pollack.

Similarly, I have trouble making out the chopped scallop in the chopped scallop roll.  I can taste the mayo, fish egg and the tempura bits but I cannot make out the scallop—and that’s the raison d’etre of the dish. The surf clam too has little flavour.  I eat them side-by-side with the scallop roll and it takes a lot of effort to determine which is which.  They both look similar and they both lack in taste.  The slight bit of texture in the clam sets them apart, a tad. 

By contrast, the spicy salmon hand roll explodes with flavour, but it’s one-dimensional.  The fish eggs dominate the flavour, even overtaking the spicy sriracha.  The seaweed has enough gusto to hold its own but the poor salmon is completely lost in the creation.  Again, I want to taste salmon in my salmon hand roll. 

It’s not all bad.  The freshwater eel has a good taste.  They don’t use a lot of the barbecue sauce, which easily overpowers the delicate nuances of the fish—that’s good.  However, the portion of fish is tiny compared to the wad of rice sitting under the meat.  I normally eat the nigiri as it is meant to be eaten, in one bite, but the massive clump of rice vis-à-vis fish is like having Godzilla sitting on one side of a teeter-totter with Bambi on the other.  The same goes with the toro nigiri.  I dig out the rice so that I get better exposure to the delicate fatty tuna.  Great toro should melt in your mouth, literally falling apart as you pick it up with your chopsticks.  This isn’t great toro, but it’s not bad.  Toro tends to get very fishy, very quickly when it becomes older or stale—at least it’s very fresh here.

If you’re not into sushi, Ai has the usual alternatives.  The Chicken Teriyaki comes with a good helping of diced chicken in a sweetish yet mild teriyaki sauce.  The stir-fried vegetables are cooked well so they maintain their freshness and crispness.  If you absolutely do not like Japanese food, Ai offers a breaded, fried chicken breast that’s also cooked well and sits on the same bed of vegetables. 

Sushi Ai’s strong suit lies in its ability to present food—the appearance of their dishes is absolutely gorgeous.  The sashimi comes on a mound of shaved carrots, looking bright, bountiful and beautifully inviting.  The salmon sashimi tastes fresh and rich, the way Atlantic salmon should taste.  The other sushi dishes come equally well-dressed; unfortunately, the dressing masks the lack of taste and distinction.  It appears that the dressing is enough to keep the customers coming as this small dining room (capacity ~30) is packed and the take out orders keep rolling through.  The food sure is impressive-looking—I wish it had the taste to go with it.

** /5

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