Greenish Sushi & Salad

Greenish Sushi & Salad

Portage Place

#206 - 350 Portage Ave

204-960-0618

euijuncha77@gmail.com

https://greenish2017.wordpress.com/

August, 2017
Updated July, 2020

"GREENISH offers delicious unique gourmet sushi, salad, and hand crafted drinks and specialty coffee, made using mostly organic, local and Fair Trade ingredients. Our sushi and salad are made fresh everyday and It is our goal to sell out (at a reasonable hour) so we don’t waste resources."

I like it already, and it only gets better from there.  Located on the south side of Portage Place (near the Portage Avenue overpass), this tiny restaurant has a fair storefront with a refrigerator and prepackaged items, mostly assorted sushi and salads.  If you choose to eat in, the dining room is small but bright with a large window overlooking Portage Avenue, the main part of Portage Place, and Air Canada Park.  If what's in the display case isn't for you, you can order off the menu and the chef will whip it up for you in moments.

I start with the salmon sashimi, which tastes deliciously lush and decadent.  The meat tastes so tender, it melts in your mouth without much effort.  Unlike many sushi houses, they don't skimp on the fish, giving you great bargain for your buck.

Witness the pic, where you can see the hefty pieces of salmon, beautifully orange.  What's not so easy to see is the bed of greens on which the salmon sits.  Instead of the ubiquitous plastic green leaf, you can an assortment of delicious vegetables that accompany the salmon wonderfully.  Included in this bed, you find lettuce, purple cabbage, spinach, arugula, cilantro, and a few other leaves that I can't quite identify.

What you also don't see is the wasabi:

The chef explains that this is the real wasabi, imported from Korea.  What you normally get with sushi isn't really wasabi; it's a paste of horseradish combined with mustard powder and food colouring.  What you see here is the real thing, cultivated from the wasabi plant.  This wasabi tastes milder and sweeter than the fake stuff, and goes perfectly with the fish.

In between dishes, you can cleanse the palette with the usual ginger, or you have the option of trying the pickled orange and onions.

To go with the rolls, Greenish offers a side of spicy mayo or a delicious cilantro puree.  In true sushi fashion, you do not get a side of wasabi because the chef builds the proper dosage into the roll already.

Peering at the California roll, you can see the real crab flakes, not the fake kani.  As an aside, kani comes from a the pulverising and reconstruction of numerous fish species.  Effectively, you can call the kani (or fish stick) the hotdog of the sea--nice!

Anyway, to go with the crab, you get huge chunks of avocado and only touch of cucumber to give the crunchy texture.  You're probably familiar with the California roll having huge chunks of cucumber, mostly because it's the least expensive ingredient.

To finish, I indulge into the chopped scallop roll, rich with just enough mayo to give substance and lots of scallop.  The only negative I can find is on the tempura bits, where they've been stored a bit too long and don't have much crunch left.  Aside from that, I pretty much enjoyed the perfect meal.

If sushi isn't your thing, they also offer a wide range of ramens.  Recently, I discovered Bibimap, which isn't on the written menu.  

As if the food isn't enough, the people here are ultra friendly and genuinely want you to experience their art.  They came to know me after just a couple of visits.  Now, after three years of seeing their faces, I'm has happy to see them as I am to eat their food.

As a bonus, look at the pretty bag you get!

Sushi is very popular now and you see Japanese restaurants blooming everywhere.  Sadly, there are lots of poor to average establishments trying to penetrate the market.  That's not what you find here.  Greenish makes some of the best sushi in the city.  You must try this.

This is an unbiased, free public service that I am happy to provide.  If you enjoy these reviews, please consider clicking on the accompanying ads.  This is the only compensation I receive. 

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