Sushi in Vancouver...

When I was a university student and only 19 years old, a friend took me to my first Japanese restaurant. I was a little worried at first and was too scared to eat anything that was raw so, my friend recommended "nabeyaki udon" to me.

I was very surprised...It was GREAT! From that day I was hooked on Japanese food. I was in love with it and I became a regular customer at that restaurant. After a few years, I finally got the courage to try RAW fish. I liked it as much as the cooked food. The only problem was that Japanese food in Vancouver was a little bit too expensive for me. (I was a poor student at the time!)

As school got more and more expensive, I could only go for sushi once a week or once every 2 weeks. Poor me ...

However, as the years passed, Japanese food in Vancouver gradually got more and more popular. (There was a "sushi boom".) Lots of new restaurants started to pop up here and there and eventually there were sushi shops everywhere.

A year or 2 before I came to Japan, my friends and I found a sushi shop called "Samurai Sushi". It was owned and run by Vietnemese sushi chefs. The fish there was not thinly sliced, it was CUT into chunks....like roast beef....

When I looked at the sushi....I thought "Where the hell is the rice?" (Can you find it?)

Even though it was huge, it was pretty tasty and it was cheap too. A fast food sushi restaurant. I guess it was like a MacSushi.

For example the salmon sushi and the tuna sushi that you see are about $1 each (about 85 yen).

And...Every year when I go back home in December, I meet Leo and we go for lunch at MacSushi. One day.... Some day.... let's go to Vancouver and try!