Toyo Sushi

Toyo Sushi
Cambie & 6th, Vancouver

Last week, we decided to try Toyo Sushi (formerly Arirang restaurant). Arirang closed down several years ago, and it was replaced by Toyo Sushi. I remembered that Mit & I did try it a long long time ago, and we found it to be pretty expensive. And thus Toyo Sushi was never in our list of restaurants to go to. Ehem..after so many years, we thought we should finally try it, and see if it could be our new favourite! We didn't forget to look at the reviews on the internet, to make sure we won't be disappointed.

Surprisingly enough, the prices are okay, affordable, and sometimes even considered cheap! Perhaps, when I went there with Mit a long time ago, I was still a poor student and therefore the price seem to be quiet pricey. Now that I have a permanent job, I guess I could be more lenient on what I spend for food. Afterall, food IS a necessity, right? Tee hee hee.

The service, as the reviews say, is very prompt and friendly. The servers were very attentive and quick to attend to our needs. Now, the food, is a totally different story. We were pleasantly surprised at the taste of the food as well as the quality of it (not to mention the price)!

We started off with agedashi tofu (a must-have in our dictionary). Oh, we ordered the spicy agedashi tofu, not the original one. One of the best tofu I've ever tried, the batter was crispy and the sauce was mouth-watering.

He ordered a yakiniku don...you know, Korean meets Japanese? LOL. It was good though :)
Very generous portion as well. However he didn't like the fact that it came with lots and lots of vegetables (especially the broccoli, which he hates with a passion).


I, on the other hand, had been craving for some yummy sushi. Philadelphia roll (or, what's listed as "Philly Roll" on their menu) is my favourite! Must..have..it, whenever it's available. If not available, then I would usually look for something similar, preferably something with cream cheese in it. Hohoho. Thank goodness for cream cheese. Philly Roll usually consists of avocado, smoked salmon, and some cream cheese. With regards to the ratio of each of those ingredients, I have no clue. I've eaten Philadelphia Rolls with 60% cream cheese, or one with 1% smoked salmon (this was a total rip off). Toyo's Philly Roll has a bit more kick to it because they include some red and yellow peppers in there for presentation (colourful) and for taste. Yum in the tum tum!!!!!


I contemplated about what to order for my 2nd dish. A gomae-salmon roll? (one of their "special" creations which cost about $8), or Magic Roll which cost like $3.50 I think. Hmm..let's see...$8 vs. $3, do I really need to tell you what I decided to order??
The Magic Roll was super awesome! It was packed with seafood meat, no rice. It taste great, lots of salmon and crab meat. Did I tell you there's no rice in the roll?


Overall, I was very satisfied with the visit and would definitely come back and try new things next time! Care to join us? :)