A seat at the sushi bar often inadvertently means dinner and a show, but at this new Vancouver restaurant, every seat is at the bar, and the food steals the show.
Oshi Nori recently made its long-awaited debut at 1055 Mainland St in Yaletown, after several months of unexpected delays thanks to city permitting and paperwork.
The sushi hand roll bar is the venture of local restaurateur Paulo Lyra, whose Eleven 11 Ventures Group is behind several established local food businesses, including Craffles, which began as a stall at the Lonsdale Quay market and now includes a buzzy downtown Vancouver location.
The Brazilian native has been keen to get the doors open to Oshi Nori, which is a showcase of approachable sushi bar items prepared with skill and hand-delivered to each guest, paired with warm hospitality.
The narrow Yaletown restaurant space features an anchor high-top U-shaped sushi bar, giving everyone a view of the food being made. Customers are given a warm hand towel to start their dining experience, and order using a pencil to mark a menu sheet. A separate menu outlines Oshi Nori's extensive in-house cocktail creations (melding Brazilian, Japanese, and familiar components) along with beer, sake, wine, and soft drinks.
Oshi Nori original hand rolls are exciting menu options
The heart of the menu is the hand rolls, which come in two varieties: basic and Oshi Nori Originals. Diners can customize their line-up of eats or may wish to choose curated sets. So far, in its soft opening phase, Oshi Nori's team is finding their house special roll sets of four or five pieces each are the most popular.
The five-piece Oshi Nori hand roll set is $36 and features salmon with ikura; negitoro with unagi sauce and crispy shallots; spicy lobster with tobiko and bonito; aburi salmon; and unagi with tamago.
The "Originals" are built similarly to oversized nigiri sushi, with the addition of toppings that enhance the flavours of the seafood. Then, unlike the basic hand rolls that are cylindrical, Oshi Nori wraps these in nori sheets that are folded corner-to-corner, more like a taco. The result is a series of exciting bites that feature additional ingredients without relying on being over-the-top or straying too far from sushi's more purist roots.
In addition to the broad selection of hand rolls, Oshi Nori's food menu includes appetizers (miso soup, sunomono), donburi (seafood and rice bowls), sashimi, and aburi sushi pieces. Add-ons include caviar, uni, shiso leaf, and avocado. The restaurant has two simple, classic desserts: ice cream mochi and matcha creme brulee.
The cocktails at Oshi Nori are also a lot of fun and reflect the versatility of Japanese ingredients like lychee, shiso, and yuzu. The Cherry Blossom is a pretty-in-pink gin-based drink with lychee, yuzu, and sake. It is refreshing and fruity without being overly sweet or too much to enjoy against the delicate flavours of the sushi.
Oshi Nori is open for lunch and dinner, and guests can opt to make it a quick bite or linger longer over food and drinks. Follow Oshi Nori on Instagram: @eatoshinori.
Video: Trying Oshi Nori, a new sushi hand roll bar in Vancouver
@forkingawesomevia If one of your favourite things to do in Vancouver is try new restaurants, check out this sushi hand roll bar that just opened! I tried some of their specialty hand rolls and I can’t wait to go back to try more! 🍣#forkingawesome #vancouverbc #creatorsearchinsights #sushi ♬ original sound - patra_b
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