Sushi Umi had its grand opening in the Wellington West Village during the Easter weekend of 2009. Eager to try a new restaurant, Don and I happened to be one of its first customers. Although the chef did not have all his supplies at the time, we were still impressed with our dinner. Since then, we have had numerous delicious meals and continue to be impressed by the consistent quality and presentation of each dish.

Just last month, Sushi Umi celebrated its one year anniversary. As we had vowed to return to mark this special occasion, we decided to order a similar meal for dinner from one year ago. However, we could not resist trying some appetizers as well.

Appetizers
For our starters, we ordered the yakitori ($3.95) and a plate of four gyozas ($3.95)

Yakitori
The yakitori dish consists of two skewers of grilled chicken (dark meat) and zucchini drizzled in terriyaki sauce. It was sweet, yet savory.


Gyoza
In-house made and freshly deep-fried, these beef dumplings were delicate. A small dipping bowl of rice wine vinegar made a nice accompaniment for the gyoza, providing brightness.

Mains
In the Sushi & Sashimi section of the menu, Sushi Umi offers seven choices. For his main, Don selected the Umi combo ($15.95).

Umi Combo
The Umi Combo consists of six pieces California rolls (imitation crab and avocado) and six pieces of nigiri. According to the menu, the accompanying nigiri should be tuna, salmon, red snapper ("tai"), shrimp ("ebi"), mackerel ("saba"), and surf clam ("hokki"). Good California rolls in Don's experience are loosely packed, but just hold together. Its sea weed paper should not spiral into the center of the roll and the avocado should be fresh and ripe. He enjoyed his California rolls, popping them into his mouth, cleansing his palate with the pickled ginger before moving onto the nigiri. For nigiri, Don likes the rice beds to be loosely packed, so they fall apart in the mouth. The fish should be judiciously cut, every piece looking like it was cut with an economy of knife strokes. Don remarked the chef must have had a large number of orders, given some of the uneven cuts of fish, but he nonetheless remarked Sushi Umi serves decent sushi. He has had some really poor sushi recently.

As for me, I had the Salmon Terriyaki bento box ($14.95) for dinner.

Miso soup with Salmon Bento order

Salmon Terriyaki Bento
At Sushi Umi, all bento boxes are served with miso soup, salad, rice, two gyoza, and two pieces of California rolls. The salad (iceberg lettuce, shredded carrot, sweet tomato, and several slices of English cucumber) was made fresh to order. A squeeze bottle of ginger dressing was also provided for the salad. As for my large piece of salmon, it was perfectly cooked with the centre slightly pink. It was flavourful, moist, and tender. Unlike many sushi places, Sushi Umi serves Japanese short grain rice for bento box orders. Japanese short grain rice is sticky, with a hint of sweetness.

As a surprise, the chef gifted us a special dish of thinly sliced spice seared tuna.

Chef's surprise

As usual, dinner was a delightful affair at Sushi Umi. The food is always fresh and consistent, making it a favourite among locals here in Hintonburg and Wellington West. Whether you choose to dine in or have take-out, you will not be disappointed. Here's to another successful year to Sushi Umi!

Total: $43.84 (after taxes, before tip)

Particulars:
Sushi Umi
1311 Wellington St. W
(613) 724-2488

More after the jump...

Sometime after yesterday's workday ended, I noticed that the twitter account belonging to the former CJOH, Ottawa's local branch of CTV, was asking for suggestions for cheap places to eat in town.

ctvottawa Jun 16, 12:57 PM
CTV Ottawa is looking for cheap places to eat. We'll share our findings tonight at 6. Share your tips now!

ctvottawa Jun 16, 02:52 PM
Now, you can recommend your top choices for cheap eats to other viewers on our website... www.ctvottawa.ca. We'll have a full report at 6.

I quickly cobbled together an e-mail and submitted a handful of mine, including establishment names, addresses, what to buy, and links to the corresponding blog post on foodiePrints.

Several hours later, I discovered the e-mail had been posted verbatim to the CTVOttawa website. Here's a screen capture for posterity:

foodiePrint on CTV
Today, I was sent a note of thanks for my suggestions.

ctvottawa Jun 17, 10:37 AM
@foodiePrints Yes! Thank you for your suggestions!

Personally, I think it's pretty cool to have links to foodiePrints on one of the city's news station's websites.

Hopefully, CTVOttawa will get more suggestions. I have another. Sushi Umi on Wellington Street has started serving a $10 lunch special that runs from 11:00 am until 3:00 pm. It isn't restricted to weekdays either as my better half and I discovered on Sunday.

The special changes from week to week. Here is the one we caught:

Lunch Special Signage
Consisting of 6 classic California roll pieces, galbi, salad with sesame dressing, 2 gyozas (fried dumplings), and a small mound of rice, the special is a great value.

Here's what it looks like served:

Lunch Special

Galbi
The galbi, also known to be spelled kalbi, is actually the name of a traditional Korean barbecue dish, consisting of one short rib whose meat is sliced into a long ribbon. When ordering it in a Japanese restaurant, the dish consists of cross cut short ribs that are glazed with a teriyaki sauce on a flat top or grill. Having had both, I can tell you they are markedly different, but both, enjoyable dishes.

What I was served was a bento box, containing freshly steamed Japanese rice (soft and sticky), a fresh salad with a great sesame citrus dressing, two freshly fried pork gyozas (more than likely made in-house), 6 beautifully made classic California rolls (sprinkled with black sesame seeds), and a pile of short ribs. Everything was delicious. I especially enjoyed the substitution of dark sesame seeds over light with my Cali rolls. They looked great and tasted just slightly of caramel.

That said, the lunch special is very filling.

Since Jenn generally dislikes maki or nigiri sushi, she ordered something off the menu: a fried udon noodle dish.

Fried Udon Dish
It came out beautifully. The chicken was wonderfully cooked, tender and sweetly sauced. The vegetables, crunchy, but not raw. The noodles, not very oily. The shrimp, tender and tasty. She thoroughly enjoyed her meal.

Along with her dish, she also ordered a tempura appetizer

Tempura
I found it greasy, but otherwise crispy and well done. It consisted of 2 shrimp, one onion ring, one piece of zucchini, and 4 slices of sweet potato.

Since Jenn insisted on buying, I have no idea how much her noodle dish or appetizer cost.

Mine: $10 before taxes or tip.

I should note that during our meal, one of the cooks from the Ottawa Bagel Shop, next door, dropped by for a "special" to go. He seemed like a regular, greeting the chef/owner warmly. Perhaps the special is a good deal to someone working in the culinary industry as well.

Update: Here's a pic of Sushi Umi's sidewalk sandwich board, advertising an earlier week's $10 lunch at Sushi Umi

Another $10 Lunch Special

Particulars
Sushi Umi
1311 Wellington Street W.
(613)724-2488

More after the jump...