Honestly, after the turkey, mashed potato, squash, stuffing, gravy, cheesecake marathon eating, the last thing I want is another heavy meal. When I’m looking to lighten things up, there’s but one thing I crave, sushi. I’m not talking the Americanized rolls full of mayo and greasy tempura’d fish – not that those aren’t freaking delicious sometimes – but rather the real deal, raw fish. 

Being hard core on the sushi for some time now, we even rock the sashimi. For those of you not down with sushi, let me school you for a minute. It’s quite simple actually. Sushi can generally be grouped into a few categories. Sashimi means slices of raw fish usually eaten with a touch of wasabi and soy sauce. Nigiri is raw fish or meat over a log of rice (weird description I know). Lastly, maki is rice and some combination of fish, meat or vegetables rolled up with nori, a sheet of seaweed, then sliced into bite sized rounds. Though most folks I know prefer maki, I’m all about the raw.

There are loads of sushi joints in our small city but when we need our raw fish fix, we hit up Wasabi House. One of the newer sushi spots, Wasabi House even did the unexpected this year and dethroned the long time champ of The Coast’s Best of Food Readers’ Choice Awards to win Best Sushi. It’s clear we’re not their only fans. Perhaps it’s the extremely fresh fish or the huge menu or the mostly great service (minus that one bonehead server that I think no longer works there) or the great prices or perhaps it’s all about their popular happy hour. From 9 pm to close daily, a special happy hour menu gets you cheap appys and selected maki rolls at 2 for $9.95 or three for $13.95. They’re pretty much giving the stuff away though I know all you readers in other parts of Canada and the US most likely enjoy those awesome prices on the regular. Damn you all. 

Being situated smack dab in university territory on Quinpool Rd, I’d wager the students helped to bring home this victory. With a small dining room where you’re seated very close to your neighbours, you’ll no doubt end up sitting next to some of these very students, a given if you go during happy hour. And sometimes you’ll just find yourself seated beside some of the dumbest students you’ve ever encountered. The kind where you need to bite your tongue in fear of completely calling them out on their ridiculous comments. Like “how do sushi connoisseurs eat this?” By this, I obviously mean one of the most ridiculous rolls I’ve ever laid eyes on, a giant maki roll concoction piled high with crab and literally smothered in mayo. It looked disgusting. I’m pretty sure any sushi connoisseur out there isn’t eating that shit. Like ever. At least it made for a great story.

Whether you’re looking for fusion rolls or a bowl of noodles or even straight up sashimi, Wasabi House has you covered. I highly recommend the chirashi, a whole plate of sashimi with rice that even comes with soup and salad. It’s way cheaper than it’s counter part at other sushi joints and incredibly filling. Paired with two happy hour maki rolls, it fills both Brent and I for crazy cheap. Add to that a 10% discount when paying with cash and it become pretty clear why it’s the best in the city. 

The chefs are even known to send over an extra roll to each table. It’s just one more reason to love Wasabi House. Not that I needed one. Taking care of their customers and offering the best sushi around is just how they roll at Wasabi House. See what I did there? God damn I’m clever.

The post DINE | Wasabi House, sushi at its best appeared first on eathalifax.

Though it may not seem like it, I’ve lived a rarther sheltered food life.  I do, after all, live on the East Coast. We may have loads of amazing food here but sometimes the variety of ethnic food is, shall we say, limited. Without a local ramen joint for years, I had no idea of it’s complexity or the many ramen varieties let alone what even constituted “ramen”.

Then I found that video. Sometimes you just need things simplified.

Armed with my new found ramen knowledge, it was finally time to get in on the action. With but one ramen resto in the city, it was high time to pay Truly Tasty Ramen & Dumplings a visit.

Unlike a lot of other ethnic restaurants in the city with their dusty rose carpets and sad food photo adorned walls, Truly Tasty is quite nice. Modern decor and minimalist design sets a simple yet comfy atmosphere. It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. The menu is similarly minimal with but a few bowls of ramen, some dumplings, and a couple Japanese appies. It being our first time, might as well go with the House Special ramen. Wait a minute, you’re out of pork belly? Excuse me while I go cry in the bathroom. BBQ pork will just have to suffice.

Within minutes our steaming bowls arrived accompanied by sides of bean sprouts in sesame oil, crispy fried garlic, and chile oil. Now, like I said, I don’t know a damn thing about ramen. So in depth descriptions and comparisons to the great noodle bowls of the world ain’t happening. What I can tell you is that I loved it. The broth was super flavourful, the stuff that long simmering’s made of. The pork was melt in your mouth tender, possessing it’s own slightly sweet, almost 5 spice flavour. Some of Mr. Ramen’s friends were also present, namely corn, green onions, and a soft boiled egg. And we all know how I feel about #putaneggonit. There was also tree fungus and pickled ginger which I pretty much enjoy on just about anything. Missing however was the infamous fishcake, Ms. Naruto. Damn, I really wanted to meet her.  Regardless, I slurped up every last bite, even adding all the sides to create a more savoury, spicy broth. 

Word on the street is that a second ramen joint Tako Ramen and Sushi has just opened in the suburbian land of ethnic food, Clayton Park. With the ramen obsession in full effect, you bet I’ll be making the trek soon.

Let’s call it research but I also watched the ramen movie of all ramen movies, Tampopo. Set in Japan in the 80′s, it follows a truck driver who stops at a small town noodle shop then vows to help the widow-run shop become the best in town. Cuz it’s the trucker you trust to teach you the ways of the ramen right?! You’ve going to wanna head to the nearest video store and rent this one folks. Filled with completely random scenes exploring the love of food (and boy do I mean RANDOM),  it truly speaks to the art of ramen. Big thanks to an instagram friend @chezwu for suggesting it.

Then there’s the whole Mind of a Chef series with season 1 featuring David Chang which I could easily watch on repeat.  Jumped right on down that ramen rabbit hole and I’m never looking back.

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