Itosugi Kappo Cuisine — Restaurant in Vancouver

For this review, if I wanted to, I could use only three words to describe the incredible value and delightful Omakase lunch we just had at this intimate mother & son, hole-in-the-wall sushi-ya.......WOW! WOW! and WOW!

‘ One of the toughest seats to secure in town ’, this narrative was unanimously acknowledged by all of the patrons seated around the sushi counter this lunchtime. The exquisite Omakase offerings delivered by the talented, self-taught chef were indeed worthy of rave responses, praise and accolades by foodies!!

At ONLY $55, our offering consisted of three refined Otsumami, nine, individually dressed and served Nigiri pieces, soup and home-made ice cream dessert. The prelude began with the chef hand grinding fresh Wasabi roots on a shark skin template grader! An amazing treat for the price! In comparison to our Toronto's own ‘ZEN‘, the latter charges an additional $15 for this delicacy option! In short, in terms of price, quality and value, we have nothing close to this here in Toronto! Sigh!

Our Otsumami starter featured: BC spotted prawns sashimi, pickled cucumber and organic heirloom Cherry Tomatoes Sunomono ( perfect balance of ingredients and seasoning ) Chawanmushi with Fish Maw and BC Wild Salmon Ikura ( delicate, intriguing use of fish maw and egg custard perfection ) Aburi fried Squid rolls stuffed with fish paste ( Smokey, chewy & tasty bites )

Nigiri pieces used the following premium and fresh ingredients for the Neta: West coast ocean caught Grouper, Shima-Aji, Wild Alaskan King Salmon, Blue Fin Akami and Chu-Toro, Horse Clam, Anago, Black Sea-bass, Uni. The seasoning/sauce glaze used on the Neta was tasty and harmonious. The Shari was seasoned quite nicely with predominantly red vinegar though the texture could be a touch firmer.

A rare and interesting herbal ingredient ‘ Mugwort ‘ was used for one of the home-made ice creams, the other being ‘ Miso ‘!

The impeccable service was attentive, friendly, gracious and polite!

In conclusion, this neighborhood gem, IMHO, incorporated all the successful criteria needed for multiple re-visits! That is, if one can get a...

We tried this omakase experience for dinner. Prior to arriving, I asked the restaurant if they can accommodate a no raw seafood or meat diet as I am pregnant and was told they could accommodate. When we arrived, the main chef confirmed that I will have a no raw diet. After the first course comes out, I was served a raw seafood dish that I could not eat. The chef saw that I wasn’t eating and registered that he had forgotten - he came and asked if I would like a substitute. Obviously, yes, because that was what I was told and he also took the dish away so my husband didn’t get to have it either. The promised substitute never came. The substitutes for two other dishes were also poor - one was a sandwich uni in a fried leaf sandwich; I received a portion of a fried mushroom. For the sushi, I received unagi with rice with crab. Now in principle, this would be an acceptable substitute except it was the worst BBQ eel I’ve ever had! Either the eel from Nova Scotia is really tough and lean or they way overcooked it and didn’t bother to make enough sauce. As for the quality of the food, there were some hits but also misses, in particular the nigiri sushi. We overheard the chef say that his counterpart is the sushi master and he preferred preparing the cooked food - well that was evident. It was passable. Lastly, execution was sloppy - their ability to execute meticulously and expertly that is characteristic and expected of omakase at this price point was just not there. They should not be offering omakase for $75 because they couldn’t provide the experience. Relatedly, they present as offering a good portion of cooked food but half the menu was nigiri so for me, it was just a few appies plus unagi rice. They should have advised it would not be a comparably enjoyable experience if I cannot have raw food. They were friendly though and I...

Tried their $55 omakase menu, overall seafood was fresh and its worth it for the price, but definitely needs to improve on the flavour, some pieces tasted bland such as the halibut and rockfish, needed to ask for wasabi and soy sauce to add to the flavour.

I understand this place is very new and it’s only run by two chefs and one server so there needs to be more practice in their service. When I went in they only asked if we were doing the Kappo or Omakase, I said Omakase and was seated at the bar as reserved. However, no menu was provided, and I had to ask to be served a drink (water or tea). Not everybody looks on the website so I had no idea what the omakase would consist of. Also based on what’s listed on the website for omakase, there were two items that were not served and instead was replaced with something else, which should’ve been mentioned by the chefs but nobody said anything. I understand omakase is based on what’s fresh for the day but it would’ve been good to let people be aware of the changes. Also usually omakase restaurants serve the dessert last, but this place serves miso soup last. I don’t mind that but just not what I’m used to with omakase.

The group that was seated at other side of the bar had arrived later than 5:30pm, but they were consistently served the food earlier than us which I thought was very odd.

Overall would I come and try this place again? For the price point yes, I would try the $88 kappo menu next time.

Also I don’t know if it’s sanitation issues but we were constantly trying to swat fruit flies away from our dishes, it was getting annoying. I hope that won’t happen to other patrons as my friend actually accidentally ended up swatting a fly which landed dead on her fish. She didn’t end up saying anything but I think that’s a problem this restaurant...