Akai Koi Sushi — Restaurant in Göteborgs Stad

Sushi. I have talked about it already a few times. The point stays: it is surprisingly easy to get it vegan, and if the basics are right, e.g. quality of rice and craftmanship of the chef, it will be an extremely satisfying result. Akai Koi Sushi was a bit of a random find when trying to get something “light and Asian” after an evening class ending around 9pm on a Monday night. Sweden tends to be difficult with food after 9pm, but luckily we managed to get some food here before bedtime.

Entering Akai Koi Sushi is like an instant flashback to my time in Japan. The atmosphere is stunning, beautifully arranged and it makes you feel welcome from the get-go. The place is tiny, but that only helps the atmosphere. Located at Parkgatan, right at the main car traffic street through Gothenburg, it is not the most inviting place to walk to. So the nice atmosphere inside makes up for it. After the first “wow” from the atmosphere settles, the menu shows quite the variety with different types of sushi and rolls, also clearly marked as “vegan”, which is always a big plus in my world. But even some sides/appetisers such as Edamame and warm dishes inspired by Korea and Japan with Bibimbap or Gyoza. And on top of that they offer some Japanese beers (also alcohol free). So, it is more of a whole composition rather than just a sushi shack.

We went for the Vegan rolls with mango, avocado and cucumber, as well as Edamame. In the meantime, we received Miso soup that really deserves the name. An umami-filled taste of Miso really gets you going. A short wait later, we received the Edamame. Interestingly, they were cold and not steamed as you would normally receive, but they still worked well with the small pinch of sea salt on top.

Shortly thereafter, the Sushi rolls arrived on plates that are just a tad too small for it all. The rolls were generally generous in size and difficult to fit in your mouth in one bite, but that’s alright sometimes.

As for the taste, the composition is on point. The rice is juicy, the nori clearly fresh, and the ingredients inside of high quality. Good mango, good avocado, good sushi. With a price tag of just 109 SEK, this feels almost like a steal. It was just topped off with the friendliness of the personnel.

Akai Koi Sushi is a little hidden gem right in the middle of Gothenburg. Attention to detail, love for the food and cheap prices will definitely make you happy to come here. Definitely...

It's a tiny restaurant with only 3 tables and from the outside it doesn't look very special. If you don't know it's there you would probably not even see it. But once you enter it feels like a journey to Japan. The two ladies who run the place offer free water and free miso soup to their waiting customers. And you can feel that they really care for the people who enter their restaurant. Then while doing takeaway orders for a foodora driver who came back like a boomerang (so there must have been tons of orders) they prepared the meals for the people in the shop. And let me tell you the food was excellent. We had the free miso soup which was a nice easy starter. After that we got our seeweed salad which was garnished with sesame seeds and was a perfect balance of tastes. Then we had the Yakitori skewers which had the softest nicest meat and a Sushi mix which also had a nice selection of sushi and rolls with fresh ingredients, soft fish and great taste. If you want to find something negative it is that it is a tiny place which can feel stuffed when a few people come in to pick up orders and to get to the restroom you have to walk through their prep area. I didn't mind but more fancy people might. But if you feel like having a glimpse of Japan while being in Gothenburg...

Cute little restaurant with a couple of tables. Friendly and warm staff with prompt service. Pictured is the nigiri combination of 5 salmon nigiri and 5 flambéed salmon nigiri for 165 kr. Miso soup is complementary. The flambéed salmon nigiri was nicely smoky, but missed that extra touch of charring. This is difficult for many sushi restaurants, and other places around town are much, much worse in this aspect. The ginger was noticeably brighter and fresher than in other local sushi restaurants. I felt the soy sauce at the table was too mild and a bit too sweet. All-in-all, this food was of good value and remarkably better than the expectations set by other sushi locations in Gothenburg. I recommend giving this place a try, would like to give 4.5 stars. Will be back to try...