Episode #36: Sango

Port Moody, $$$ (Higher Priced)
www.facebook.com/sangores511

Sango is a Japanese fusion restaurant located in Suter Brook Village (across the street from Newport Village), one of the latest additions to the city of Port Moody. The restaurant is quite large, has a great ambience and is suitable for large parties. If you are familiar with Kami Sushi, you may notice that the menus of the two restaurants are remarkably similar.

Wanting to try sample a variety of nigiri, I ordered the combo called "8 piece sushi with California roll", which contained ... well, the name says it all:

Moving on to describe the different pieces of sushi:

Tuna Nigiri - B+

Salmon Nigiri - A-

Tai Nigiri - B+

Ebi Nigiri - B

The nigiri was generally fresh and neatly cut. The Tuna Nigiri was generous with a thick cut. It had just a slight fishy aftertaste, but was otherwise alright. The Salmon Nigiri had a fresh, sweet, buttery taste with a nice smooth sheen. The Tai Nigiri delivered in terms of taste and was a bit on the chewy side, but for tai, it had a smooth texture. They used a rather large shrimp for the Ebi Nigiri which packed a significant burst of flavour, but it would be nice if it was softer.

California Roll - B-

I felt like California rolls were not their specialty. Maybe I should have stuck with the fusion items since they advertise themselves as a Japanese fusion restaurant. The mayonnaise in the California roll was rather dry and the avocado was a touch overripe, but at least the roll itself held together well. A little more crab meat would also have been appreciated.

After I finished the combo, I got the Miso Roll:

Miso Roll - B+

The Miso Roll consisted of shrimp tempura, eel, sockeye salmon, special sauce (most likely a light teriyaki sauce with some miso mixed in). The highlight of the roll was the sockeye salmon, which was fresh and had an appealing, smooth texture. The taste of the shrimp was noticeable and the batter had a light crunch for some of the pieces. The crab meat was a bit dry (same issue as above) and the unagi was sliced thin with some bony sections. Overall, there was a decent attempt to create harmony with all the different flavours.

The restaurant wasn't very busy during my visit (I walked it at about 5 p.m.), so I received friendly and attentive service throughout my stay. In fact, the servers came to me three times before I was ready to order, though I'll admit that I'm quite slow at ordering. The regular Japanese items were decent, but not spectacular, so it felt like I was paying some premium for the ambience. I was craving salmon during this visit, but perhaps I should return and try some of their fusion items, which is allegedly their specialty.