It turns out that going to Sunshine Coast is not a sure-fire way to evade Metro Vancouver's heat waves. After a short uphill hike from the coast to Sunnycrest Mall, I felt like a penguin dying of dehydration in a hot desert. Maybe I'm just not as fit as I should be. Either way, I ended up engaging in the one sport you can keep doing without getting hot—swimming—in order to burn off some of the calories from lunch.
Located in the core of Sechelt, Sushi Bar 5517 is a Korean-operated sushi restaurant peculiarly named after its street number. Whereas Sushi Bar Nagomi has an attractive interior, Sushi Bar 5517 has an attractive exterior and looks like it would fit perfectly in a ski resort. The menu is a modern one with creative appetizers and an abundance of special rolls that have spicy mayonnaise in them.
Tuna Goma-ae - A
Having had an excellent tuna poke dish at Sushi Bar Nagomi, I decided to order something similar at Sushi Bar 5517—the Tuna Goma-ae. The fact that sake was listed as one of the ingredients made it all the more attractive to me. Although the sake was only very faintly noticeable, this goma-ae did not disappoint. The tuna was very fresh, and the soy sauce dressing had a slight but appealing tanginess.
Toro Nigiri - B+
Unagi Nigiri - B+
Amaebi Nigiri - B+
The rice in the nigiri was packed a little too tightly, but overall, the nigiri was still decent. The toro was moderately soft and had a nice creamy flavour. The unagi (eel) was soft and smoky and came in a generous cut. The Amaebi Nigiri (spot prawn) was a little weak in flavour due to an overage of rice, but the prawn had an enjoyable light chew.
Lollipop Scallop - B
One appetizer that looked particularly interesting on the menu was the Lollipop Scallop, which consisted of deep-fried scallop wrapped in zucchini and eggplant with spicy mayonnaise. The very juicy vegetables were the best part of this dish. However, the dish needed a bit more teriyaki sauce, and the scallops were overdone. If they replaced the scallop with more zucchini, this might have been an excellent Lollipop Zucchini dish.
Tornado Roll - A-
The Tornado Roll came with 2 tempura prawns, avocado, cucumber, tuna, salmon, sweet spicy mayonnaise, and BBQ sauce. This was a small but neatly constructed roll. Excellent soft tuna and pleasantly sweet sockeye salmon complemented the crispy tempura prawns inside. The sauces were a bit on the sweeter side, but the conservative drizzle of spicy mayonnaise did not overwhelm any of the flavours.
Overall, the food was enjoyable, and the prices were reasonable given the food quality and the location of the restaurant. However, the service was rather poor. My tea was not refilled at any point during my visit, and when I got up to pay the bill and leave, the waitress just looked at me without saying anything. I felt unwanted and unwelcome at the restaurant. It is too bad that the service ruined what would otherwise have been a solid experience at Sushi Bar 5517.
No comments:
Post a Comment