Lunch just keeps getting better and better. With Toronto Lunchtime Office Markets to look forward to and an infinite number of sushi bar lunch specials to tick off the list one by one, lunch is at its finest. I’ve always loved looking through sushi bar menus (100 items?! That should keep me occupied for awhile!), but ever since I started the Sushi Lunch Special series last month with Sushi Sky, I’ve been paying extra, careful attention to menus with the best lunch special variety and deals. I’ve even spent some afternoons in the last month just browsing take-out menus and doing online searches with The Food Network on tv in the background. Obsessed? I prefer to call it enthusiasism.
Over the past few weeks I’ve come across a handful of new sushi places (new to me, not new to the city) in North York and west Eglinton that I’m so excited to eventually try, thanks to the nice weather and my walking shoes that took me around different neighbourhoods in town. But I have to hand it to the online community for introducing me to unchartered territories and by online community, I mean the e-mails that flood my inbox every single day. Let it be known that I subscribe to almost every single collective buying site: Groupon, Living Social, Dealfind, Team Buy, you name it, I’ve probably subscribed to it. Regardless of whether or not I’m interested in anything I receive in my inbox, it’s an amazing resource. I know there are mixed feelings and opinions concerning the politics of doing business this way, but at the very least, these sites have really helped me get to know businesses I never would have been aware of otherwise.
Each time I see something I might be interested in revisiting in the future, I tuck the e-mail away in a special folder to review at a later date. Thanks to Dealfind, Sushi One caught my eye as a prospective place to check out. Thus, lunch at Sushi One has been a long time coming. A REALLY long time. Since LAST MARCH long time. I was shocked out of my pants when I went back to give the e-mail I had saved a quick once-over and saw the date of the e-mail: March 24, 2011. Good god. I know I take my sweet time getting to certain spots (it’s a big city!), but this is embarrassing. Oh well. I least I have a delicious sushi lunch to show you all now.
Sushi One, located on Yonge Street in North York just north of Sheppard Ave., is a fabulous sushi lunch spot. Not only are their lunch special prices enticing, their selection is to die for. We’re talking 10 sushi roll combinations, 12 Japanese rice and noodle options, and 6 special lunch combos. That’s 28 items alone and that’s not even scratching the surface of their regular dine-in menu. I thought Sushi Sky‘s lunch special deals couldn’t be beat but I was wrong. While I still stand by the lunch meal set I had (soup, salad, 12 rolls, and 2 salmon sashimi cakes) at Sushi Sky as being in the Top 5 best and The Sushi Shop as my absolute favourite spot for rolls, Sushi One’s selection and prices are out of this world (21 items ring in at only $6.50) and I would have to come here at least another 6 times just to try all the ones I’m in love with. My hit list includes the curry mushroom rice, curry tofu rice, mushroom udon in soup, the maki lunch bento, the salmon lover lunch, and the mushroom udon with sushi lunch. What I have for you all today: the simple, yet delicious, dynamite and avocado roll lunch special set.
Sushi One has 10 different roll combinations as part of their lunch special menu and what makes these sets so appealing is the price combined with amount of rolls. With the exception of one item, all rice, noodle, and roll meal sets in the lunch special menu are priced at $6.50. Half of Sushi Sky’s lunch menu comes in at $6.99 and Sushi on Bloor has theirs at the same price point, so $6.50 is ridiculously reasonable in the context of sushi. Furthermore, their roll sets come with 14 rolls as opposed to 12, which is the amount many and most places offer. The rolls at Sushi One aren’t the largest, mind you, (that award goes to Sushi on Bloor’s lunch rolls) but they’re delicious and of good quality so that’s what I take away from it.
Almost all their lunch specials include soup and salad (a few of the larger sets come with one or the other as opposed to both) and while I know salad is probably nothing to get to excited about, I love the salad that comes with sushi lunch specials. They’re always so fresh and crunchy and made with the yummiest mix of Thousand Island dressing and vinegar at most places. I know, I go out for sushi and I get excited about the salad! It’s a highlight worth mentioning though!
In terms of the rolls, the great thing about Sushi One’s rolls is that they aren’t overloaded with sushi rice. It’s a necessary component, yes, but it’s a turn-off when you’re given rolls that are disproportionately made with rice as opposed to filling. It’s the filling that you are primarily paying for and when you’re stiffed in that manner, it just doesn’t sit well. Their rolls were drizzled with a sweet sauce that gave the rolls a mix of sweet and savoury flavour and all the rolls were incredibly soft. It’s a great sushi spot and one of the best for lunch for more than one person because you can totally go crazy and mix and match for the purposes of sharing without blowing up your wallet. I am beyond excited to go back and inhale a bowl of curry mushroom rice or mushroom udon in the near future!
*****
Sushi One is located at 4924 Yonge Street in North York on the west side of Yonge, north of Elmhurst Ave., in between North York Centre and Sheppard subway stations. From Monday-Friday they are open at 11am and at 12 noon on weekends. Their lunch specials are served from 11am-4pm. You can view their website and menu here.
Ate by Ate 