Ottawa’s best sushi reopens as takeout only

• Name + address: Shinka Sushi, 2900 Sheffield Rd. Unit 3

• Type of food: Japanese

• Appetizers: $6-$18

• Mains: $17.50-$26.50

• Sushi platters: $97-$500

• Diet: Fish, meat, vegan

• Wheelchair accessibility: Take-out/delivery only

• LCBO Licensed: No

• Website: Shinka Sushi Bar

Shinka Sushi has relaunched and is now in their new digs in an industrial area of Ottawa’s east end.

They now only provide delivery and takeaway but they can still claim to be providing amongst Ottawa’s finest Japanese cuisine.

Their prices continue to be rather high for Ottawa sushi but they make up for it in quality and the little details such as providing a proper sushi/sashimi soy for your fish. Sushi soy is seasoned and tends to be a little sweeter and milder than cooking soy. It’s a welcome touch.

Another key element in sushi preparation is the humidity at which the fish is stored. In Ontario raw fish needs to be frozen before it’s consumed and if you’ve had the experience of biting into partially frozen or wet fish, you know you never want that to happen again.

Shinka takes care to air the fish so that all surface moisture is absent leaving an appealing flesh to moisture ratio with better flavour and all round better eating.

From how the sashimi and maki rolls are cut you can see that their knives are kept professionally sharp at all times and this is valuable not just in terms of aesthetics, but it will give you a better textural experience.

The new style sashimi of salmon, sea bass and tuna was a pleasure dappled with gently fried garlic, tamago, cilantro sprouts, scallions and house sauce. The Hokkaido scallop (hotate) was as sweet and creamy as it should be and the yellowtail tuna (hamachi) was top tier.

The house salad was supremely fresh and crisp and I appreciated that it was cut with a view to making it easy to eat with chopsticks (hashi). Only the dressing failed to make a flavour entrance. It was there but I failed to detect anything much other than moisture.

In this particular instance, I learned that this meal was ideal for a convalescing body as it was nutritionally dense, low in calories and it elevated the mood. Oh yes, it was also damn delicious.