It’s funny how things work out. I just had a great sushi meal at Sushi Wasabi, another south side gem, but was also originally debating checking out Yokozuna at the time. Well, fast forward two days, the stars were aligned as we were right in the area and decided to try out Yokozuna’s on a late Tuesday evening. “Late” meaning 8pm…gah, Edmonton, quit sucking. This little strip mall area has some surprisingly good spots (Thai Valley Grill, Pho Anh, the EPL).
Yokozuna’s sign is hilariously generic from the outside. They should really update it – it would help attract waay more people driving by. But for those in the know, already know Yokozuna is legit as they come, as it is run by a Japanese family. It was our first time eating here and we were pleasantly surprised. The place is nicely renovated with a sleek, modern look with wooden furnishings, good lighting and ample privacy. There were only a few tables occupied so we didn’t have to wait long to get our food. Potentially our wait to order may have been longer (debatable). No biggie though as it let us peruse the menu to its fullest. We had a very friendly waitress who gave provide excellent service (minus almost spilling green tea all over her but that luckily didn’t happen. Close call though).
Green tea ($1.00 each) – we were brought a tea press full of green tea. Love when they do that so that you don’t have to keep on asking for re-fills.
Yokzuna garlic tuna ($17.50)
This was off the charts good. Great appetizer to start our meal off. The tataki was made up of albacore tuna, spinach, onion and garlic ponzu. The sauce was ahmaaaazing. The tuna had that melt in your mouth texture and seriously, spinach on the bottom was a bonus/genius idea.
Ohzeki ($35.00)
Monster plate of delicious, fresh sashimi. Beautifully executed, properly cut and look at the size of these pieces. Those are some quality, thick pieces. You get 5 pieces each of salmon and tuna, 4 scallops, 6 hokkigai (surf clam), 3 tai (red snapper), 3 tako (octopus), 2 saba (mackeral) and 2 ebi (shrimp). That’s 30 pieces for $35.00. Very, very reasonable especially considering it’s Edmonton. Works out to $1.17 a piece! DEAL.
Spicy salmon roll ($8.50), rainbow roll ($12.00), chop chop maki ($6.00) and hamachi (yellow tail) nigiri ($5.25)
The spicy salmon roll consisted of salmon, cucumber and sesame while the rainbow roll had tempura shrimp, lettuce, masago, salmon, tuna, tai, ebi and avocado. The spicy salmon was actually spicy. We ordered the rainbow roll because it was apparently the “best” in town, but for us, it was pretty ordinary. Not that anything was wrong with it but it could have used a sauce or something to make it stand out.
The nigiri comes in pairs (2 pieces per order) so we tried out the hamachi, which was absolutely delicious. This might be one of my favourite types to order. There was a lot of sushi on that plate (8 pieces for the rolls and 6 pieces for the smaller makis). We ended up having to take a dozen home (lucky me!).
We were very impressed with Yokozuna. Another south side gem to add on to the “go again” list. Best deal I’ve found so far in the city for sashimi (and fresh, generous slices to boot).
Yokozuna Japanese Restaurant
http://www.yokozunarestaurant.ca/
4121 – 106 Street
Edmonton, AB
(780) 431-1508
CHERRY BOB-OMBS 