Sushi In France

Tonight we had sushi. We started out with our usual English/French language exchange. It is usually at Book-in-Bar but they do German/French on the 4th Friday of the month, so we went to The Sisters Cafe by the Saint Roch church.

It was a smaller turnout but there was beer--I had a Leffe. Shrek and Cha-Cha (aka Chris and Caroline) came along with the usual characters--Alain, Karim, Cressida, Pam, Said, Laurent. Also 2 new people--a British guy and a Chinese girl. Caroline suggested sushi. So when Sisters closed up and we paid for our drinks, Elena, Caroline, Chris, Cressida and I headed to Nuni Ki Izakaya down the street from Saint Anne's church. I knew the location because we passed it several times on our TV purchase adventure.

It wasn't busy--being only 7pm. They didn't even have any customers when we went it. But they had reservations so they could seat us only if we thought we could be done by 9:30. No problemo. The prices are a bit steep by Vancouver standards. 4,50 euros for a Japanese beer--US$7 would get the large bottle in the US but only a small one here. Three pieces of maguro are 6,00 euro ($9), one tekka maki was 5,00 ($7.50). I got the 6 piece sushi moriawase for 14,90 euros ($25). It comes with miso soup and a salad. The sushi itself at Liberty on 15th in Seattle is $10. And Nuni Ki doubled up on the salmon--Liberty gives me 6 different on the 6 piece. The taste was good, but they have a pretty limited variety which makes sense given the market--no squid or octopus. Elena got vegetable tempura for 5,50 ($8). It was a huge plate. So tempura is the value dish. Their tempura doesn't use the flakes, so it looked a little funny to me. But it tasted good.

I showed the people at the table how to eat miso soup--drink right out of the bowl. If I hadn't warned them I had lived in Japan for 4 years, they might have thought I was a barbarian. ;-) I also told them, as I poured my beer, that in Japan, the only people who pour their own beer are pathetic losers. Chris shared his hot sake with us all. We all had a nice time.





In the end, we ended up paying 35,00 euros ($55) for Elena and I. Actually, that is not at all bad. When comparing prices, you have to take into account that the tax and tip is already added. So if I normally tip 15-20% $35 would be the total for a bill of $30. And the $30 is probably $28. So it's like $14 for each of us to get a final bill of $35. So it's really like comparing 14,00 ($21)--basically two $19 entrees and a $4 beer. A bit pricey, but not ridiculous.