REGULAR AIRDROPS FUEL FISH-FOCUSED JAPANESE SPOT
Restaurant hits mark with sushi, but needs improvement elsewhere
Local sourcing is the biggest trend of the decade, but Tetsu Sushi Bar’s Satoshi Makise eagerly awaits air deliveries (several times a week) from the famous Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. Other sushi chefs do as well, preferring fish processed by tried and true Japanese traditions, including the way fish are killed and bled.
The Japanese method of ikejime involves driving a spike into the back of the brain for a quick, and if you can believe it, relaxed death. It prevents lactic acid from souring the meat, keeps the fish fresher longer and drives the blood (incubator of bacteria and source of fishy smell) to the gut cavity for better flavour and colour. (Hidekazu Tojo of Tojo’s uses local seafood as much as possible, but works with fishers who perform ikejime in a different way, cutting the major blood vessel under the gill cover, draining blood and cutting the spinal cord at the tail end.)
That charming bit of fishmongering aside, the sushi and sashimi at the tiny Tetsu in the West End is very good. Makise posts the interesting arrivals from Tsukiji on Facebook and on a chalkboard; it could be kama toro, the fatty gill flesh of tuna (only two pieces per fish), kinmedai (golden eye sea bream), shimaaji (striped horse
mackerel), iwashi (Japanese sardine, bigger than European varieties), sanma (Pacific saury, an autumn favourite in Japan), or edobai ( butter fish).
Makise moved here from Osaka in 2006 and set to work in Japanese restaurants. He started at Bay Sushi on Seymour, then moved to Yoshi on Denman (now closed), Shiro on Cambie and then spent seven years at Kiriri Japanese Cuisine and Sushi Bar in Richmond.
“The chef at Yoshi’s used to work at a famous restaurant in Japan and had a lot of knowledge,” he says. “The Kiriri, the chef taught me knife skills and he is still a friend, like my brother.”
We arrived at Tetsu early enough to score one of the four tables (others after us were out of luck). Two servers tended to four tables and three seats at the sushi bar. We got the indifferent one who spoke very little English, so we were happy when the other stopped by and enthusiastically (even joyfully) answered questions, making up for otherwise lacklustre service.
Miso soup had soft-edged, slightly sweet depth. Yamaimo salad (mountain potato salad, $7) could have slimed us, as mountain pota- toes can, but chef had cut them into crisp batons, tossed them in sour pickled plum sauce and served it over greens with asparagus and tomato. It was refreshing.
The sashimi (urchin, salmon and yellowtail toro, $3.75, $2.75 and $3 each) were excellent; we saw the blue fin tuna on the menu board and wished sushi chefs would back off from serving the various species of blue fin tuna that are on “vulnerable” and “endangered” lists.
Aburi (flame-torched) prawn sushi ($2.75 each) honoured the prawn, and a barbecue unagi maki roll (a special) was delicious.
The specials board featured interesting dishes such as uni ika shooters (what?) and kinmedai, tai, king salmon or shimaji head appetizers. The only way to call the last item pretty would be to say that, done right, fish heads are pretty doggone delicious.
Makise says Tetsu is a sushi restaurant, but there are a lot of other choices: foie gras done aburi style, noodles (I tried cold soba noodles and can’t say it was a standout), as well as cooked fish dishes such as squid with soy, sake and ginger, and a black cod marinated in saikyo miso. And there are donburi dishes, including one with teriyaki foie gras over premium rice.
Matcha ice cream with sweet red beans might not be to everyone’s taste, but I quite like the somewhat
savoury dessert.
The drinks department needs an overhaul. One red and one white wine (B.C.) are available only by the bottle, as is the sake (except for a hot sake, available in 125 or 250 mL). And the beers? Standardissue Japanese beers and Kokanee. Too bad. The list shouts mediocre restaurant, and this place is really a gem in the sushi department.