You’re already familiar with the usual sushi drill: rice and raw fish with seaweed and maybe a vegetable or two, like cucumber or avocado. While we are definitely not saying that classic rolls aren’t delicious — who doesn’t get a little excited when you see a completely out-of-the-blue combo on the menu?
We got the chance to try out a dinner chock full of surprising toppings at Goro + Gun’s Omakase Sushi Experience with Chef Tomo Mitsuno. These were the unexpected additions that we still haven’t stopped thinking about.
Jalapeño Salsa
Tubasu Nigiri with Jalapeno Salsa
Salsa may feel like an ingredient destined for your nachos and tacos. Fresh, delicious and with a little bit of a kick, this Mexican-inspired ingredient actually adds the perfect twist of flavour to sushi’s more gentle palette. With this topping, you’ll be able to put away the wasabi and soy sauce all in one go.
Garlic Chips
Saba Bou Sushi Style with Oba Leaf and Garlic Chip
Many Asian dishes are garlic-heavy, but we hardly ever see this ingredient in Japanese dishes. We especially don’t normally see it in sushi. A thinly cut, fried slice of garlic on top of sushi is unusual, and hardly seems to make sense — the crispy texture gives a nice crunch to the soft texture, though. This topping works great with delicate fish like a fatty tuna, but also with intense fish, like a vinegar marinated mackerel.
Roasted Tomato
Chinook Salmon Nigiri with Konbu, Roasted Tomato and Red Onion
Out of the veggies we’re used to seeing in rolls, tomato doesn’t make the list, even less so roasted tomato. We loved this topping on our nigiri because the softness meshed perfectly with the sushi, but the cooked vegetable added an unexpectedly sweet and delicious taste. We are full supporters of more roasted tomato on sushi.
Brie Cheese
Unagi Nigiri with Brie Cheese Roasted Tomato, Unagi Sauce and Sansyo Pepper
Has anyone ever seen cheese of any variety on top of sushi? Adding dairy to rice and fish just doesn’t strike us as a good idea, but Chef Tomo made us believers. Brie is super diverse by definition, taste great on its own, with fruit, with vegetables, anything really. So the real question is, why hasn’t someone thought of this combination earlier? Combine this with the tomato, and you’re in for one killer roll.
Yuzu Pepper
Blue Fin Tuna Nigiri with Soy and Yuzu Pepper
This one might only be unexpected because we’ve never heard of it. Yuzu is a super tangy citrus fruit, that is a little sweet but very tart and sour. Combine it with chili peppers and let it ferment, and you’ll get yuzu pepper, one of the most bizarre, yet delicious combinations around. This ingredient takes on a flavour that resembles wasabi a little bit, with a bit more punch. Even the tiniest bit (as you can see in the picture) can seriously liven up a piece of sushi.
Delight in these toppings and Chef Tomo’s culinary brilliance by booking an Omakase Sushi Experience at Goro + Gun here. You’ll have a one-of-a-kind dinner laden with extremely fresh sushi and cool insight from one of the few chefs in North America that are certified in the safe preparation of deadly blowfish (fugu).
Goro + Gun, +15 Level Scotia Centre, goroandgun.ca
Have a hankering for tater tots? We found the city’s best, here.
By Michelle Pijanowski
