In Korea, cheap Japanese food/rolls are usually horrible quality or bad imitations of westernized Japanese rolls (think spicy tuna made with gochujang or lots or hard rice with nothing in it!). If you want great sushi at a nicer place, it will cost you an arm and a leg. It seemed like there was no between or decent options for good and cheap rolls - until Sushi Town from Vancouver, opened up their 4th location here in Seoul!
If you grew up in Vancouver, eating Japanese food is probably just as common as grabbing a burger or picking up some Chinese food. The pacific ocean being right at the edge of this beautiful west coast city, fresh fish, especially BC salmon, is easily and readily available. This allows for many Japanese restaurants in Vancouver to serve fresh sashimi, sushi and rolls at a super cheap price for what you get. It's nice that this option opened up this year so we can get our roll fix in Seoul!
Two of my favourite rolls - Spicy Tuna and House Roll. House Roll is a mouthful, but it has a bit of everything in it - just how I like it! It's like a California roll with salmon, tuna, tomago cucumbers with tobiko on top.
Spicy Tuna Roll that tastes right. Finally - no more spicy tuna rolls made with gochujang or other weird substitutions!
Agadashi Tofu as a starter - mini cubes of deep fried tofu in a sweet light soy sauce, topped with bonito flakes.
We didn't order this, but they just gave it to us for service (free) anyways! It was the spicy tuna roll that's made with cooked tuna. Why would I get my tuna cooked in a roll?
We complained about it, but it was still good so we pretty much ate all of it anyways as well, but I still wouldn't order this again!
Fastastic Roll - They have a section of specialty rolls which are combinations that are a bit more collaborative of their ingredients. Usually, you either love the combos or you don't. I loved this particular one - shrimp tempura, crab, avocado toped with spicy tuna and tempura flakes with chilli mayo.
Fantastic Roll - So pretty much, a dynamite/california/spicy tuna roll all in one. This combination worked really well for me.
I also love Caterpillar Roll (california roll with unagi, avocado) and Rainbow Roll (california roll with assorted sashimi on top) and Spider Roll (soft shell crab roll), BC Roll (salmon skin, cucumbers) and Philly Roll (smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumbers). I'm not sure if those names are universal, but I miss and love all of those rolls!
Dragon Roll - Eel on top of California roll which had tons of well-riped avocado in it. The unagi isn't quite the same bbq'd style as I like. I don't know where to get good eel in Korea, but the places I've had it - it was a different style.
Alaskan Roll - Smoked salmon on top of California roll. I like this, minus the sauce they had on it. It was too much sauce, but otherwise it was good.
Awesome Roll - was not so awesome. Way too much bonita flakes and couldn't even see/taste what was inside. I wouldn't order this one again.
Toro belly sashimi. Was good to share.
I used to prefer maguro sashimi (tuna), but these days I prefer salmon sashimi. It just seems to be more fresh in general in most places. Nothing will beat the freshness of the tuna bowl I ate at 5am in Japan at the Tsukiji Market! At Sushi Town, I also preferred the thick cuts of the salmon. The tuna wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable. I love Japanese style sashimi! I am not much of a Korean sashimi (hwe) fan...I don't know if I'm just not as used to it, but it's just too thin and chewy for me when I am expecting a melt-in-my-mouth piece of Japanese sashimi.
Fried Smelt appy - these ones were chock full of eggs!
Chicken Karage - fried chicken, but Korean/Japanese home-made style. Nice flavouring on the chicken.
The fourth location of Sushi Town...this one bring in Shinsa/Gangnam Area in Seoul! Yay! The other 3 are in my home city - I don't think the North Vancouver location even existed while I was still living there!
Some Vancouver oppa's decided to open up this location last year in Seoul. I heard that their friends own the building, so they got a great deal on the rent. That's how they are able to have their rolls for such low prices! Apparently they all just wanted to do this together with their friends, instead of worry about making money off of the business....so it's win-win in my books! I heard they even flew in the soy sauce and certain other ingredients from Vancouver itself! (Although it originally may have even come from this side of the world anyways!)
The rolls range from 6000won-9000won, with some being maybe 12 000won? Average prices is under 10, 000won and the portions are very generous as well! Service has been a tad on the slow side each time I've gone, but I was in no rush so it was okay.
What? Vancouver style Japanese sushi rolls, sashimi and sushi at really cheap prices!
Who? All ages, anyone who is missing N. American style rolls. Nothing fancy, just cheap and good!
When? Everyday, 11am-10:30pm.
Parking? Yes, valet.
Cards Accepted? Yes
Where? 서울 강남구 신사동 628-23. 628-23 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Call: 02-541-5410
Directions: The closest subway stop is Sinsa, exit 8 - but it is quite a walk from there. Maybe about 20-25 minutes? If you hop in a cab it should take about 5 minutes. You just go straight forward out of the way you came out of the subway, turn left at DoSanGongWon 4-way (도산공원사거리 - DoSan Park 4-way) where there is a Mercedes-Benz dealership at the corner. You will see Sushi Town one block in on your left, on the 3rd floor of a le coq sportif store.