If you’ve read the site, or followed my Instagram – my father calls it “too snarky” – you’ve probably seen me gush over the Toronto Sushi Market scene. I wrote about it here.
Missing from the list was Oroshi; I hadn’t tried it yet, and I’m not in the habit of blind recommendations. So this month, on a sojourn – that’s what us pretend smart people who failed the entrance exam to UCC call a “trip” – I met a friend in a Little Italy alleyway to finally experience the sushi market everyone in Toronto raves about.
There was only one small problem
Oroshi isn’t a sushi market. It’s a takeout sushiya with seats outside. Funny, because I would have bet my life it was a sushi market. I believe they call that “The Mandela Effect”?
If you’re not familiar, the best way to explain it is with American Pie 2. Bear with me.
When I first saw that cinematic classic – it’s absence from Criterion is shameful – one scene in particular stood out to young, impressionable me. No, not that one. Or that other one.
It’s the 60 second clip where the five buddies pile into a pickup truck and head to the lake for the summer. In the background, the pop punky tones of Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind. It seemed like the dream. So when I grew up, every time I drove north with my buddies to lake country, and climbed over the hill into Holland’s Marsh, on went Semi-Charmed Life. It was the only song on a burned CD that took 3 hours to finish. I was a loser, but life was easy.
Well, last month, I showed my one-year-old daughter the scene on YouTube (I’m teaching her the fine arts early). Stiffler shows up. The pick up truck leaves. Song hits.
But it wasn’t Semi-Charmed Life.
It was Fat Lip, by Sum 41. I was floored. She started crying. It was my first experience with the Mandela Effect.
Anyways, Oroshi isn’t a sushi market.
BTW – they did a mini reunion on TBS two weeks ago, and the clip has 100,000 views. Don’t tell me there’s not an appetite for #5.
Also this RT critic’s consensus is criminally wrong.
Lady, it’s this and Godfather Part II as the best sequels of all time, and I’m not sure what’s 1.
Where Oroshi really shines is with it’s fish
Part of what makes it special is the origin story. It apparently started as a fish wholesaler with a side of takeout. But the sushi because so popular that the business flipped; today, the internet tells me Toronto sushi chefs still get their fish from there, and the average person absolutely can pick up whole, half or blocks of fish (called saku). But Oroshi is first and foremost, a takeout sushiya that puts fish on a pedestal.
Dry-aging
They also dry-age their fish. That’s a fancy way of saying that they store their fish for a specified period at certain temperatures, exposing it to air which apparently allows the flavors to percolate.
Time is a good thing with sushi. There’s an entire book dedicated to the science of aging fish called The Art and Science of Sushi. I reviewed it here. It’s great. But if the written word isn’t your thing, listen to New York City Sushi Legend Naomichi Yasuda explain why WOW THAT FISH IS SO FRESH BRO isn’t actually a good thing.
The menu
You can go to Oroshi solo, but it’s really designed for groups. There are party trays and sets to order, and some benches outside for enjoyment.
Oroshi has a fairly standard rotation on offer – you can see the menu below – but the Omakase ostensibly changes depending on what’s in season.
We’ll look past the “shiromi” on the menu, which is a category of sushi (white fish), not a fish itself.
The prices are reasonable. $12 CAD for negitoro, and $16 CAD for what’s listed as tuna taku (I assume Torotaku?) is about as good as you’ll get in Toronto these days. I ordered the Omakase ($58), which included a temaki, tamago and 11 nigiri. This looked fantastic.
My bench partner got the Premium Sushi Set ($38). The main difference is size, and the lack of Chu Toro, Uni, Ika and a Tamago.
Where Oroshi falls down
I’m not sure what happened with the shari (rice); maybe this is a seafood-first sushiya. But sushi is about the harmony, and I found the rice noticeably difficult to get through. Tough to taste, and challenging to find any vinegar. If you’re new here, my taste buds suck. Blindfold me for a meal and I’d take off the blindfold and wave it like Jack Sparrow. So if I’m noticing an issue, something’s gone wrong. It was early in service also (Oroshi is open at 4:30, we went at 5:15). Not great.
A pantry inside Oroshi
So while I enjoyed the fish at Oroshi – it certainly looked great – if this great little experiment in boondoggling is going to have any value, it has to mirror what I tell people privately. And if someone reached out privately, I would say “go to Yuzuki 10 minutes away (40 minutes in Toronto traffic)”.
The damage
I originally thought Oroshi was worth a light recommendation, but as time has passed, I just can’t recommend it given the quality at sushi markets elsewhere in Toronto. Turns out rice matters.
Not Recommended.
