Let’s Eat: Yukihana Sushi

With Sushi, quality matters and Yukihana delivers!

Ever since Yukihana Sushi opened on Russell Street in Smiths Falls last month by the Chung family, the crowds and rave reviews haven’t stopped. My wife and I stopped in recently and like all those before us, we weren’t disappointed.

While I might not know much if anything about this Japanese cuisine (it was actually first served in China sometime around the 4^th or 5^th century BC), it does seem that when you’re serving sushi, there’s no way to hide or mask lesser quality ingredients or lack of preparation skills with too many overpowering spices or coatings. As a good portion of the plates, a sushi chef creates involve raw ingredients, you’ve got to start with the very best and treat every piece as if it were a culinary masterpiece. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of kitchen mastery in the Chung family, nor a lack of absolutely first-rate fish and seafood. Father Ryan, son John, and Ryan’s wife, Julie Jang make up the crack team that has decided to make Smiths Falls their home.

We tried one of the Sashimi platters to test out the flavours and textures of each type of fish and seafood offered on their own. Each piece was perfectly cut without any stray bones or fat or veining. Their appearance and presentation matched their taste; heavenly adventures for the pallet. If you’re a fan of sushi rolls, no worries, Yukihana has over 30 varieties, even including some non-meat options. John told me they tried making some in advance for use throughout the day, but they seemed to fly out in take-out packages or on dine-in plates as soon as they were ready. As a result, just about all of the choices on their menu are made to order. Thanks to Ryan’s knife skills, there’s very little wait-time between ordering and eating.

This is Ryan’s second restaurant, having owned one in Los Angeles before moving throughout the US and landing in Canada. Ryan, who is Korean, is also well versed in Korean and Chinese cuisine, but decided on sushi, because there wasn’t a dedicated restaurant serving this extremely popular menu in the area and Canadians seem to be in love with the dishes.

Their menu is large and includes combo and party plates (think of the praises you’ll get for bringing one of theirs to an office or home gathering), along with a long list of rolls, dragon rolls (where the outer coating is rice). They also have soups and salads and Tataki (where the meat is delicately seared), and even sushi pizza in a variety of flavours.

Yukihama Sushi is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm and 4:30 pm to 9:00 pm. They’re located at 6 Russell Street East in Smiths Falls with accessible entry. You can reach them to place a takeout order at 613-283-0699. They also offer a good number of tables for dine-in service.

This is an experience not to be missed.

Column by Brian Turner.