Edmontons Best Sushi- Sushi Wasabi! My Vote for best Salmon Sashimi

     Sushi Wasabi. How can I impart upon you the greatness of this place? I think the only real way to understand why this place is incredibly tasty is for you to go and eat there. However, if you're unable to do that, let me begin with my favourite dish at Sushi Wasabi - their Salmon Sashimi. Salmon sashimi is slices of raw salmon and should not to be confused with salmon sushi which is a slice of raw salmon on a small pillow of rice seasoned with vinegar. It's believed that salmon sashimi is served the way it is (without rice) so that the person eating can taste the subtleties of the meat without being distracted by anything else.

     I can't seem to explain it but their salmon sashimi tastes so fresh! By far, the freshest tasting salmon compared to any other Alberta based Japanese restaurant I've tried so far. Try it without any soya sauce and you'll see what I mean. The nice thick slice of salmon is firm and as you bite, a slight sweetness emerges; or is that the taste of freshness? One order of salmon sashimi may seem to be slightly pricier than other restaurants, but the feeling you'll have afterwards is simply irreplaceable. You really do gain an experience in the subtleties and sometimes not-so subtle differences in raw salmon taste and texture.

Salmon sashimi - 1 full order

There are also a number of starters that you can choose from at Sushi Wasabi. One of the ones that my friend recommended was the Spinach Gomae: typically made from steamed or boiled spinach, sesame paste & of course mixed with a bit of soya sauce.

Flash fried salmon with green onions, daikon in ponzu sauce
- the ponzu sauce itself is supposed to be a bit sour so don't be put off by the taste.

Maki with tempura smelt and avocado

Maki with salmon tuna, mushroom, avocado and roe on outside

2 pieces of yellowtail (left) and 2 pieces of chopchop (right)

Maki with tempura shrimp and avocado

     There are probably a number of items on their menu, but these are the ones that I order again and again - especially the salmon sashimi. Sushi Wasabi serves up traditional Japanese food and they do it very very well! Their quality, taste and attentive service is what keeps everyone going back. Which is why it is imperative that you make reservations at this restaurant. It may seem that they have a nondescript location in a strip mall beside the Sunterra market (in Lendrum area), but this place is busy! Even if you only have two people in your party make a reservation to avoid disappointment.

Sushi Wasabi 
5714 111 Street
(780) 433-0533
Tue-Thu 5pm-9pm; Fri-Sat 5pm-9:30pm; Sun 5pm-8:30pm
closed Mondays

Emperor's Palace Edmonton - no go for dim sum or dinner!

     Seeing that it was Chinese New Year's recently (where celebrations continue for the entire month of February) I'm thinking that some people in Edmonton will want to check out some dim sum places. There is a new restaurant that opened recently in Edmonton's Chinatown called Emperor's Palace. Formerly occupied by Shun Fat grocery store before a fire in the butcher shop closed the entire space, the renovated area is an expansive place. With its impressive decorations, a huge and colourful photo album menu, and rumours of dim sum chefs imported from Vancouver, Emperor's Palace, for all accounts and purposes, looks like a great place to have dinner or dim sum. Sadly, this is not the case.

      We visited Emperor's Palace twice now, our first time was for dinner and the second visit was for New Year's Day Dim sum. I think the biggest sign that this was not a place to dine at was when we first walked in for dinner. There were a number of large tables of 10+ that were seated that evening, but no one was eating anything. I'm certain, it wasn't because everyone had just sat down. Plus, the restaurant was eerily quiet-which is extremely unusual for any good Chinese restaurant. Patrons were talking to one another, but since there was nothing to eat, no conversations revolved around the food. Instead, all you could hear was sighing, patrons asking waiters when their food was ready, and silence as patrons sat...waiting. One large table had sat down, waited twenty to thirty minutes before any waiting staff attended them and then left because the staff took so long to give them their drinks and tea. The food we had that night was decent, but for the mere fact that the first dish (a simple cold cut dish) took such a long time to arrive we weren't certain we would try it again.

standard dish for start of meal - this took over 1 hour to arrive!

Enoki mushrooms and veggie: not exceptionally amazing.
A bit on the salty side. 

fried rice with XO sauce - there was none to be found!

     However, we did eat there again on New Year's Day as Urban China was packed! We headed to Emperor's Palace where there was a fair number of seats available. Again, this was probably the sign we should have heeded. Once again service was slow, there were only a few dim sum carts with few of the signature dim sum dishes, and portions were incredibly small. The other rather annoying fact was that waiters constantly tried to sell you the same dishes within a very short period of time!

One of the dishes they tried to sell us again and again: bbq pork

Siu mai: a bit on the small side & slightly salty

Ha gaw - This had a particularly thick skin
and shrimp inside had an interesting taste

Their one redeeming point: They didn't have a variety of
dim sum dishes (it was only 12pm), so they agreed
to make this steamed bean curd wrap for us.

     All in all, if you're hoping to eat some good solid dim sum in Edmonton I would highly suggest another restaurant other than Emperor's Palace. You may be impressed with its size and grandeur, but you'll be rather disappointed with their quality of food service. After dining here more than three times, I'm thinking you'll definitely be better off waiting and eating at Urban China. Perhaps in the future, they will improve, only time will tell.


Emperor's Palace
10638 100 St
Edmonton, AB
(780) 757-2288