Strength: Convenient location, relatively affordable.
Weakness: Not authentic Japanese food.
Sushi Mura is a Korean operated “Japanese Restaurant”. I don’t know about you, but I despise fake cuisines. It’s okay you’re doing fusion, but don’t label yourself as “Japanese Restaurant”. There is usually line up at this place, so obviously not a lot of people share my belief in authenticity. In this restaurant, you get to enjoy Korean Japanese food while listening to staff yelling in Korean. Sushi Mura is located at the corner of Oak Street and 49th Avenue.
Other Koreapanese Restaurant
- Sushi California (2.5 Stars)
- Kamamarui Ramen and Don (3 Stars)
Located in a plaza with limited parking
Sushi Mura is located in a small plaza. This pocket of commercial plaza among the residential area has an A&W, a pizza joint, and a Vietnamese Pho franchise. There are limited surface parking. Luckily, there are street parking around.
Interior space decorated with wood
The interior space has a lot of dark colored wood grain. There is adequate level of lighting to make the entire restaurant very bright. You can see the sushi bar, but there is no seat in front. There is no way to have interaction with the sushi chef. You cannot enjoy sushi within the critical time they are meant to be enjoyed.
Separate area in the front for waiting patrons
Sushi Mura has dedicated waiting area. This is usually full. You can often see people waiting in front of the restaurant as well.
Gyoza tastes like Chinese dumplings
The gyoza comes in 6. There is nothing outstanding, and it is not particularly bad. The filling is pork and cabbage. The only concern I had is the gyoza taste like Chinese dumpling.
A picture to show relative size of Gyoza.
Double Dragon Roll
The double dragon roll is basically avocado roll topped with baked eel and teriyaki sauce. A lot of the flavour comes from the sauce so I didn’t need to use the wasabi or soy sauce.
Calamari Crush
Calamari Crunch roll is 8 piece of octopus roll with avocado. Deep fried vermicelli buried the rolls for crispy texture. This roll is very crunchy. The medium sized octopus is sturdy to the bite.
Unevenly cut sushi roll
The octopus avocado rolls are laid down on the side. In this view, you can clearly see the size of each piece are really different. This gives me the impression that this roll was carelessly made.
Largely cut roll that barely fit in my mouth
Some of the pieces are really large. I tried not to spill any deep fried vermicelli by taking each piece in one bite. It becomes quite difficult to eat.
604 Food Critic Assessment
I do enjoy the food here for its taste. However, when a someone call themselves a “Japanese Restaurant” I critique them using Japanese Restaurant standard. With this set of criteria, Sushi Mura is not good restaurant. They did not carry any of the Japanese culture, finesse, or belief. Sushi Mura feels like an operation of some Korean guys jumping on the “Japanese Food” band wagon to make some quick cash.
Menu:
How to get in touch
- Phone: (604) 428-1145
- Address: 6485 Oak St, Vancouver
