Mixed feelings about eatery
It’s a lovely Thursday evening and my husband and I are visiting Calgary’s latest sushi option in the downtown core Koto Sushi Lounge. Located on Fourth Avenue S.W. the tastefully decorated space features clean lines with modern lantern lighting and sleek lacquered tables.
Greeted by our bubbly and friendly server we take a spot in a booth near the window and begin to explore a menu that offers a selection of unique and traditional dishes.
The menu features a mix of sushi and Japanese dishes plus a few western-type dishes such as steak and lobster ($28) and shrimp cocktail ($9). We decide to start with the shrimp cocktail in hopes that the twist of wasabi will be a home run.
Unfortunately it’s not. The seven shrimp are of the run-of-the-mill shrimp-ring variety and the tomato-wasabi dipping sauce is just plain old cocktail sauce — we detect no trace of wasabi.
Trying another starter we get the Asian sweet chili tofu ($8). As the name implies the dish features deep-fried tofu topped with a sticky hot sauce. We like it. The tofu is crisp without being overcooked and the peppy sauce is sweet.
Alongside our starters my husband has an order of Koto’s organic miso soup ($2) — it’s delicious with a nice balance of tofu seaweed and an aromatic broth.
When making our sushi selections we let Koto’s recommendations (featured on the side of the menu) guide a few of our decisions. One recommendation is the crab paradise roll (8 pieces $12.50).
Topped with a generous amount of bright orange roe it’s stunning to behold. The taste unfortunately doesn’t match the presentation. It’s not terrible but it’s not exciting either. Combining imitation crab meat with mayo prawn tempura tobiko mayo aioli wasabi and seaweed powder the only ingredients I pick up on are the mayo prawn and mild mango. One would hope that a $12 roll would deliver a little something more.
Next up we try the deluxe spicy tuna crunchy roll ($12.50) and the story is pretty much the same. Topped with a moderately spicy sesame miso sauce and jalapeno peppers I’m looking forward to some fiery bites. But like the previous roll I find it tame in flavour. Overall this roll is missing the spice and the crunch.
Where Koto does shine is in their basic sushi and simple rolls. The smoked salmon sushi ($2.75) is generous and fresh. The same goes for the negi toro roll ($5.50) where the combination of fresh tuna and green onion is simple and tasty.
My feelings on Koto Sushi Lounge are mixed. I like the space friendly service and a few dishes but I would avoid the “flashy” rolls and stick to the basics.
