Matsuzushi: Hidden Gem or Overly Hyped?

Deluxe Chirashi Donburi ($18 CAD)

Omakase, お任せ or you can also refer it as the "I'll leave it up to you" set. Leave it up to who? Absolutely not you and I, but you usually leave the selection of your plates on the chef where they choose the freshest seafood/ ingredients to serve.

And it usually costs about $50 or more in Vancouver to get one decent set of Omakase.

A $30-value Omakase set?

Yep, that's right you heard me! We heard about a very famous & hyped $30 Omakase set from Matsuzushi, and we've decided to pay the restaurant a visit over the weekend to see what's the hype was all about. We arrived at Matsuzushi on a Saturday morning around 11:30 a.m. and the place seems to only be opened for those who've reserved for a spot. They opened right around the same time, and it was already packed with crowds and families waiting to order and eat away. Because the restaurant was operated and run by just one chef and I believe his wife, the wait time for food and services were a little slow especially when the place was fully seated.

Not only did I want to get the most out of their menu set, I also wanted to try the most variety of sashimi in one set of order (I was definitely a little greedy hahah). Because (1) spending a full $30 for lunch on a normal setting for just 12 pieces of Nigiri 🍣 seemed to be just a little over-priced, and (2) I also like to take control of what I get when visiting a new restaurant, I ended up making a very difficult choice (it most definitely was another first world problem) of forgoing the food bloggers/ reviewers' recommendation, and getting their Deluxe Chirashi Donburi.

The Deluxe Chirashi Donburi was charged for about $18, and it was actually still a little more expensive than other Chirashi bowl I've had around town (Average pricing was around $15 for one decent bowl). This Deluxe Chirashi Donburi came with about 11 different types of seafood (I totally counted after it came out because I wanted to compare that with the Omakase set hahah), a few pieces of Tamago (Japanese pan fried eggs), and a full bed of sushi rice.

In very honest term, I was actually fairly disappointed in the sashimi maybe because I went in with too high of an expectation, and they also weren't the freshest seafood I've ever had in Vancouver. Being a huge salmon lover, I also found the salmon sashimi a little too thin - maybe they weren't in season? If I had to pick the best item(s) in the bowl, it'd probably be the two pieces of Tamago (sweet eggs) and the bed of very flavourful sushi rice. I would actually prefer having one full bed of Tamago on my bed of sushi rice than raw seafood. You never know though, maybe their Omakase would be a lot better in quality than the Chirashi bowl? 12 pieces of Omakase Nigiri vs 12 pieces in the Chirashi bowl - Someone would probably have to give it another try to know the difference 🤔 🤔 p.s. I would probably not recommend getting their Teriyaki Chicken rice bowl or udon bowl - it was a little too plain - I kind of do like my Teriyaki with some sprouts and veg hahahah I was not a traditional eater at all.