Blue Collar Connoisseur: Bon Sushi 4.35/5

With yet another craving for Japanese food, we decided to check out a small sushi restaurant located in Oak Bay called Bon Sushi. At first glance, we weren’t sure what exactly to expect. The establishment sat approximately 20 guests, and that is a generous estimate. The décor and tables were basic, and the place had a sort of “mom and pop” feel to it.

Once entering we were greeted by friendly staff and seated at a somewhat cramped table. It took a little while before our beverages were served (there seemed to be some confusion amongst the servers). The menu was a pleasant surprise - they served different fair from typical Japanese restaurants in Victoria. There were the usual sushi rolls, but there were also deep fried rolls and combinations. We decided to order the combination for 3 to 4 diners.

First came the fish (possibly an Italian mackerel) carpaccio, served in oil and topped with herbs and roasted garlic. The fish was fresh, but lacked much natural flavour. Some acid and more roasted garlic could have helped elevate this dish.

Next came a seafood salad, which consisted of crab meat, shrimp, fresh lettuce and other vegetables. The vinaigrette had a nice contrast between sour and savoury/umami attributed to the use of sesame seed oil. This was the first time we’ve seen the use of real Dungeness crab meat in a salad as well. With generous amounts of seafood, this was definitely one of the nicest salads we’ve had in a Japanese restaurant.

The assortment of sushi in the combination had some classics as well as some rolls we haven’t tried before. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the sushi, and the flavours of the new rolls. Unfortunately, we don’t remember the names of the rolls, but one of them had a good spicey heat to it, as well as crisp tempura shrimp in it. The other was incredibly creamy and rich with avocados, shrimp, and Japanese mayo sauce.

Last, we had teriyaki chicken on rice. Well, almost - the cook forgot to put chicken in our teriyaki. After explaining to one of the servers, we were brought a dish of chicken on the side. While there was nothing really stunning about this chicken teriyaki, there wasn’t anything bad about it either. Overall, it was a tasty dish.

Bon Sushi is definitely worth another visit as it not only has the classics, they also serve a variety of unique flavour combinations.