Start 2023 with some delicious, fresh seafood from Hamilton’s Sushi Azuki

Back in the fall of 2020, owners (a father and son duo), Erick Kim and Hansoup Kim opened their first Sushi Azuki location on Locke Street (184 Locke St. S.). After a few years of operating in Hamilton, the community shared they wanted another location on the east side of the city, and by December 2022, Erick and Hansoup opened up their second location on Ottawa Street. We chatted with Erick and asked why they decided on the Locke and Ottawa locations.

Delving down local neighbourhoods, we saw that both Locke and Ottawa Streets, despite having unique and amazing characters within Hamilton, lacked their own neighbourhood sushi places," Erick said. Not to mention both at Locke Street and Ottawa Street, the existence of closely knit networks of small businesses and food establishments really drew us in, too."

Running a good sushi restaurant is not only about great service and delicious food, fish is such a delicate ingredient and it takes a special dedication and knowledge in the sushi industry to ensure every single piece of sushi that is sold is the best quality. The Kims have definitely done that.

My dad ran a full-service Japanese restaurant back in 2002 to 2004," Erick said. It was called Kiya Japanese Restaurant, located in Scarborough close to the Pacific Mall, one of the largest Asian shopping malls in Canada. We were doing OK with Kiya after the initial opening period. But when the SARS epidemic hit Scarborough in 2003, it made things very difficult for us as a business. Eventually, we ended up shutting down our restaurant in 2004," Erick said.

My dad ended up working for a seafood supply company for 15-plus years afterwards. Coincidentally, when he quit the supply company to open Sushi Azuki, that same company ended up supplying us with the fresh seafood we use every day. My dad also used to moonlight across various Japanese restaurants in Toronto to keep his skill up as a sushi chef, and also to stay in touch with ongoing cuisine trends."

While Erick did not come from a restaurant background, he's been working in tech as well as the real estate industry. Using his experiences in those industries, he was able to work with his dad closely to bring modern technology, like an online ordering system and current trends of sushi together to be offered in Hamilton.

Here is what I recommend to order:

Appetizers

Miso Soup: A delicious soup made up of bonito flakes (dried fish flakes), dried kelp (dried seaweed), mushrooms and miso paste (fermented soybeans). It is a very warming soup that is full of umami. A note, many of Sushi Azuki's main courses come with a side of miso soup.

Edamame: Edamame is a type of soybean that is usually steamed and seasoned with a bit of salt. Very simple but very delicious and a healthy snack. Generally, when you order edamame from a restaurant, it comes with full bean pods, so you will just pop the beans out of the pod and discard the pods since they are too tough to consume.

Wakame Salad: Probably one of my favourite dishes when ordering Japanese food, while it may not be for everyone, I highly recommend you give it a try if you haven't had it before. Wakame salad is a seaweed salad that has been dressed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame oil and some spices. I love how refreshing and crunchy this dish is.

Mains and Dessert

Ottawa Street Sushi: This comes with salmon sushi (5 pcs), salmon avocado roll (6 pcs), and miso soup.

Locke Street Sushi: This comes with California rolls (6 pcs), assorted sushi (5 pcs) and miso soup as well.

These sushi entrees make a great lunch or a dinner for one since it is a nice combination of a few items from their menu.

Poke Bowl: They also have a small selection of poke bowls on their menu including salmon, tuna, and sashimi bowls. If you are looking for something without raw fish, they also have a tempura bowl which includes two tempura shrimp along with vegetables and rice. And if you are looking for a vegetarian option, they also have a veggie poke bowl that has mixed vegetables served with rice and a sauce of your choice.

Sashimi: Since Sushi Azuki has really fresh and tasty fish, their sashimi selection is always a win. You can also get one of my favourite menu items - the chirashi don. This is basically a rice bowl served with a selection of sashimi. Chirashi in Japanese translates to scattered," so this is a bowl with a scattered selection of raw fish.

Platters: Sushi Azuki also serves large party platters for their sushi and sashimi for all your party needs.

Vegetarian options: You will be happy to know that Sushi Azuki serves a very large selection of vegetarian sushi rolls that are filled with asparagus, sweet potatoes and other tasty vegetables.

Desserts and drinks: Although the dessert and drink menus are small, it is nice that Sushi Azuki offers a few options for desserts and drinks. They have Daifuku mochis which are made out of rice starch and filled with a sweet red bean paste. For drinks, they serve Ramune sodas which is a very popular Japanese soda brand.

You really cannot go wrong with any item you order from Sushi Azuki. Give them a try when your next sushi craving hits. Sushi Azuki is located at 184 Locke St. S. as well as 209 Ottawa St. N. You can see their full menu online and order online as well here: https://www.sushiazuki.ca/ Dishes range from $1.45 to $104.95.

Joyce Leung is a food writer and blogger who lives in Hamilton. Find her teaching Asian cooking classes around the city when she is not dining out and trying all the delicious restaurants of Hamilton. Joyce will not write about any organizations she has a separate business relationship with. You can reach her at joyce@joyceofcooking.com