Truly a one of a kind experience, as we indulged in a 23 course Kyushu-style sushi Omakase dinner where we were enriched by the story of each course enjoying the flavours throughout the journey. Lawrence and I watched the chefs team lead by Chef Hiroshi guide us through each of the courses. Each one was memorable, he was so proud of the ingredients he uses in each of his dishes.

I learned a lot about Kyushu-style sushi during the evening through each of the courses. There’s no soy dipping sauce or wasabi with their style of sushi as they rely on the marinades, aging, and complementary garnishes. They do provide ginger to cleanse the palette between courses.

Yuki Aida is the owner of Sushi Mahana she is a passionate woman who envisioned how she wanted to create the best omakase fine dining experiences in a Michelinesque style.

We began our tasting adventure with the Surinagashi to tempt the palate, followed by the Kan Birame (flounder) with sudachi, the Tenshi No Ebi (paradise prawn) with egg yolk powder, the Akaika (squid) with ume plum, the Aji (horse mackerel) with basil and my favourite Gindara Sablefish with onion and soy.

The next round featured the outstanding Torotaku Monaka with pickled radish, Hachibiki (ruby fish) with shiso flower, the delicious Kan Buri (winter Yellowtail) with sea grape, the Isaki (Grunt fish) with kiku flower, the delicious Sakura masu (cherry salmon) with yuzu mustard, and the Shimesaba (cured mackerel) with sesame also a favourite.

On to the third round of courses, the delicious Unagi (fresh water eel) with uni rice, Akami (bluefin tuna) with sansho pepper, the delicious Chutoro (med fatty part of bluefin tuna) with garlic, the Ohtoro with nori, yuzu peel; and the outstanding Wagyu A5 beef.

The last round of dishes was the Uni, Kinmedai, the delicious Anago (seawater eel) with sudachi zest, the torched Tamago (egg omelet) and the Miso soup to finish before the last course which was dessert.

For dessert, we enjoyed the Hochicha Ice cream with fruits.

They do two seatings per night with 10 seats facing the sushi bar. Chef Hiroshi and his team of chefs are more than happy to explain the details and ingredients used, the service by the servers went above and beyond throughout the dinner. Make sure to make an advance reservation as they don’t accept walkins.

Sushi Mahana is located at 175 West 3rd Ave in North Vancouver. You can follow them on instagram @sushimahana

By: Richard Wolak