Cheap Eat of the Week: Yuzu’s oyster shooter
By Gizelle Lau
The oyster shooter (Image: Gizelle Lau)
Opened in 2008, Yuzu Sushi and Sake Bar on Adelaide has become a name synonymous with great sushi in the heart of downtown Toronto. After all, it’s not always possible to spend three hours over a dinner at Hashimoto or drop a hundred bucks on the omakase at Sushi Kaji (not to mention the drive out to the west end).
Yet despite its location along club row, Yuzu has stood the test of time (and a recession, so that’s got to count for something). Things are sure to pick up even more as the Shangri-La opens up just around the corner. Owned by the same people behind Japango, one of the signature dishes of the family is the oyster shooter.
Far from the tacky shooters of our time at college pubs, the oyster shooter seems to have originated, according to legend, from the California west coast. In the mid to late 1800s, the story alludes to a miner who ordered oysters with the fixings: ketchup, horseradish, vinegar, Worcestershire and a whiskey cocktail. Putting it all together in a goblet, he named it an oyster cocktail. Since then, dozens of iterations of oyster shooters — with hot sauce, vodka, lemon juice, bacon, tomatoes and more — have appeared on menus.
Yuzu’s oyster shooter starts with a fresh oyster: silky, with bright flavour. Next is a raw quail egg with a beautifully deep, creamy-sweet, yellow-orange yolk. To finish, there’s a touch of uni for a savoury-sweet flavour, bright red tobiko for a tiny bit of crunch and green onion for an extra pop and garnish. For $7, it’s a well thought-out dish with colour to appease the eyes and texture for the mouth. It’s a refreshing way to begin your meal at Yuzu.
Presented in a wooden box complete with Japanese markings, it’s part traditional in its arrangement and its use of classic Japanese ingredients, but has all the fixings and intricate detail to make it a dish worthy of some high-end restaurants.
Yuzu Sushi and Sake Bar, 236 Adelaide Street West, 416-205-9808
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