We first heard about Maru through a friend of our’s insta story. The sushi looked incredible, and the fact that they were on a patio (a rare find for an east end sushi spot) cemented in our minds that we must visit this place.
Initially a first Come first served restaurant, they switched quickly to reservation only. We called on a Friday and booked our patio spot for the following Thursday at 7:30 pm.
Maru is located across from the TTC yard underneath Queen Margherita pizza, where The Greenwood used to be. The fact that I could see a lineup of street cars, and the Leslieville sign from my seat made it feel like an especially local experience.
Sushi menus can be intimidating, especially if you haven’t been to the restaurant before. My girlfriend (and dining partner) Jenny and I made an informal rule to navigate the menu and judge how good a sushi spot is. After eating a few too many rolls at Sushi Village in Whistler we decided that the most efficient order was to start with the Miso soup, and focus heavily on the Nigiri (think Traditional sushi, fish and rice like the emoji 🍣) and Sashimi (raw fish on its own).
This technique really serves two purposes. One, you can tell a lot about a sushi restaurant by the quality of their “simple“ items. and two, it’s pretty easy to order pass yourself off as a pro if you focus on a few staples. (In our minds This will come in handy when we finally make it to Japan and need to impress the locals.. which I’m sure it will not but holding on to that fantasy makes us feel warm and fuzzy).
The first thing we ordered is two Asahi’s, two Miso soups and two glass noodle salads with Shrimp and Tako (octopus) at the servers recommendation. Maru was already tempting us off of our game plan.
Our beers arrived and our poured into our glasses. As cold, creamy and colourful as they should be.
Next up is the Miso soup. I can tell as soon as it’s put on the table that it’s going to be delicious. The texture of the charcoal grilled mushroom is unlike anything in a Miso soup I’d ever seen. It’s beautifully earthy and just the right shade of yellow. It tastes exactly as it looks.
The Sunomono (glass noodle) salad is up next. While not as mind blowing as the Miso, the cold noodles and crisp pieces of octopus and shrimp are a nice refreshing palate cleanser.
While we are slurping down the last few glass noodles, we noticed that the table a few over from us has ordered multiple rounds of what looks like a sushi taco. We ask our server and she informs us that this magical item is called a Nori Canapé.
The Nori Canapé is essentially a tempura fried hand roll taco. Served with a crispy seaweed wrapper instead of a tortilla, rice, and either Salmon or Tuna. Both come as either regular, or spicy.
We ordered our nigiri and sashimi, as well as two of the spicy tuna nori canapé, and one piece each of the spicy salmon and tuna Gunkan (essentially a nigiri-ish roll with seaweed wrapped around it). We also gave in and ordered a Dynamite Maki roll.
They staggered our food nicely with the canape And maki roll coming out first. Normally I try to save the more rice heavy items for last, but neither one felt especially heavy. The Canapé was absolutely fantastic. It was a crispy, buttery, delicious invention that was arguably the highlight of the night. If go to Maru and only get on thing, this has to be it. Not because the rest of the menu isn’t good, but the Canapé is so unique to Maru.
The nigiri and sashimi was brought out next and presented beautifully. Two large circular trays with a deep lip arrived at our table and each one practically had its own eco system. The sushi was laid out on top of a bed of ice, seaweed, lettuce, grapes and fresh berries. Each piece of fish seemed fresher than the last.
None of the food we ordered lasted very long and after another Asahi (or two) we decided to call it a night.
The textures, colours, flavours and creativity we experienced at Maru were amazing. The quality of the sushi rivals sushi village in Whistler... and the fact that you can enjoy it while sitting on a relaxed patio in the east end is incredibly cool. Maru is a very welcome addition to the neighbourhood and we will definitely be back sooner than later.