Yumei sushi in the Beach

"Yumei" the word for famous in Japanese is an established neighborhood favourite in the beach, and our friend Martin's as well.. I did put up a protest as I don't enjoy going to generic sushi places especially ones that have also Korean dishes on the menu. However there were many surprises during the meal prompting me to even write about the experience.


My enthusiasm for food gave my dining companions the confidence to let me take the reigns and order our dinner which I did with gusto. I also order a round of miso soups and salads. The portions of the salad with the ginger dressing were huge and we enjoyed our miso. Shortly after that was cleared away, hot noodles in tasty fish broth soup were sent to our table. I didn't expect this and it was a nice starter so please keep in mind that this is a complimentary starter at Yumei so don't go and order your miso without clarifying if this other soup will come with your meal.
We ordered a sashimi boat for the 4 of us, eliminating the octopus and surf clam pieces and requesting additional butterfish, which is my very favourite sashimi as it just melts in your mouth like butter. The server then upsold us with their specialties of the evening including abalone sashimi.
I freaked out because abalone is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine and I have only been served it during a luxurious Chinese banquet dinner so of course we ordered it. After researching what Abalone is as the gang around the dinner table including myself couldn't figure it out, they are edible sea snails.
The boat came and most of the fish including the tuna, red snapper and salmon were perfectly fresh. The scallop sashimi were melt in your mouth. Unfortunately my very favourite butterfish needed to be thawed as it was still slightly frozen.
And the abalone - it was a bit weird. I am used to a bit of a smoother texture however they were very chewy and rubbery.
We were pretty satified with everything else but of course there was more coming. I ordered the beef sashimi but on the servers suggestion - we tried it prepared the Korean way which was a big raw meat ball, very heavy on the garlic and chives. This was another surprise for us and not a huge crowd pleaser for the table. We struggled to finish it.
We also ordered 2 makis - the spicy tuna and the Muskoka roll. By the time these arrived - we had concluded that I over ordered for the table - quelle surprise!

Anyway the makis were very big bites and loosely rolled so they fell apart.

All in all it was a fun night and I would probably go there again if I'm in the East end.

*** Stars 
Yumei Sushi

2116 Queen Street East Toronto (Beaches)
Cross Street: Hammersmith in the Beach
Mon-Sat: 12PM-11PM Sun: Closed
416-698-7705 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              416-698-7705      end_of_the_skype_highlighting