Often voted Best Japanese, Kanda is one of those places I had to try. How can an all-you-can-eat sushi place be the best, especially considering such a previous bad experience? Well, while it isn't the best, it certainly does do the job. The all-you-can-eat menu, especially if you go for the $19.99 menu (Sunday - Thursday), is worth the money, and does give you some pretty tasty sushi. Perhaps too much so.

Kanda will charge you $1.00 for every piece of wasted sushi. I came periously close to paying a fortune because we ordered too much. That's a good sign though - the food was that good!

We started the meal with dignity, ordering the salad. Full of a variety of fresh greens, along with a shrimp or two, and topped with a healthy serving of salty-sweet dressing, the salad was light and crispy. It was a great way to open our palettes for the meal to come.

And what a meal it was. The problem with ordering a normal amount of food there seems to be their inconsistencies. What constitutes an a full order the first time will be an entirely different size the next time. Or, food you order the first time doesn't come, but then in the second or third order, the amount has suddenly doubled. This problem aside, our meal was filled with interesting plates, tastes and textures.
The sushi rolls were okay, my favourite being a deepfried roll with a satisfying, doughy exterieur.
The other rolls were pretty mediochre, as good as you would get at any run-of-the-mill sushi shop.
The bbq eel was fantastic, not too sweet and just the perfect texture. The omelet maki was not quite as good, being a little too sweet and almost rubbery.
Unfortunately, the octopus was also fairly chewy, and didn't come close to making the cut when it came time for the second order. The flying fish caviar, however, did, packed with awesome saltiness.
The sashimi was very nice, the salmon smooth and silky, the red snapper brightly flavourful, and the surf clam just faintly chewy.
We ordered a nice selection of non-sushi items as well. The Japanese dumplings were great, served hot and properly cooked, stuffed full with flavour. They came with deepfried scallops, which were also really nicely cooked, not overdone in the least. Also deepfried, the oysters were great, sweet and juicy.
On the other hand, the salmon terriyki was slightly overcooked, with a bit too much sauce...perhaps to comepnsate for the dryness of the fish? The sushi pizza was interesting, but a little bland. The shrimp tempura was lightly battered and fried, and quite well done.
Overall, Kanda is not a place I would go on full-price night (weekend meals will cost you $26), but for $20 and if you're a big group of people, you definitely get your money's worth. The food is mostly good, the service fast, and the atmosphere fun.

Kanda
2045 rue Bishop
(514) 845-8868