ottawa foodies

Instead of me trying to search online for a sushi making kit or where to find one in Ottawa, I thought I would consult the smartest foodies in the area!

Can anyone tell me where I could find a nice sushi making kit (to give as a gift) in Ottawa??

If I remember correctly, Kowloon Market on Somerset have sushi mat for sale. Just ask them to help you.

east wind has nice sets you could give as a gift. there is one in the glebe and one in westboro.

Kit? What do you need besides the mat?

for yourself, just a mat. but as a gift, a little kit is nice. you can put together your own, or buy them already put together. usually it includes a fancy mat (instead of just cheap bamboo), a recipe book, instruction book, sometimes seaweed, fancy chop sticks, little dipping bowls... so many options.

it is more fun to buy a bunch of things and put together your own kit. you can include nice sauces, dumpling press, mats, dishes, wasabi paste, ect!

I assembled my own sushi kit as a Christmas present for my sister a few years ago. I just used a regular gift bag although some of the stores in Chinatown might have some more creative gift wraps that you could use. I just tossed in some nori, some sushi rice, some rice wine vinegar, a sushi recipe book, and condiments. I think I added pickled ginger and wasabi. Half the fun was going to Chinatown and of course I found stuff for myself that I *had* to have! Hipfunkyfun came up with lots of great ideas - chop sticks, dipping bowls, etc. which you could add to the gift bag or use as possible future gift ideas. The year after I gave my sister the sushi ingredients I gave her a sushi plate, dipping bowl, chop sticks and whatever other dish type stuff she might need. One thing to note is that I found the East Wind store a little expensive. They have nice sets of stuff - tea pots and cups, sake sets, etc. - which is handy if you want the complete set and in a nice box but you might want to compare with what is available in Chinatown first - you might save abit of money...

If you are going to Chinatown to buy the dishes, you can try Global Housewares. They are at Somerset and Arthur. You can also try at Time Housewares (?) They are on Somerset near the Scotiabank. Both places have lots of selection and pretty good prices and the dishes are Made in Japan. They are more traditional.

I have seen some more contemporary sushi sets at Zone in the ByWard Market.

For the ingrediants, you might as well buy them at Kowloon Market because all of their Japanese groceries are in one area. Alternatively, you can go to WaKiu, across the street, which tends to be 10% cheaper. If you ask the proprietors, when they are not busy, they can help you find everything you need.

BTW, at Global Housewares, they also sell those fun shaped riceball makers. I think I saw some in the shape of hearts...

If you really want to splurge, Global Housewares also sells the bamboo bowl (around $60) for mixing the sushi rice. VERY authentic.

A recipe book is always very handy but I have not seen one in Chinatown...

I hope this is helpful!

Very helpful everyone, thank-you!

I was looking towards the "already put together/all in one" kits including all the bells and whistles...matt, bowl, serving dishes, sauces...etc. I know i could put one together myself and I just might if I can't find the 'perfect' gift I'm looking for.

But definitely all the places everyone mentioned is a great start!

So I took witchypoo's advice and went to Time Housewares and they did have an all in one(almost) sushi kit, bowls, chopsticks, place mats, plates...minus the rolling mat. I didn't realize this until later but I thought the mat in the box set was for sushi but they were place mats! BUT, it was 50% off sooo SCORE!....went on to Uni Mart and got all the ingredients...sushi rice, nori, pickled ginger, wasabi paste, and a mat.

Thanx everyone for the advice, much appreciated. Now, on to finding a nice gift box to put it all in...

the papery in the glebe has nice gift boxes, they are way up high over the cards. or just buy a really nice basket and pop everything in there!

Costco has a kit + book right now for $11

Grace in the Kitchen as a nice basic array of Sushi making basics, Nori, Rolling Mat, Rice, Wasabi...

Thanks for this. I've always wanted to learn how to make sushi. Has anyone taken the courses offered by the school boards?

its actually pretty easy, once you have practised it enough, to make the basic stuff, as I understand it, to be a real Sushi Chef, it involves a long apprenticeship. Pick up a Sushi cookbook and experiment, the damages still taste good and keep you sustained while you practice. I used to go to the trouble of making it for myself, basic salmon, tuna, and california rolls, it really helps in rationalising the cost of buying Sushi, knowing how much prep and work goes into doing it well.