Gal’s Sushi takeout

After a fruitful hour-long walk on a gorgeous spring day at Rouge Valley Park last weekend, it was finally time for some takeout sushi.  Gal’s Sushi in Markham (3621 Hwy 7 East, Unit 106) was on the way home which made it the perfect spot to grab some old favourites.  Gal’s Sushi has long been a reliable and affordable sushi restaurant for me that also serves Korean dishes too.  I’ve visited them for lunch or dinner countless times since 2015.  We perused their website on our phones and called in to make our order.

The first time we called their number, we got a busy ring tone.  We assumed that since it was close to dinner time on a weekend that they must have been inundated with takeout orders.  We dialed a second time where a male staff member picked up.  After saying “Hello” though, our call was cut.  Um… okay.  We called a third time and the same male picked up but we were able to successfully place our order this time.  He repeated our order numbers to us and informed us that if we paid in cash, there would be a 10% discount off the bill.  Sweet!  Our order would be ready in about 30 minutes.

When we pulled up to the Gal’s Sushi restaurant, we parked outside on the one-way street/curb where there were other customers waiting for their orders too.  It was so convenient to park and wait there instead of having to find an actual parking spot.

We ordered two sets of roll sets, a vegetarian one and one filled with all of my favourites rolls.  We also had Japchae, Seafood and Green Onion Pancake, and Shrimp Tempura.

The T1 set is a classic order of 24 rolls:  spicy salmon roll, dynamite roll, crab salad roll, and California roll.  Everything was good as usual.  Their crab salad roll is to die for.

The Veggie Roll Set had avocado rolls, tempura yam rolls, and cucumber rolls.  Surprising that vegetarian sushi has only one filling in the roll, it was still so delicious.  I love the filling to rice ratio.  It was perfect.  The creamy avocado versus the crunchy tempura yam and the refreshing cucumbers made this such a great combination of rolls!  I had never ordered this vegetarian sushi roll set before.

V1 Veggie Roll Set. $15.99
-18 pcs veggie rolls (6 avocado, 6 cucumber, 6 yam)
T1 set. $23.99
-24 pcs

All Shrimp Tempura appetizer:  This was great and satisfying.  Crunchy batter around each tender piece of shrimp. :9

All Shrimp Tempura (5 pcs). $11.99

Haemul Pajeon (seafood and green onion pancake):  a long-time favourite Korean appetizer of mine.  While I have had crispier Korean savory pancakes before, this one was still great, had lots of octopus bits and shrimp, and a plentiful portion.

K5. Haemul Pajeon. $18.99
-seafood and green onion pancake

Japchae: potato noodles stir fried with beef and vegetables.  This was yummy.  I think it’s actually the complimentary noodles that they serve when you dine in-house too.  The potato noodles were so tender and well-flavoured with a decent portion of vegetables.

K4. Japchae. $16.99
-potato noodles stir fried with beef and vegetables

It was such a satisfying meal and the first Japanese sushi I had had in months (sans raw fish though).

Our spread of food

Some other things:

I wish they served the Korean pancake and shrimp tempura in plastic or tin foil containers like the sushi or japchae; it’s better for the environment to avoid using Styrofoam.

I wish they would have asked us if we needed utensils or not.  Since we were eating at home anyway, we really didn’t need the extra disposable utensils.  A lot of other restaurants will ask if your takeout order requires utensils (like recently Sam’s Congee Delight), but Gal’s Sushi didn’t ask us beforehand.