Dashi Okume

"Such an enjoyable space , the staff were welcoming and warm. Food was outstanding. For my pallet it was complex, having contrast in flavors, temperatures and textures that made for an enjoyable and interesting light meal. While eating I think I witnessed a birthday which made the experience a touch more wholesome. Will definitely be returning to purchase a peice from one of the wonderful artists on display ☺️"

"Dashi Okume is a remarkable blend of a restaurant, dashi specialty store, and a haven for Japanese culinary enthusiasts. The dining experience is self-service with a cozy ambiance, offering around 16 table seatings and a few bar tables. The highlight was their teishoku set meals - a culinary delight with options like marinated king salmon (saikyo-zuke) and saba, all freshly prepared and served with tasty sides, miso soup, and rice. The dashi section is a standout, allowing customers to create custom dashi blends. I highly recommend the sweet shellfish dashi - an absolute treat! A great experience for its innovative concept and delicious offerings."

"Love the fish set! It feels like i went to Japan !! Rice is good, a nice portion. The 2 side dishes you can choose from the list is amazing too!! I had the i ed genmai sencha, so good !"

"Dashi Okume is part specialty grocery, part restaurant. It shares its space with another vendor. Their specialty is housemade Dashi and dashi-based products. You can even make your own custom dashi. The restaurant features some dishes with their housemade Dashi. I made my visit on a Monday, around 12PM. I was excited to check this place out after a recommendation from family! They had free samples for some of the different dashi broths you could buy, along with other pantry staples and accessories. I purchased the Tokyo and Osaka dashi mixes and got 2 custom dashi mixes for myself and for a gift for someone. Choosing the ingredients for custom dashi was overwhelming. Thankfully, the staff are well knowledgeable and were able to offer a lot of guidance. I ended up doing a bit of blind picking based on the paper guides they have feature flavour profiles. They turned out great! Both the gift recipient and I enjoyed it. The custom dashi produces about 30 bags, and the price depends on the ingredients you choose. It takes 15 minutes to produce each mix. I love that when you get a custom dashi they print your name on it, and it comes with a label showing what ingredients it contains. On the back, there are instructions showing how to make it, and how you can prevent waste by turning it into furikake. The one thing that prevents me from giving this place 5 stars is the pricing of the dine in menu. I got the mackerel with kabocha squash. It comes with rice, your choice protein with choice vegetables, miso soup, pickled vegetables, white rice, and housemade furikake from their dashi. It was about $58 USD total with tip. I'm Canadian so that price conversion meant I spent ~$80 CAD. It was not $80 good, unfortunately. The meal was good, the portions were good, service was good. But it was not outstanding and it was definitely not worth that price. the drinks also seemed to not have free refills, so paying an additional $5 USD for soba cha was not great, because I know how cheap that tea really is. Overall I'd recommend others check this place out and I'll probably be back for more of their pantry items, but would not dine in."

"Lovely and flavourful dashi and very fresh ingredients! The fish was a little on the salty side, but I loved the ochazuke and it really reminded me of Japan."