Article written June 2010
Most sushi in BA ain’t good. Cheap sushi in BA is even worse. In the cheap Sushi delivery market, Sushi Pop reigns supreme. Created with the objective to make “healthy food of the BEST quality accessible to all.”
People warned me before ordering, but also encouraged for me to try it… “It’s not good… BUT not terrible.” “Don’t have high expectations… BUT it’s cheap and decent.” I knew I wouldn’t like it, I knew it would be fishy tasting, I know it would have a weird chewy bite with cheap ass seaweed and improperly cooked rice. I knew it. But I ordered anyway.
Sushi Pop has an online delivery option, very high tech for 2010. Indicate your order online and then about 5 minutes later they will call you back to confirm. This part worked quite smoothly, and the sushi came exactly 30 minutes later.
Alaska Combo – 12 pieces of all salmon – lots of ream cheese nonsense.
Barcelona Combo – 12 pieces of exactly the same thing as above, but with tuna. When I see the exotic “Red Tuna” on a menu (they have to specify it as “red tuna” because otherwise they will served the canned variety) and I have to order it. Since tuna isn’t common here, not even in the good Buenos Aires restaurants, I should have known better. But alas, a big fail. I think this was probably the worst tuna I’ve ever tasted, with an offensive odor and barely edible.
Each order comes with two sets of chopsticks, two small soy sauce packages, and a tiny piece of wasabi smaller than my thumb nail, or glass half full, a bit larger than 10 centavos.
If I had any sort of food dignity, I would have thrown it out. But who am I kidding? I still ate it.
If you are an avid sushi eater, you can tell from the pictures what kind of sushi it is: ice cold like it was premade sitting in a fridge all day long, weirdly flavored with very low quality mushy rice, brownish avocados, gross fish, mmm how appetizing! The recommendations I received were spot on, but I’d say it’s not even worth it to order unless you’re looking for an inexpensive sushi option and you don’t have any sushi standards.
Update: Due to sheer idiocracy and succumbing to peer pressure, I ordered again. This time my sushi came with a present: a staple (yes, just one lonely STAPLE) and random pieces of thread stuck in the raw mushy rice intertwined with the roll.
flori says
you should try Shogun in Once, i love that place!. The sushi is awesome and they also have a lot of traditional japanese dishes that kick ass
Luca says
My b.f. worked there as a sushiman but had to quit because he found the quality of the food to be ridiculously low. I understand that Argentina is making its own version of sushi (e.g. with cream cheese and SMOKED salmon!!) but there are much better places that do this. It reminds me of all those horrible places in my home town that — decades ago — made a sorry excuse for their ethnic food to the local taste. I ordered from this place and threw most of the “food” in the garbage, then went out for dinner. It was edible but no more, and definitely not Japanese. Thanks for the warning. Love your blog.
eugenia says
I’m not very fond of sushi, but my dad and my sister love it and they always say they tried some pretty great sushi at the Asociación Japonesa. That’s my grain of salt :)
Michelle says
In case you haven’t ordered from Sushi Pop lately, the quality has gone down drastically. The rice:fish ration is ludicrous; I got huge portions of rice and paper think slices of salmon on my nigiris. I even heard (from someone who works there) that in some rolls they are substituting the salmon with a less expensive fish.
My last order was just AWFUL. I’m never eating from Sushi Pop again, ever.
Pearl says
The sushi in the photos look delicious……very deceiving! Loved the article, but what’s with ML?
Donigan Merritt says
We didn’t have to live in BA very long (and even now we’ve only been here 18 months) to know that Argentina simply does not do sushi, no matter what a few places claim to prepare. If you are a sushi fan, you just have to accept this plan and simple fact — you cannot get good sushi here.
Having said that, since sometimes the craving for sushi becomes pretty overwhelming, I have found that if you establish a presence in a place that serves sushi, that the portions will be larger and the quality noticeably better. I did that at the Sushi Club on Sinclair in Palermo (right across the street from Francesco, one of the best, and way not cheap, Peruvian restaurants in the city), and after a few regular visits and always tipping really well, now I can specify exactly what kinds of fish I want and the chef will tell me which ones will be good and which won’t. I always get the best, freshest pieces there. Okay, it’s not really sushi as we know it, but it is the best I’ve had in this city … I just had to earn it.
Ivan says
Todo este sitio es snob hasta la medula y si no entendes lo que estoy por decir no deberias estar en mi país. Yo si voy al tuyo aprendo el idioma solo por mera y pura educación. Algo de lo que parecen carecer enormemente. pregonando y replicando sobre el mal sushi. Consigan una vida o vuelvan de donde vinieron.