Pink Swirl

I’m not surprise that this place is closed. The last time I went there, I had a horrible experience.
This on a Sunday, the sign says they open at 12:30pm and i was there at 12:25pm so I waited. I can see there is a guy (owner) getting ready and prepping his stuff. I am pretty sure he saw me cause I was just standing at the door waiting for him to open. He just glanced at me and keep doing his work.
By now it’s 12:45pm the guy is still prepping and ignores me totally, at 12:50pm he finally decides opens the door, I walked in to the store and in a rude tone he asks me what I want. Just want to let you guys know that he is asking me what am I doing here and not asking me for taking orders. I told him I want to place an order for take out. He just looks at me and right back to his counter and said I’m very busy it’s weekend.
I just want to order a few rolls for take out not a few party trays. so I place my order and he told me they wont be ready till 1:30pm, which is 1.5hrs wait. I asked him why the wait is so long. He told me he has other customers as well that he has to serve. I looked around there are no other customers and they just open the door. There might be some phone in pick up orders but seriously the owner is very rude and don’t even want to serve me. So I just walk out of the restaurant.

Small lil nook, serves gigantic. (hmm maybe not enough emphasis) GIGANNNOURMOUS yummy rolls! From all of the basics, to all the new mind-​boggling, eye-​popping rolls!
Its so GIGANTIC, that you don’t get your scallops chopped in a chopped scallops. They are whole pieces of scallops. in your one nigiri. HAHA yumm. Just thinking of this makes me want to go again :)
Service is a tad bit slow, as there is only one main chef. Best to go in small groups (2 – 3) or to phone and order in advanced.
Price: SUPER AFFORDABLE that its almost mind boggling. Get super stuffed for under$ 10!
Definitely a place you’d like to try the rolls, and scallop nigiri.
The sashimi isn’t as great as authentic sushi places. But I’m in it for the love of the rolls!
Oo. and they server froyo too!

My husband and I came to Richmond on the Labor Day weekend for a day of sightseeing and to go to the night market. For lunch we decided to find a place in a mini mall. My husband just had to have soup from one of the chinese establishments and waited for me in the food court. I happened to find Pink Swirl. I got the house combo to go and headed towards the food court to meet my husband and wondered why the bag was so heavy. It had 2 each of salmon, hamachi and ebi nigiri. The salmon and hamachi slices were super long and so fresh. It also came with 4 pieces of a California roll. What I didn’t know about the California roll was that it was 3 times as big as a regular roll. The crab was alone was the size of a regular sized piece. I’ve never seen such a large piece of sushi. No wonder the bag was so heavy. I shared the Cali roll with my husband and we both couldn’t finish it. Great deal for $ 11.50 and pretty tasty. Also had a mango smoothie but wasn’t expecting banana in it.
It’s cute, clean place. I will have a yogurt next time.

This place used to be one of my go-​to sushi places every single time I craved for a good deal. Sadly, their sushi has gone down hill. The only awesome roll that they have is that one with the crêpe, other than that, it really hasn’t been that great. Their rolls are humongous, but are stuffed with way too much rice. ²⁄₃ rice, ¹⁄₃ ingredient (choppped scallop, california roll etc etc). I’d order take out and would end up peeling off atleast two bowls of rice off if the rolls!
Their froyo shakes are pretty good though, and the owner is quite the friendly guy.

Sushi Crepes anyone!
Gotta give mad props to my homie Mark H for recommending this sexy sushi innovation! This is some serious next level shit guys and gals! Granted some people might like it and some people might not (the people that don’t are in need of some serious mental help, don’t listen to them! I kid i kid. ;)) But all jokes aside, sushi crepes are the way to go! new texture new taste., i think we have a winner!
I ordered the Mango Tokyo roll (real crab, mango, fresh salmon and rice all rapped up in a light crêpe!) Very tasty. i also ordered the Kyoto Roll (Chopped scallop, sundried tomato, rice, crêpe drizzled with some creamy peso sauce. seriously! What!!! SO GOOD! and to top it all off i ordered a Strawberry slush with yogurt.
A perfect end to a cloudy day! Oh and the service is freakin top notch to boot! I will be back, oh yes, I will be back! (walks away… #playing «the good the bad and the ugly» in the background)

*GASP* The «Japadog» of sushi as a fellow Unilocaler describes. .. I’m more than intrigued! I have to come and check it out!
I called ahead of time to find out their hours since I did not want to be disappointed by random closures and unfortunately did not get a hold of anyone. Sad, but we still decided to chance it and got there around 10:30am to find out that they open at 11am. No worries, we wandered around Parker Place and then headed back over when they opened.
We got there at 11:15am and the sign still said closed but when we tried the door, it was open but there was no sign of anyone! Hmmm. .. weird. Anyways, we finally got a hold of someone and ordered their «best seller», the Mango Tokyo Roll (or at least a play on it — subbing mango for the traditional avocado). The Tokyo Roll is crab, salmon, mango wrapped in crêpe — yup, no rice nor seaweed! We also got the Sunrise Roll which is a similar combination of rice, seaweed, mango, avocado, and salmon nigiri on top with spicy sauce.
I really really really wanted to love this place. I jumped head first and dove in to it but was disappointed. I think it’s very clever and unique, but just didn’t do it for me. The Tokyo Roll was way too mushy — I think it needed the rice or seaweed to break up the texture. The Sunrise Roll is a lil’ bit more «traditional», but the combo of sweet mango, spicy sauce, and fish was just too weird for me.
I definitely think it’s worth a try since it is so different, but for me, I’ll just stick to the good old fashioned sushi.

Is Pink Swirl the Japadog of sushi? You betcha my samurai.
Big thanks to Rheanna F via Unilocal mobile for leading me to this truly unique place.
Sushi wrapped in Japanese crepes instead of seaweed?! Yes, you heard me, crepes! Some of you are probably thinking ‘wtf’, but this seaweed substitute may just cause a sushi revolution.
Their signature rolls are downright in a league of their own. My personal favourite is the Kyoto roll. Chopped scallops with sundried tomatoes wrapped in crepes and topped with a creamy pesto sauce and tobiko, this stuff is unreal.
Have you ever had sushi for dessert? You can here. Get the Monkey Tokyo roll. Starting in the centre you got banana, salmon, crab meat, crêpe and topped with an amazing raspberry sauce and tobiko. Sweet & savoury, Curious George would go bananas.
In 2 weeks, I’ve been here 3 times, it’s that good. All the rolls I’ve tried have been awesome. They usually have a daily BOGO roll FREE. Prices are wicked value.
The owner is remarkably friendly, especially for Richmond. I’ve always had a good time chatting with him about random stuff.
I’ve always gotten stuffed and haven’t tried their frozen yogurt or drinks but I’m sure they are equally good.
CASH only because sushi this good and unique deserves it.

Went to Pink Swirl last night for the first time, and what an interesting little place…
The place is a little hard to find, if you drive into the complex where the address is and park in the parking tower, walk into the mall and walk all the way to the other end.
Once you get into the Pink Swirl Café, you are taking into a new sushi experience, First of all, I cannot really call it a restaurant, that’s why I called it a café, its very small but very nice,
I had some Shrimp Cakes along with their Tokyo Mango Roll, and for dessert I had a frozen Yogurt with fresh Raspberries. The Sushi Rolls were made in a very different way, it was made with Japanese Crepes on the outside and not much rice on the inside. Although this was not what I was expecting, it was very good.
Overall, I would recommend this place, the sushi was very different but very good.

I used to come here years ago when it was called Sushi World and was in a smaller location a few doors down. My smelly boyfriend and me were stuck out in Richmond, craving sushi when it struck me to go back. We were so bummed when we realized Sushi World was closed, but if you have ever seen their amazingly unique menu, you’ll understand how i knew instantly that Pink Swirl was the same place with a new name! (and frozen yogurt! They didn’t have THAT before!)
Pink Swirl was everything i remembered! Fantastic food, huge portions and CHEAP prices! I would gladly pay more for their food but am glad that i don’t have to! We got miso soup– freshly made and delicious– two rolls, and a combo of sashimi. I had three pieces of sashimi, most of one of the rolls and felt like i was going to explode. I then bullied my boyfriend into finishing the rest of the food, which he loved and hated me for.
I always pick the rice off my sushi (rice is just filler! Less rice = more yummy fish in my tummy!) so their sushi rolls made with crepes rather than rice are my favorite things ever! You heard me, sushi made with CREPES! And just like typical french-​style crepes, they’re good with both savoury AND sweet ingredients. My favorite roll is the Tokyo Monkey roll. It’s crab meat, banana and salmon topped with raspberry drizzle and tobiko!
And talk about insanely friendly staff. The owner STILL remembered me years later and even asked me how some of the friends i used to come with were doing. And not just a ‘how are your friends?’ but really specific questions like ‘does C. still DJ? Do you see L. much anymore? Is his still with that girl he started dating?’ I can barely remember people i met two weeks ago, never mind two years ago! Mad props.

I have visited this place once a week now, the sushi they make there is very unique with the choice of substituting mango instead of avocado in some of their rolls. They are an existing store that basically moved 4 stores down to their old place around the corner.
The pricings are reasonable, I usually get a mango roll which has 6 pieces, plus a tuna/​salmon sushi, and a chopped scallop sushi that’s only for around $ 8.95ish. But their sashimas on top are very large.
The yogurt I believe is a little more differnet. I, myself is not a big fan, but I do recommend the sushi for sure!

While the name Pink Swirl can be a little bit confusing, there is no mistaking what they serve once you see all the photos plastered on the glass store fronts (one from No. 3 Road and another from within the mall) — sushi and frozen yogourt.
Besides having unbelievably low prices, the quality and care put into forming the sushi (they don’t advertise themselves as «sushi art with a touch of fusion» for nothing). The chirashi don that I ordered (although it wasn’t even listed on the menu) came with a large selection of fish sashimi, two types of tobiko, and freshly shelled amaebi. Though I was more than happy to fork over a whole tenner for that, the rest of the rice bowls can be yours for as little as $ 4.95-$ 7.95.
The machine churned probiotic fat free yogourt was made-​to-​order. I had mine topped with fresh blueberries out of the large number of fresh fruit available to be chosen from.
The friendly owner Raymond was also proud to add that entire fresh Salmon perfect for DIY sushi and sashimi are filleted in-​store each day. The salmon heads are for sale for only a buck each. Sake kama on the barbie, anyone?