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Vancouver on the Cheap: QQ Sushi

If you were to create a Venn diagram where one circle was labeled "cheap" and the other labeled "awesome", the middle point where they cross over could be labeled "Vancouver on the Cheap".

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If you were to create a Venn diagram where one circle was labeled "cheap" and the other labeled "awesome", the middle point where they cross over could be labeled "Vancouver on the Cheap". In other words, this is a weekly series on things to do and places to go in Vancouver that fall into that magical category of being both cheap and awesome.

For some reason I was very slow to get on the sushi-lovin' train. For years I refused to even try the stuff on a principle that I could never quite articulate, but that had something to do with the raw fish. I would declare loudly that I would never even try the stuff, not ever, and I was very proud to say that I hated it without any knowledge of what it was actually like. So that whole thing might have had more to do with my anti-conformist teenage values and my former tendency to reject anything popular than with any qualitative analysis on the value of sushi.

I'm not sure exactly how or when it happened, but I was slowly worn down by four years at UBC, and I eventually tried sushi. Turns out it's pretty darn delicious.

One of the great things about sushi is that it's almost always cheap, at least when you're buying it in Vancouver. Just the fact that something is actually cheaper in Vancouver than elsewhere makes it pretty awesome, don't you think? I mean, how often do we get to say that? It seems everyone has their favourite cheap sushi spot where they go to enjoy a delicious, filling meal of neatly packaged rice-with-toppings for chump change. This is one of those places.

QQ Sushi hangs out at the corner of Fir and Broadway and is definitely a mecca for cheap eating in the generally pricey South Granville area. First of all, their overall pricing is definitely on the cheaper side of the sushi world, but what's a really great deal is their specials:

There's the $5.95 Sushi Special, including a dynamite roll, california roll, yam tempura roll, kappa roll, and miso soup. Then there's the $6.50 Special Box with teriyaki, rice, sushi, tempura, salad, and miso soup. I'm serious you guys, I'm not even making this up.

Now, you may have noticed that while those meals sound like deliciously cheap deals, they both contain some kind of meat product, which makes them off-limits for the likes of me, and maybe for you too. Don't fear! They do have a veggie combo, and while it's not quite as fantastic a value as the specials, it's still pretty great: $6.25 for a kappa roll, yam tempura roll, and a veggie roll, and let me tell you, the rolls were tasty.

Because I always forget how filling a few rolls can be (just look at that plate!), I topped off my order with a veggie gyoza and wound up unable to finish my meal. Yet my final bill, including veggie combo, gyoza, and a pop, came out to just around $10 including tax and tip. So amazing!

Like many cheap dining establishments, there's not a whole lot here in the way of decor or atmosphere. I wouldn't recommend it for a date night, at least not until you're in that super-comfortable phase of dating where you get really utilitarian about things like where you'll eat and not changing out of your sweat pants and splitting the bill, but it's certainly a nice, clean little restaurant with fantastic service.