The old AFURI sign is still bolted to the corner post, yellow box, mountain logo, Japanese lettering and all.
Behind it, a completely different restaurant is already open and serving lunch.
Sushi Nami has taken over 2801 Main Street, the Mount Pleasant unit the Tokyo ramen chain left when it pulled out of BC on June 28.
That is roughly a month between AFURI’s last bowl of yuzu shio and a new neon OPEN sign in the same window.
Menus are posted across the window, which is how you can read the whole thing before deciding.
Most of it is what you would expect from a neighbourhood sushi restaurant.
There are maki and rolls, nigiri, tempura, teriyaki plates, donburi, udon, and a lunch bento lineup that the menu lists as running from 11am to 3pm.
The rolls sit where rolls usually sit, California at $6.75 for eight pieces, dynamite at $7.75, spider roll at $13.75.
Nigiri starts at $2.95 for salmon or tuna.
The bento boxes run from $16.50 for the D box up to $22.95 for the B, with beef, salmon or unagi upgrades stacked on top.
Then there is the part that is not standard.
Sushi Nami runs a real aburi program, which is not something most neighbourhood shops bother with.
The NAMI Aburi Combo puts 12 pieces on a plate for $28.75, with salmon oshi, torched salmon, and aburi tuna, saba, hamachi and unagi.
Two of the five party trays are aburi trays.
The top one, Aburi Party Tray D, is 35 pieces for $70 and includes an aburi unagi oshi with foie gras bits on it.
That is a strange thing to find on a takeout tray menu on Main Street, and it is the most interesting line on the whole board.
The rest of the trays run from $45.95 for 48 pieces up to $59.95.
This block has been busy either way.
Emeri opened its matcha shop nearby in June, and Odd Burger closed its only Vancouver location a month later.
Now the ramen unit that anchored the corner for years is a sushi counter, with the previous tenant’s sign still hanging over it.
Sushi Nami joins other recently opened Vancouver food spots like Gringo in Gastown, Pallet Coffee in Olympic Village, and Angus T in West End.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 2801 Main Street, Vancouver BC