Project: Fish specializes in aburi, or flame-seared, sushi. They uniquely offer their dine-in omakase tasting menus to go.

These omakase chef’s choice platters are specially designed to best represent what Project: Fish has to offer, a mix of pre-seasoned and garnished aburi and oshi (pressed) sushi.

Upon entry the interior is breezy but industrial, spacious and inviting with concrete walls and fake plants, comfy chairs and private-feeling nooks.

An Aburi Chirashi Tart ($15) is ordered a la carte though the omakase menus are recommended for trying the broadest range of items.

A tower of rice, avocado, a spicy blend of salmon, red tuna and whitefish, sockeye, and torched aioli-based aburi sauce is topped with BBQ eel, shrimp, fish egg, and a scoop of blue crab, and smoked under a dome using cherry blossom bark.

The tart is very saucy and creamy, these flavours coming through more than the smokiness though the presentation is totally worth it. This item may be less for sushi purists.

Aburi Premium ($32) is essentially the standard offering here, which includes starters of edamame, cabbage salad, and a lovely salmon tartare with ponzu sauce, greens and fish egg.

The sushi itself includes individual pieces of salmon, tuna, hamachi, shrimp, truffle shrimp, aburi albacore, salmon oshi and saba oshi, as well as an aburi and oshi offering that changes daily.

Today’s special oshi is shrimp with basil sauce and black olive that has an Italian feel, though this oddly works well in my opinion. All sushi are seasoned so there should be no need for extra wasabi and soy, though house soy sauce is provided.

Also included are a blue crab and daily handroll, today’s the same spicy sashimi mix as on the tart.

For these, expect more of a temaki style than the overstuffed cones seen more often. Simple, but incredibly satisfying.

The Aburi Plate ($52) is limited to 15 servings each dinner service and seriously amps up the garnishes.

In addition to the same starters and some similar sushi offerings, this plate has premium sushi like delicious o-toro with gold leaf, botan ebi, tai, and tuna with caviar.

Scallop is garnished with crispy shallot and lemon zest, BBQ eel with a teeny dab of foie gras. A special oshi kushi of wild sockeye salmon is topped with a generous BBQ eel skewer.

It’s later discovered there’s a whole other room with an entirely different feel at the back. Mirrored walls, a stark ceiling feature and dim lighting make this area feel even more romantic.