A week ago, I’ve heard about Ichiban Sushi over a going away dinner for a dear friend, Shirley at the Thao Dien Village. I will miss Shirley’s delicious creations here in Saigon. 😦 Gotta make that trip to her Pastry Passion on our next Manila visit. So back to Ichiban Sushi. I got curious and since it’s currently ranked #2 in Tripadvisor on restaurants in HCMC, hubby decided to try it out on our Thursdate. Ichiban Sushi doesn’t give you the Japanese-vibe with their seemingly Gothic-inspired interiors. The first floor is dimly lit while the upper floor is brighter. Tables are sectioned with bead curtains to create a private space for the diners. We were served edamame beans while we waited for our orders. We ended up with mostly salmon. 😛 For starters, we had seared tuna salad. Then we had the salmon sashimi, Mr. Van’s maki ( Chef Van’s award winning roll salmon, avocado, flying fish eggs, fried shirmp, spicy sauce), USA maki (fried eel, cream cheese, salmon, flying fish egg, bonzu sauce, bonzu giner garlic sauce, onion), and the salmon nigiri. For the salmon nigiri, we tried their black rice instead of the regular white rice. I wish we did it for all the dishes we tried because the black rice gave the salmon nigiri more flavor. Seared Tuna Salad Salmon Sashimi Mr. Van’s Maki USA Maki Salmon Nigiri with black rice  We were also looking to have Uni which we haven’t seen in any other Japanese restaurants in Saigon. But mygulay it was so expensive. May be if we’re celebrating a special occasion… 😛 Definitely coming back to this one. Ichiban Sushi 204 Le Lai, Ben Thanh, HCMC +84 8 6270 8686