KEN Sushi House

Ken Yim turns away fish he doesn't like. "I buy only the best and prepare it as if I'm making it for my family," the chef-owner says of his sashimi; deliveries that don't meet the bar go back to the supplier. That refusal is the organizing idea at KEN Sushi House, the Phillip Square sushi counter where Yim works the raw fish most days in full view of the guests. The dining room seats about 120 on the lower level of Blair House, but the centre of gravity is the sushi bar, where the cutting happens an arm's length from the people eating it.

The menu rewards reading it as a fish list first. Salmon runs all the way through — straight sashimi, the One Cup Salmon Sashimi with avocado, salmon-only sets — and the a la carte board widens from there into maguro, hamachi, albacore, escola, toro and otoro, unagi, uni, even caviar. The one item carrying Yim's name outright is the Saba, mackerel he marinates himself and puts his own name to on the menu rather than dropping it in as a generic order. The cooked side holds its own — Tuna Tataki seared and dressed in ponzu, beef gyoza, a Dynamite Roll of shrimp tempura and avocado, the soft-shell-crab Spider Roll, udon and donburi, teriyaki and bento plates — and a Korean current runs underneath in dishes like Hae Dup Pap, chopped raw fish and vegetables under Korean hot sauce. Fresh East and West coast oysters are on hand for anyone who wants to start there.