After spending the afternoon going on Tasty Tour’s Chocolate Tour, my friends and I headed to Fune for some conveyor-belt sushi (hohoho). I’ve passed by Fune a couple of times while visiting Yuzu Sushi & Sake Bar. They’re both located in the Entertainment district on Adelaide, so it’s not surprising that I would notice Fune.
Fune actually means “boat” in Japanese. There are not many Japanese restaurants that serve sushi on a conveyor-belt, so Fune definitely has a competitive edge when it comes to providing this kind of dining experience. I’m not going to lie; most often than not, it’s more about the ambiance than the quality of the sushi itself. I’ve had sushi served this way more than a couple times before, whether it’s here, Japan, Korea, or Hong Kong. Fune is Japanese-run, but it’s not always synonymous with high-quality sushi. I have to say the sushi at Fune is very average. Considering the quality of (many) sushi restaurants in Toronto, average is very mediocre indeed.
Fune is located downstairs and you have the option of dining at the sushi bar (where the conveyor-belt is) or in the dining room. Where we sat, each plate of sushi was placed on an adorable wooden boat, just floating across the bar, before our eyes. In the middle is where you get to see the chefs preparing sushi either to replenish the ones on the boats, or made special to order. Each plate ranges from $2.50-6.50, but I can tell you now that I’ve only seen maybe one plate that was at $2.50. Each colour/design of the plate represents a different price. Anyway, I mainly ordered from the menu instead since I didn’t know what the heck some of the prepared dishes were, nor did I know how long they’ve been floating around before we came.
I’m not going to provide individual blurbs on each plate since they were nothing amazing, so please just enjoy the photos ;) Mostly I found the rice too soggy and fish not as fresh. Evaluating the price and quality, I would say Fune is expensive.
Plates stacked up after nomming. At the end of the meal, the plates should be piled so the staff can easily calculate your bill on the spot.
I won’t be returning only because this dining experience had already satisfied my curiosity of Fune, and there are better sushi restaurants nearby. I like Yuzu, Japango, Nami, and Sushi Couture. But as I mentioned prior, Fune has a great atmosphere for those who have never tried this concept before, and would like to do so. I’d say just don’t expect anything spectacular when it comes to their sushi :)
Address
100 Simcoe Street
Toronto, ON M5H 3L2
(416) 599-3868
OMG! We have conveyor belt sushi?!? Been looking for one for ages!!!
Haha yeah! There’s also another one in Scarborough that has it.. think it’s called Nine Up or something.
What makes you say it is Japanese run? I am curious do you know this or was a guess or were some of the chefs Japanese? I ask because I have been there and though it was not Japanese run. I also base this on how there are other restaurants that have Japanese front staff, but are not Japanese owned (Japango or Nami are supposed to be in this category). By the way, even though we didn’t get sushi by sushi reviews, the overall theme reminded me of my experience there, ambiance and novelty are the keys there even if the sushi is fair to good (but not excellent).
Maybe I should have been more specific :) meant to say the chefs and servers are Japanese. Yes, I heard the chefs at Yuzu, Japango and Sushi couture are all connected? As in they’ve worked together before.
I’ve always been curious about this place since it’s so close to me but I’ve been turned off by the conveyer belts since it seems so gimmicky! Guess I’ll just stick to Yuzu to satisfy my sushi craving.
Gotta love Yuzu ;D