When Van Siang Mawi and his team of sushi chefs first approached Paul Mueller about opening a location inside the Seward Pac 'N' Save, Mueller balked. It just didn't seem worth it at the time.
The two sides met again months later. That time Mueller couldn't say no. All he asked was a few weeks to get the equipment and then Seward would get its first sushi restaurant. This one inside the grocery store.
“It's done quite well,” Mueller said.
Siang Mawi said it's mainly a team of him and two other chefs. They work from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. preparing fresh sushi every day. They get fresh ingredients every day. And every single day they prepare sushi to order or to stock the cooler in front of the kiosk. Leftover sushi at the end of the day gets thrown out and new sushi replaces it the following morning.
“We make it fresh and very healthy,” Siang Mawi said. “If we cannot sell today we will throw away. It's only good for 24 hours.”
He said the most popular choices so far have been the shrimp tempura, California roll and the crispy roll. The menu ranges from a variety of vegetarian options, a majority of cooked and uncooked sushi, some sushi platters and a few to-go options.
This isn't the chefs' first endeavor. They own and operate about 80 different sushi locations in markets they believe are untapped by other sushi restaurants. And Seward has proven to be that.
Siang Mawi and his team have been busy since opening on Nov. 10.
Facebook comments about the addition complimented the staff's helpful recommendations and complimented them on the quality. Another said they'd never tried sushi before but assured Pac 'N' Save that they would return for more.
So for those curious grocery shoppers who eye the stand but can't talk themselves into trying it, the chefs aren't going anywhere.
“We don't have a day off,” Siang Mawi said. “We're here every day.”
