Ethnic Restaurants in Jyväskylä – Japanese

We compared two sushi restaurants in Jyväskylä through our own experiences. The restaurants we compared were Hanko sushi and Haiku sushi. At first we noticed the differences about the lunch prices. Haiku sushi is cheaper in comparison to Hanko sushi. In Hanko you can get lunch in three sizes. The first one is small and it costs 10 euros, the second is medium and costs 13,50 euros and the last one is large and costs 16,50 euros. You can also have all lunches in vegetarian versions. There are multiple other options too for you to choose. For example the Salmon lunch which contains only different kinds of salmon sushis.

Haiku sushi is a buffet place and from Monday to Friday, from 11-16 it costs 11,90 euros and from 16.00 onwards it is 16,90 euros. On weekends it is 16,90 euros and Sundays students can eat cheaper, for only 12,90 euros.

As an experiment Hanko sushi was rather cute. The restaurant is pretty small, but very cozy. It is probably a better place for couples and friends to spend time and enjoy food. Even though the place was cozy and the food was great, the rations are too small to eat your stomach full. But the idea of the place is fine dining not to eat yourself full, so I would not go here if I were starving, but I would go here if I had a little craving for food. Also the place is not among the cheapest, so if you want to fill your stomach here, you have to pay a little bit more.

Haiku sushi on the other hand is a buffet where you go to eat as much as you can. As mentioned before, compared to Hanko it is cheaper. It offers better value for your money and it is a lunch place where people go when they want to eat right away. It is a friendlier place for families and students who want to eat cheap and to chill. Compared to Hanko, which is more stylish, Haiku is very cool place to eat, even tough it is not so private. Haiku has great food, and it is not only about sushi. They also have for example rice, a couple kinds of sauces, spring rolls, and deep fried chicken and vegetables.

So, to summarize we would say that both places are great. Both of them are suited for eating while catching up with friends or with your family. We will surely visit these places again in the future and we can recommend them also to others. Just remember which is a better place to have a little meal, and which is better to have a full stomach. We hope that they will refresh their menus in the future or would be able to keep their business interesting. We hope that they will not follow too much trends and will remember their ethnic backgrounds what comes to their foods.

Text and photos: Mira Korkalo, Iitu Taponen, Verna Paananen (Group Food Travelers/Course Food Culture)