You’re only as good as your last meal at Vancouver’s Sushi Hil restaurant

Shortly after graduating from high school, Hilary Nguy made up his mind to follow a career path into professional cooking. But his specialization in sushi? That came much more by chance.

“I actually fell into sushi by accident,” Nguy says. “One of my best friends’ parents had bought a sushi restaurant, and then they basically were looking for an apprentice, so I gave it a shot.”

And he’s been doing it ever since.

Cooking Japanese cuisine now for more than two decades, Nguy (also known as Chef Hil) is the chef-owner of Vancouver restaurant Sushi Hil.

“Sushi is very handcrafted and it’s very personal,” says Nguy of his chosen speciality. “So each sushi chef style can be uniquely their own, based on how they were trained and what their own philosophy is.”

At his Michelin Bib Gourmand-recommended restaurant at 3330 Main St., an establishment that is a frequent fixture on Vancouver’s best-sushi-restaurant lists, Nguy prefers to stick close to the traditions and techniques of classic Japanese chefs.

“My main focus is to create food that is balanced and delicious, and then trying to put my own personal taste into it,” he says.

With an undeniable focus on fresh cuts of fish, Nguy points to bluefin tuna as a backbone of his sushi repertoire.

“The heart of a sushi bar is tuna, and I really want that to be the focus here,” Nguy says.

Nguy further built out the menu with a selection of other traditional Japanese dishes.

“One of our real fan favourites is a chawanmushi, which is a traditional steamed egg,” he notes. “But then, we add our own spin.”

That spin comes by way of foie gras — fatty poultry liver — added into the egg dish. The chef says the combination is “really well-balanced” while being beautifully rich.

Seasonal menu items also have a place on the assemblage of dishes at Sushi Hil.

“Quite honestly, I’ve been into a lot of vegetables lately,” he says.

It’s not the first time either.

Nguy’s resume includes time spent working with the Cactus Club as a consultant on their food program, including sushi. While working with the popular restaurant chain, Nguy began to dabble with introducing more vegetables into rolls.

“I used tomatoes, and it didn’t land on the Cactus menu at that time,” he recalls. “But then, I knew that it was very unique.”

Instead, Nguy went on to incorporate some of those experimental additions to his own restaurant menu.

“A lot of the rolls that you see here are traditional in a way, but very modern in a way,” he explains.

Recalling falling in love with food at an early age thanks to his mom’s devotion to making home-cooked meals for the busy family of 10, Nguy works to share his love of food with his own family these days.