Very northern, very delicious: Meet the sushi queen of the Northern Peninsula

Michelle Lidstone weaves in and out of her commercial kitchen with ease.

Only taking a break to serve one of her customers with a smile, and one of her custom dishes. 

"Do you want any sauces with that, my lover?" she says to a customer picking up tempura shrimp and tuna sushi.

Her repertoire of dishes could give Gordon Ramsay a run for his money. Only Lidstone is thousands of kilometres away from where she gets her spices, and her dining room is actually a gas station with beer, doughnuts and people talking about the weather. 

"If I don't have it, you don't need it," said Lidstone, 57, smiling behind an apron while prepping sushi — everything from California rolls to tempura shrimp. 

"I just learned how to do this from a Japanese guy. That is an awesome guy, and an awesome cook. His name is Goki. And he taught me everything I need to know about Asian food." 

Lidstone says they traded kitchen secrets. She taught him how to make Canadian food and he taught her how to make sushi.

"And sushi is always best fresh. It's no good if it's not fresh and warm," she said.

WATCH | Michelle Lidstone says if you can't find it in her store, you don't need it: 

Michelle and her husband Dean have been running the multifaceted gas station for 25 years.

Lidstone's Irving is off the beaten path; located in Roddickton-Bide Arm. It's just under two hours off Route 430, sheltered by mountains and the ocean. But despite its isolated location and challenges to the local economy, business is good.

Lidstone won't give away her recipes, but she says the secret to success in a small town is diversifying your product. 

"If I did not have all this food that I am providing, I don't think my business would make it," she said

She makes an array of food that sells out weekly. Some are combos that people order in advance.

"It's sushi, Chinese food, and Asian food. Like I do teriyaki chicken with sesame seeds," Lidstone said.

On top of that, she has Italian dishes, pilaf rice, fancy burgers and hometown favourite cold plates.

"Everybody loves a cold plate," said Lidstone, who first started cooking with her mother in Labrador City, where she grew up.

To this day, she still uses her mother's homemade pizza dough recipe, and runs her kitchen just like her mother did, with passion and the desire to make people happy through food.

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