Back to Wasabi

Well, I finally took my family to Wasabi on Broadway last Saturday, and I knew at least my sis and I would absolutely be indulging ourselves on sushi. Mom can handle the stuff alright as well, but Dad is another story. Imagine my surprise then when he tried the New Style Sashimi and said he actually really liked it! Man, this chef must be doing something really right then!

With at least another sushi lover with me I was able to try some more stuff this time around.

To start things off, we all had our own orders of sunomono salad, the special that night being the lobster claw. Since the claw was fully cooked we knew Dad could easily handle that, and it was superb! The salad was light, perfect for a hot summer day. Bonita was the first of all of us to notice that the salad dressing was spiked with a hint of miso, and she realized that with a bit of trial and error she could do something similar at home herself. Beneath the lobster claw is a bed of shredded cucumber and mung bean vermicelli with a rice wine vinegar & miso dressing.

Next Bonita and I had New Style Sashimi, the tuna upgraded to bluefin. I won't describe the dish again, but suffice it to say that my sister loved it, and even Dad was able to enjoy it as well! There are three slices each of bluefin tuna, salmon and Chilean sea bass.

Dad ordered the Salmon & Tempura entree, one of the few fully cooked dishes available at this restaurant. The salmon was cooked just right to still be moist inside.

Mom ordered the (Chilean) Sea Bass & Tempura entree. They weren't kidding when they said the sea bass was marinated for 3 days, this melt-in-your-mouth fish had a punch of flavour through and through.

These are two of the three sushi dishes Bonita and I first ordered. The one with the green tobiko (flying fish roe) is "Mango Tango", with mango, avocado, alfalfa sprouts and tempura shrimp drizzled with wasabi mayo. The ones further back are the "Godzilla Roll", with avocado, tempura shrimp and fried soft shell crab. Delicious!

This was the third dish, the "Volcano Roll". Inside the roll is avocado and eel. The wam sauce draped over the sushi pieces is made of spicy mayo, tobiko and chopped scallops. Of the sushi I had that night, this is still perhaps my personal favourite.

With Bonita and I still having room in our stomachs, we ordered a bit more. This one if memory serves me right is "Ocean Jewel", with avocado, king crab and asparagus, the roll wrapped in the usual nori (seaweed) and sweetened egg as the outer wrapping.

This is toro (tuna belly) sashimi, the cut of all cuts in Japanese sushi cuisine. They were absolutely heavenly, and I was a bit surprised that Dad could tolerate it pretty well, considering this is the fattiest, and therefore the most flavourful, part of a fish. Furthermore, tuna fat melts at a low temperature, the flavour "oozing" once that piece hits your tongue.

Lastly, we decided to try the beef version of New Style Sashimi, and though the flavouring was just as nice as the fish version, unfortunately with beef you do have to deal with some tougher parts of the meat, though the chefs are not to blame for this. Each slice of beef here is wrapped around a slice of fresh shiitake mushrooms.