Sushi Wave

You know, I was all set to say Sushi Wave was average.  I had been there fore a lackluster lunch service, and had some Chicken Jalapeño, some Teriyaki Salmon, Spicy Scallop sushi roll, and a Blue Georgia roll.  In a word, everything was pretty average.

Because Sushi Wave is the favorite place of a few close friends, I gave it another shot.  That time, I ordered a Cool Spring roll and Lollipop roll.  Here are the pics:

These pictures are worth a thousand words.  Craftily put together, delicious balance of flavors, imaginative.  I loved them.  The first wasn’t –that– imaginative, but it was a little, and the second roll was.  I also happen to be a sucker for sweet shrimp.  And that was sweet shrimp interspersed with avocado.

Freaking fried heads.  I love it.  The Cool Spring roll was a much more interesting, and delicious, take on the "classic" "American" Spider roll.  So, here is my verdict.  3 for the first trip, 4 for the second.  3.5 in total, and above average.  I would recommend giving them a try, in particular given the dearth of good downtown Seattle sushi lunch joints.  I’m excited to drop by for a dinner service and see if it’s better so maybe they can earn and out and out four.

Sushi Wave
2904 1st Avenue  Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 441-4348

Mon-Fri	11am–2:30pm, 5–9:30pm
Sat	5–9:30pm
Sun	Closed

3.5 of 5

Nobu - Dubai

Nobu Nobu Nobu.  After hearing about Nobu for years, I finally went to Nobu in Dubai.  I wanted to get the deluxe omakase because I doubted I would be back anytime soon.  The waiter, however, talked me out of Omakase Deluxe for Omakase (regular), reasoning that if this was my first Nobu experience the regular Omakase meal would provide a great overview of the restaurant.  I'm never opposed to saving a few dollars, and I appreciate waiters that do not recommend the most expensive thing on a menu, so I went with it.  I was a little disappointed in the end, but more to come...

Take a gander at that giant lobster!

I always feel like I'm in a pretentious place when I have to pay for still water.  Nobu was no exception - they brought me out Fiji - at least it's a personal favorite.  Water is water, after all, but Acqua Panna and Fiji are the two best bottled waters out there.  I digress.


First course. Yellowtail, salsa, cucumber, fried seaweed. The fried seaweed looked cool and tasted good.  Very tasty bites, but a bit unremarkable. Fresh, clean, but I will forget about that dish. (Being a little behind on blog posts, I can tell you I did actually forget about this dish... even if it does look like art.)

Second course. Salmon roll, salad roll, ginger roll, and miso dressing. Note the lack of rice in the salmon roll.  I love riceless sushi - like this, or wrapped with cucumber.  I'm a sucker for it.  The Miso "dressing" was light and sweet and delicious. Then Anchovies were a burst of flavor and nice texture contrast (see them fused together - they were like a cracker). The micro greens were flavorful, and the salmon roll was delicate and delicious too. (I did remember this dish, and I can still taste that pickled veg in my mouth today.)

Third course. Wood roasted oven Sole with Jalepeno sauce. Perfect crispy skin on the sole. Yum.  The sauce was good, light and fulfilling (though it didn't have much zip), and the flecks of flower on the top were a nice touch. It was the best Sole I've eaten, but not the best rendition of dishes of this type.

Fourth course. Alaskan black cod, with miso marinade. This is a Nobu house specialty. The sweet miso sauce very similar to the sauce on the second plate. This dish was very good, but I've had better marinated black cod cheeks at Maneki, a 100 year old Japanese restaurant in Seattle.  Maybe I am being a bit picky, but I was expecting real magic.  (It does look good, huh?)

Fifth course. Sizzling Beef Teppanyaki (on a personal stone plate) with mixed mushrooms. I was told this would be a Wagyu course on the Deluxe Omakase. I wish I'd ordered that now. The ju was so delicious that I could have poured it on a bowl of rice and eaten it like a porridge. A super rich, heart attack portage. Mmmm.  This was the first truly remarkable dish of the evening, and it would have been all the more spectacular with Wagyu. A word to the wise, order one shade under what you want, the beef continues to cook on the plate and Middle Easterners always overcook their meats. I ordered mine rare, and it ended up being a perfect mid-rare.

Sixth course. Sushi and miso. To say this was an incredibly sparing portion may do injustice to other sparing portions out there. Spicy tuna, salmon, seabass, and sweet shrimp were served. The Rice was perfectly cooked - not a trivial accomplishment. The spicy tuna, a scallion, Jalapeno, tuna roll was a tasty riff on the classic, but needed more spice for me. The miso soup had a hidden surprise, two pieces of clam at the bottom. While that was nice, this was by no means the best miso soup I've ever eaten. Again, nice, but not memorable. (Again, I'd literally forgotten about it.)

Seventh course.  "Pre-dessert" Tiramisu mochi. Shockingly delicious (since I don't generally like tiramisu and hate the flavor of coffee).  It was much more subtle than I expected with almost fruity notes. The consistency was not the best, but the ratio of mochi to ice cream was on the mark.

Eighth course. The finale was a warm chocolate souffle, a la a molten chocolate cake. The sorbet, a banana one, WAS one of the best I'd had and the dessert was a very successful end to the meal.  A real high note.  

Overall.  The wait staff was attentive and excellent.  Without a doubt they raised the quality of my experience.  Watching on during the preparation of dozens of sushi pieces and rolls was great fun while I sat at the sushi bar.  The ingredients looked fresh and of excellent quality, but the portions were stingy, small, and the price tag was high. I'd recommend the restaurant for impressing someone, like a prospective client, or for a trendy, modern Japanese atmosphere and special occasion. You can get numerous hard-to-find (in Dubai) luxurious ingredients like Otoro, Wagyu, etc.  This said, if you are not willing to shell out the money for specialty Japanese fare (and by specialty, I mean said hard to find items), you should probably go to somewhere more reasonably priced.


Nobu - Dubai
Atlantis (Hotel)
The Palm (Jumeirah)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
971.4.426.2626
4 of 5 (only 3 in its class - aka fine dining or fancy Japanese)

Sushi Maki

There was a day, a not very proud day, when my wife and I decided to spend about $60 and buy a huge plate of party sushi for just the two of us.  We did this at Sushi Maki, in Seattle's Capitol Hill because it has so little space inside. 


We ordered a party platter with a:
-Vegetarian roll
-Salmon Lover roll
-Spicy California roll
-California roll
-Spicy Yellowtail roll
-Salmon roll
-California roll with tobiko
-Shrimp Tempura roll
-Rainbow roll


and...
-Spicy Scallop handroll
-Tuna nigiri
-Salmon nigiri

In the end, my wife commented "everything sort of tasted the same."  She was right.  The Salmon Lover roll was a standout, the Spicy Scallop handroll was surprisingly not too great. Most things were "california-centric" and it did make all the pieces taste the same.  The nigiri was a little awkward, but ok enough.  It also didn't keep well in the fridge (though little sushi does).  With so many choices for sushi in Seattle, average probably isn't good enough.  It could have easily been 2.5, but the price was not bad...


Sushi Maki
1633 Bellevue Avenue  
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 264-0725
3 of 5 

Sagano at the Renaissance

Everything that Hanare and Tatsu were in Kuala Lumpur, Sagano at the Marriott's Renaissance (Hotel) was not.  Another Malaysia International Gourmet Festival participant and Japanese restaurant, Sagano was a very affordable option.  It was affordable for a reason, and that reason is that it was little better than average.  Apparently others enjoy it enough, see this blog here - though I stand by my do-not-recommend.

MIGF, or "restaurant week" for a month in KL, allowed the gluttonous to visit some prominent hotels and restaurants to order reasonably priced tasting menus.  My experience was not the best at Sagano.  First, I ordered the tasting menu, and found out it wasn't actually a tasting menu.  Although many menus said "or" along side courses that diners would need to select an option from, this menu made no such indication.  I was then forced to pick one, and of course I opted for Wagyu.  (This would not be a big deal, if it was clear.)

The waitstaff handled it interestingly, the waitress brought out a menu and rather unapologetically made me select one.  They then brought out a magazine to entertain me while waiting on the food.  The hotel felt a little past its prime in terms of decor, and there were very few patrons. The seat springs absolutely assaulted me. It was uncomfortable.  I was a little insulted when the waiter brought out silverware, assuming the white man couldn't use chopsticks. He apologized when I separated the chopsticks, collected his silverware, and scurried off.

With a better lens you'd see the seat is uneven, and not just the stains.

After making an effort to wave down the manager and a quick chat, I confirmed that the waitress either decided unilaterally that I wanted the light menu (although that is not why I ordered), or tried to save the kitchen food by making me chose a dish when it was in fact a tasting menu (aka, charging me full price for half the dinner).  The manager first seemed to indicate that I did have to make the choice, but once I actually pulled out the MIGF literature he apologized and proceeded to update the kitchen I would be having the full tasting menu.  It left me really wondering if everyone was on the same page.  I was lost.

So, this was my first Japanese restaurant visit in awhile, and I had to order sushi (over the top, I know).  I ordered the sushi deluxe, for about 130 Malaysian Ringgit extra (everything is just so cheap in Malaysia).  The price wasn't so bad by Western standards, but is a small fortune in Malaysia.  Unfortunately, it was anything but deluxe. It had regular tuna, flying fish and salmon roe, bass, and all, were - regular.  A piece of salmon was very good, but no different than what I get at home. I stole the shiso leaf from my other dish to add to my sushi to create one of my best sushi bites that evening.  I would never go here and order off the menu at full price if the sushi deluxe is any indication.  Moving on... 

Apps

The appetizers, unagi (eel) sushi and seaweed, deep-fried soft shell crab and sticky ginger soy sauce, and egg tofu and boiled live prawn with bainiku sauce were ok in sum.  The eel was quite good, the sauce with the softshell crab was bland but the crab was good, and the tofu was so-so. 

The best of these bites - Unagi

The salmon "starter" was nice, and I loved the 'char,' but there was just something off-putting about it. It was a medium rare Atlantic salmon with grated yam, hot spicy sauce, and ikura (roe).  It had a flavor that didn't belong, which may have been an enzyme from something with the salmon roe or just not fresh roe.  Alternatively, some other element in it might have not been good.  I couldn't be sure, but it was too bad that a full bite of the dish was less appealing than eating it piecemeal.

The main courses were simmered seabass and wintermellon with garlic crabmeat sauce, griled cod mentai mayonnaise sauce, wagyu striploin and trio of mushrooms with wasabi-teriyaki sauce, and diced chicken rice with herbs.

A winner

Weird mayo and veggies

The seabass was very nice, filled with pleasant subtle flavor.  The melon was a little lost in the dish, but the concept was sound. The cod had a crisp and delicious piece of lotus root and good flavors, but I would have traded the mayo and egg (flying fish roe or something akin to it) for crispy skin!  The wagyu was criminally, CRIMINALLY, overcooked.  It was about three shades above my order, but wagyu is just so juicy and soft that you needn't be too fussy about it.  The final main dish, the chicken dice, was a bit of a mess.  It was average, and lacking clarity, but I am a sucker for shiso and enjoyed the herbs.

Wagyu, overdone and bathed in sauce but still good

Bleh rice dish

The deserts were ok, but really not great. Kuzukiri in sugar syrup and red bean soup sounded good, but the red bean was too watery and the flavor was not developed. The noodles were a little unusual, and not bad.

Overall, the meal and service were average - but not worth the price.  Especially at full price. The flavor combinations, and development, were not expertly crafted.  At the conclusion of the meal, Chef (at the time) Mohd Zamri Abdul Rahman came out to speak with me and my neighbor for a few minutes.  He asked for our opinion, and I tested the water by saying the red bean soup could use a little improvement.  He informed us that it was "just like from Japan" and that they have weird things that wouldn't appeal to everyone's palate (not in those exact words).  I decided to simply thank him and call it good.  Unfortunately, it seems a few years at Hotel Nikko as a sous chef does not turn a Malaysian into a Japanese expert.  I can't say that I am either, but I know I haven't eaten something so bland and unskillfully combined in Japan as the red bean dessert soup.

Sagano

Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel

Level 1, West Wing

Corner of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Ampang

03-2162-2233

rhi.kulrn.fb@renaissancehotels.com

2 of 5 (on the back of wagyu that you cannot mess up)

Tatsu at the InterContinental

Tatsu was a happy accident.  I stumbled upon it based on the Malaysian International Gourmet Festival (basically an Eat Around Kuala Lumpur event).  InterContinental took over a Hotel Nikko, which you would expect to have good Japanese food.  The hotel was remodeled, and so was Tatsu.  The menu was enough to draw me in:

Apps:

-Japanese Yam and Friend Anchovy Bruschetta

-Tuna and Trifoliate Citrus Leaves with Wasabi Sauce

-Avocado and Sweet Shrimp with Spiced Cod Roe

-Sushi with Eel, Avocado and Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab served with Almond Sauce

Starters:

-Sautéed Tiger Prawns and Eryngii Mushrooms topped with Japanese Soba Sauce

-Foie Gras Steak in Cod Fish Teriyaki

Main:

-Tatsu's Volcanic Stone Grilled Wagyu Beef with Ginger Soyu and Tatsu's Spicey Dip with Green Tea Onigiri

Desserts:

-Dried Fruit Tempura served with Chocolate and Red Bean Fondue

Does that sound good?  Well, it was.  We walked in, were greeted instantly by a number of people in the waitstaff, and the sushi chef behind the bar.  There were not a lot of diners, and the spartan, contemporary simple Asian decor looked even more sparse without patrons.  Word to the wise, omakase must be ordered in advance and is ordered course-by-course.

Our waitress took our order, the front-of-the-house manager poked by here and there to offer an explanation or suggestion, and all around the service was excellent.  We placed a little order of Scallop and Bontio sushi to go along with the tasting menu.  The scallops were fresh, delicate, butter-like and delicious.  The bonito fish came out with a few scallions, and was so fresh it was almost criminal.  I wish I could have eaten a pound of it.

Aside from the extra sushi, the dinner began with a little pickled carrot, and radish.  They were nice, and had a little more taste than an average Korean restaurant.  The Japanese Yam was salty and tasty. Then you ate the tuna, a delectable little bite with a soft soy flavor and touch of seaweed for a little extra taste of the sea.  The sweet shrimp, there was nothing to not like.  It was a nice balance of shrimp, egg, and avocado - and sweet shrimp in general is a treat.  The sushi was amazing, and the addition of the crunch with slivered almonds was a first (surprisingly) for me.  It won't be a last.

The "starters" that following did not disappoint.  The cod was utterly stunning.  The foie gras was every bit as good as you'd hope, and the pairing was made complete by the chef creating a small pocket for it in the cod piece.  The teriyaki was not overdone, so you could still taste the sweetness of the foie gras and cod.  Surprisingly, the "spot" tiger prawn soup was overshadowed by the cod, and was good - but a footnote compared to the other dishes.

Wagyu is synonymous with yum to me.  Sadly, I asked for rare to mid-rare, and the waitress, who cooked the steak on a stone at the table, cooked it to medium.  Not to stereotype, but she was Asian and didn't seem completely comfortable cooking a rare steak (a la many Middle Eastern people who also look at you funny when you make such a request).  Also, many people say that Wagyu is best served at medium because of caramelization of flavor.  Well, how a medium, verging on medium well steak remains like butter, is a happy mystery.  Everyone has heard the mythology surrounding Kobe beef, or Wagyu (simply not from Kobe), but it's remarkable when you eat it, and cool, rare, or mid-well, it remains just as soft, buttery, and delicious.  I just wish that it was grass fed and had that beautiful grass-fed tang.

Cooking it in front of us

Take a look at the formed, crisp rice, also beautiful, herbaceous, delicious.

The dessert was fantastic.  The fruit was tasty, and a great choice in Southeast Asia.  The chocolate, with some red beans, had this flavor that was almost reminiscent of cherry.  It was so delicious, honestly, that the waitress eventually brought out two spoons for my dinner companion and me to eat a few scoops.  We didn't finish off the chocolate, but only by exercising the greatest of self control.

One of the best Japanese meals I have had anywhere, let alone Kuala Lumpur.


Tatsu

InterContinental Kuala Lumpur

165, Jalan Ampang

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

03-2782-6118

tatsu@intercontinental-kl.com.my

4.5 of 5 

Doraku Sushi

First, visit Doraku Sushi's website.  (Wow, right!)  Next, visit Doraku Sushi.  You can feel the trendiness oozing out of all its pores.  Hip, Hop, Happening.  All this aside, the food is pretty good, but looks quite impressive...

We ate the Hamachi Carpaccio:

New Style Doraku Roll:

Kagu-tsuchi Roll "God of Fire":

South Beach Roll:

Ono:  

Uni:

Hotate:

California Roll:

Bananas Flambé:  

The meal was nice.  A little pricey, but not too bad (and we did pay quite a bit because we ordered quite a bit).  The Hamachi Carpaccio, while not my personal favorite, ended up converting my wife to the concept of fish carpaccio.  She enjoyed it so much that she has since ordered it two more times at other restaurants.  For me, the fish was just a little fishy, signifying that the restaurant might have used product that was a few days old (since they were serving it with a healthy amount of acidic sauce).  This is not always the case with these type of preparations, but I am fairly certain it was at Doraku.  


My other gripe was that the South Beach Roll (our least favorite of the day) had too much liquid.  And we have had better "salsa" on sushi before too.  The result was the roll was messy and the bottom of the sushi would fall out.  This, coupled with the lack of punchy flavor made it a miss.  We would not order that roll again.  The Hotate were not the very best, but they were ok.  Of the three sushi types, I would be least likely to put in another order for the scallops.  


In the plus column, the Nigiri sushi's Ono was light and fresh, the Uni was creamy, and the California roll (while an industry standard) was nice. The best roll we ordered was certainly the New Style Doraku Roll, both my wife and I agreed.  The God of Fire roll was what you expected, a mixture of various spicy ingredients.  My wife made it through most of her half of the roll, but in the end the bit of habanero punch was just a bit too much for her and she knocked off her jalapeño.  I ate the balance -one piece or so.  


Overall, I think the restaurant got a bump from the solid 3.5 to 4 range based squarely off the kind and attentive wait staff, and the enjoyable open air venue.  My wife loves sushi restaurants which offer a plethora of distinctive roll options, which Doraku does beautifully.  I prefer sushi restaurant where you are bowled over by the freshness of the fish and daily special delicacies, while still offering a nice variety of unique signature plates.  For me, Doraku was not quite what I like, but exactly what my wife enjoys.  After all, Happy Wife, Happy Life...


Doraku Sushi 
2233 Kalakaua Avenue  
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 922-3323
4 of 5