When is the last time you've been to a restaurant for which you had high expectations and those expectations were not only met, but exceeded to the point where you were left speechless by some of the plates set in front of you? For me, it was a few months ago when I ate at Uni Sashimi Bar.
Considered one of the best restaurants in Boston, if not the country, Uni Sashimi Bar is tucked inside the Eliot Hotel in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. Owned by James Beard award-winning chef Ken Oringer, chef Chris Chung was heading up the sashimi bar at the time of my visit. Since then, chef Chris Gould has taken over the reigns has been doing a fantastic job.
On this night at Uni Sashimi Bar, Chef Chung transported me and my fellow diners to Japan for an amazing feast of fresh Japanese seafood prepared with both subtle and bold flavors. Chef Chung masterfully sliced and prepared flown-in fresh Japanese fish like pink sea breem, Japanese sea robin, and Japanese greenling. I had never heard of these fish or the incredible Japanese pen shell, a giant type of razor clam with which I would instantly fall in love. In addition to the incredible raw fish preparations, I also tried a few tempura preparations. First, the highly regarded and oft-reviewed rock shrimp tempura served with spicy red pepper aioli and Korean pepper threads, and then, the tempura of seasonal vegetables with soy-dashi dipping sauce and miso aioli. The tempura batter on both of these preparations was very light and well seasoned. Both the shrimp and vegetables were fried to perfection.
Of all the great Japanese fish I ate on this night, my favorite dish may have been Chef Chung's Scottish Salmon preparation of perfectly sliced salmon sashimi served with homemade Chinese black bean tapenade and fresh ginger. The salmon was the freshest, most perfect melt-in-your-mouth salmon I have ever had, and the black bean tapenade was a delicious blend of fermented black beans, fresh ginger and garlic.
Another dish that really blew me away was the taragai and uni. Taragai is the Japanese pen shell (giant razor clam) and uni is the roe of the sea urchin. The pen shell as I mentioned is a giant razor clam from Japan that reminded of both a scallop (sweetness) and a clam (texture). The uni, slightly warmed, was super fresh, delivered earlier that day from a fishery in Maine. The flavors and textures of this dish were amazing. The sweetness of the super fresh uni and the texture of the slightly sweet pen shell worked so well together.
In addition to having the freshest available fish and shellfish, Uni also has some pretty outstanding cocktails. Prepared by the bartenders in Clio, another Ken Oringer restaurant inside of the Eliot Hotel, the hand-crafted cocktails did not disappoint. I tried an original creation, allowing the bartender to craft my cocktail based on a few simple instructions, make it with good gin, not too sweet, and stiff. Whatever I was served (I failed to write it down) was outstanding. My friend tried the Enter the Dragon cocktail (Stoli Ohranj vodka, Cointreau, kalamansi lime juice and cayenne pepper) which was also excellent, spicy, tart, and sweet.
I highly recommend a visit to Uni Sashimi Bar whether it is for a special occasion or just a night out on the town. Follow them on Facebook for information on their Maki Monday and Sake Bomb Tuesday specials that make it fun and affordable to eat there on a regular basis.
Offerings at Uni change regular with what is fresh and available, here is what I ate on my visit:
* Anago Tempura (Salt Water Eel) with green tea salt and shirred egg
Duck egg is removed from the shell, gently cooked with butter, yogurt and fleur de sel, then returned to the shell creating this amazing, custardy, incredibly delicious compliment to the beautifully fried, unbelievable fresh salt water eel that was dusted with green tea salt.
* Taragai & Uni (Japanese Pan Shell and Sea Urchin) with XO Sauce, myoga & garlic soy
Outstanding dish, salty, sweet, fresh, amazing textures. Tairagai, or Japanese Pen Shell is a giant Japanese razor clam. It had textural qualities of both a scallop (sweetness) and a clam (texture). The Uni was slightly warmed and the combination of flavors and textures in this dish were out of this world. The Uni was from Maine.
Rock Shrimp Tempura with spicy red pepper aioli and Korean pepper threads
Lightly battered, perfectly cooked rock shrimp. The spicy aoili was slightly spicy and delicate, a perfect emulsion.
Tempura of Seasonal Vegetables with soy-dashi dipping sauce and miso aioli
The soy-dashi dipping sauce was a perfect accompaniment for the lightly battered, tender vegetables. The miso aioli was slightly sweet. The two dipping sauces offered a choice of salty, sweet, and incredible umami flavors to the already nicely seasoned vegetables.
* Tuna Ceviche (Yellowfin Tuna) with coconut, chilies and lemongrass
Perfect pieces of tuna dressed in wonderfully sweet, slightly spicy, and incredibly fresh sauce of coconut milk, fresh chilies and lemongrass. Topped with fried ginger and fresh scallions, this was delicious. While the amazing tuna would have been perfect by itself, the addition of the sauce made me very happy. I would have been almost as happy with some tuna sashimi and a glass of the coconut, chile, lemongrass sauce to drink on the side.
* Scottish Salmon with Chinese black bean tapenade and fresh ginger
The most perfect piece of salmon sashimi I have ever had and the most fresh and unique black bean tapenade. To make the tapenade, Chef Chung combines Chinese fermented black beans with fresh ginger and garlic. So good.
* Ainame (Japanese Greenling) with shiso, asian pear puree, romesco & benetade
Sweet, nutty, delicious.
* Houbou (Japanese Sea Robin) with candied yuzu kosho, radishes and myoga
Citrusy, very mild fish, great combination of flavors.
Uni Sashimi Bar
370 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Ph. 617.536.7200
http://www.unisashimibar.com
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Monday, May 10, 2010
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Sushi and Seviche at Sushi Samba
It should be clear by now that I love sushi, and one of my all time favorite places to eat sushi is Sushi Samba in New York City. This restaurant is a Japanese Peruvian fusion and it is outstanding. There are two locations in Manhattan, one on 7th Avenue South which has super high energy and outdoor seating and the second on Park Avenue South which has a sultry lounge called Sugarcane attached to it. Whether you choose to eat at the 7th Avenue location or the Park Avenue location, you will always be guaranteed great food! There are also Sushi Samba locations in Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv, and now Las Vegas.
This past weekend I was lucky enough to be in New York and convincing enough to persuade my friends to go to Sushi Samba with me on Saturday night. We started off with a round of cocktails, I had a caiparinha, Brazil's national drink made from cachaça, sugar and lime. Next up was an order sawagani, also known as Japanese river crabs. The little guys can be found swimming around most fresh water streams in Japan, and you can see them swimming around when you enter the 7th Avenue location. Once they enter the kitchen, though, they are flash fried, salted, and arranged single file on a long white plate. The crabs are extremely crunchy on the outside with a soft, velvety crab texture inside. This is definitely extreme eating - just pop them in your mouth whole, and crunch!
Following the river crabs was a sampler of four amazing seviches! A yellowtail sashimi seviche with ginger, garlic & soy, a lobster sashimi seviche with mango and lime, a tuna sashimi seviche with grapefruit juice, jalapeno & almond, and a king salmon sashimi seviche with guava, carrot & mojito splash. Each seviche was amazing and bursting with flavor. They were fresh, fruity, and simply delicious. If you go to Sushi Samba and only order one thing, order one of these!
While we were all drooling over the seviches, our platter of sushi arrived. We ordered three Samba rolls plus the Sushi and Sashimi deluxe platter which came with the Green Envy Roll. Picture from the left are the green envy roll with tuna, salmon, asparagus, aji amarillo-key lime mayo & wasabi pea crust, a special Samba roll with tempura rock shrimp, a Pacific roll with king crab, avocado, Asian pear, soy paper & wasabi-avocado crema, and a Rainbow Dragon Roll with freshwater eel, red bell pepper, cucumber, mango & avocado. The sushi and sashimi that came with deluxe platter included tuna, salmon and yellowtail sashimi plus unagi (eel), ebi (shrimp), hirame (fluke/halibut), and maguro (tuna) sushi. Each of the Samba rolls except the Rainbow Dragon came with a special dipping sauce and each were excellent. This was a seriously good platter of sushi, some of the best we've ever had.
After we devoured the platter we wanted to see what the sushi chefs at Sushi Samba were really made of, so we asked the chef in front of us, we were seated at the sushi bar, to make us something special. What he came up with was creative, visually appealing, and incredibly delicious! The chef took a a wooden form mold and started building something great. He put down some rice, topped it with unagi (freshwater eel), avocado, and red jalapeno, and then more rice on top. He them put a top onto the form and pressed down, creating something akin to a sushi sandwich. The picture of his creation is below, but it's a little blurry. He took his creation out of the form, cut it into triangles, topped it with a little eel sauce and orange tobiko, and set it down in front of us. It was so good and such an honor for us to have had the chef make this just for us!
Finally, we finished our meal with a dessert sampler which ended up being on the house; maybe because we gave the sushi chef the honor of creating something special? Anyway, this dessert sampler contained a flan like dessert, a dish of seasonal fresh fruit, berry sponge & yuzu sorbet, a soft Japanese rice cake filled with ice cream, and a warm chocolate banana cake with maple butter, banana chip & vanilla rum ice cream. The yuzu sorbet (back right) was sprinkled with Pop Rocks!! What a surprise that was!
I can't wait to get back to New York City so I can eat at Sushi Samba again. I have never had a bad meal there, in fact, every meal I have ever had at Sushi Samba has been amazing. The sushi is always fresh, the seviche is always creative and bursting with flavor, and the cocktails are always great.
The next time you find yourself in New York, or Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv or Las Vegas, make it a point to go to Sushi Samba!
This past weekend I was lucky enough to be in New York and convincing enough to persuade my friends to go to Sushi Samba with me on Saturday night. We started off with a round of cocktails, I had a caiparinha, Brazil's national drink made from cachaça, sugar and lime. Next up was an order sawagani, also known as Japanese river crabs. The little guys can be found swimming around most fresh water streams in Japan, and you can see them swimming around when you enter the 7th Avenue location. Once they enter the kitchen, though, they are flash fried, salted, and arranged single file on a long white plate. The crabs are extremely crunchy on the outside with a soft, velvety crab texture inside. This is definitely extreme eating - just pop them in your mouth whole, and crunch!
Following the river crabs was a sampler of four amazing seviches! A yellowtail sashimi seviche with ginger, garlic & soy, a lobster sashimi seviche with mango and lime, a tuna sashimi seviche with grapefruit juice, jalapeno & almond, and a king salmon sashimi seviche with guava, carrot & mojito splash. Each seviche was amazing and bursting with flavor. They were fresh, fruity, and simply delicious. If you go to Sushi Samba and only order one thing, order one of these!
While we were all drooling over the seviches, our platter of sushi arrived. We ordered three Samba rolls plus the Sushi and Sashimi deluxe platter which came with the Green Envy Roll. Picture from the left are the green envy roll with tuna, salmon, asparagus, aji amarillo-key lime mayo & wasabi pea crust, a special Samba roll with tempura rock shrimp, a Pacific roll with king crab, avocado, Asian pear, soy paper & wasabi-avocado crema, and a Rainbow Dragon Roll with freshwater eel, red bell pepper, cucumber, mango & avocado. The sushi and sashimi that came with deluxe platter included tuna, salmon and yellowtail sashimi plus unagi (eel), ebi (shrimp), hirame (fluke/halibut), and maguro (tuna) sushi. Each of the Samba rolls except the Rainbow Dragon came with a special dipping sauce and each were excellent. This was a seriously good platter of sushi, some of the best we've ever had.
After we devoured the platter we wanted to see what the sushi chefs at Sushi Samba were really made of, so we asked the chef in front of us, we were seated at the sushi bar, to make us something special. What he came up with was creative, visually appealing, and incredibly delicious! The chef took a a wooden form mold and started building something great. He put down some rice, topped it with unagi (freshwater eel), avocado, and red jalapeno, and then more rice on top. He them put a top onto the form and pressed down, creating something akin to a sushi sandwich. The picture of his creation is below, but it's a little blurry. He took his creation out of the form, cut it into triangles, topped it with a little eel sauce and orange tobiko, and set it down in front of us. It was so good and such an honor for us to have had the chef make this just for us!
Finally, we finished our meal with a dessert sampler which ended up being on the house; maybe because we gave the sushi chef the honor of creating something special? Anyway, this dessert sampler contained a flan like dessert, a dish of seasonal fresh fruit, berry sponge & yuzu sorbet, a soft Japanese rice cake filled with ice cream, and a warm chocolate banana cake with maple butter, banana chip & vanilla rum ice cream. The yuzu sorbet (back right) was sprinkled with Pop Rocks!! What a surprise that was!
I can't wait to get back to New York City so I can eat at Sushi Samba again. I have never had a bad meal there, in fact, every meal I have ever had at Sushi Samba has been amazing. The sushi is always fresh, the seviche is always creative and bursting with flavor, and the cocktails are always great.
The next time you find yourself in New York, or Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv or Las Vegas, make it a point to go to Sushi Samba!
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