Fuga Japanese Brasserie, Auckland, NZ

Posted on May 9, 2016 by melsmosaic

On the second night in Auckland, opted to go for some Japanese fare. Found a place right around the corner from the hotel, Fuga Japanese Brasserie, that wasn’t busy. It was also pretty hidden/subtle. When we walked in, we were definitely in the minority, which likely meant it was not common for tourists to check this place out. Makes it all the better.

The table opted for some sake and Japanese brew.

Went for some pretty basic food options that night. Some nice soup (it was cold out that day), fresh salad, sashimi and nigiri.

Pretty good, though the fish didn’t have any outstanding flavor. The service was a bit slow, but very nice. Good choice overall.

Green Bamboo

Posted on February 9, 2016 by melsmosaic

Had a recommendation from a friend for a great Asian restaurant in Rockville, MD right next to the Twinbrook Metro station to check out. It’s Green Bamboo. They have various food and drink happy hours as well as evening food specials.

I started with a simple house Asian salad with ginger dressing — a whopping $2 for the special of the evening. It was made with spinach, which was unique. This thing was huge, with a great taste.

I ordered the Sashimi dinner that had 6 different fish on it. It also comes with soup. The pieces were all so good. I very much remember the salmon and how it just melted in my mouth. The platter also had these great spirals of carrots. Very nice presentation.

My friend ordered some rolls and sashimi pieces that were very nicely done and apparently tasted very good.

My one comment, don’t ask about wine here. The waitress had little awareness of dry wine, or even what sauv blanc vs riesling are. So go basic or know what you want.

Overall, great dinner, check this place out. Good prices, good service and good to have on your list.

Momoji

Posted on December 24, 2015 by melsmosaic

Recently dined at a sushi restaurant in Chinatown, DC, Momoji to be exact. You walk in and they have a very small bright downstairs area or you can ask to go upstairs to a more quaint (sort 0f) Asian restaurant.

photo source: momijidc.com

We were there right at the end of happy hour and there were some great prices on the menu that we were able to snag with 5 minutes left. Note: you can only order 1 drink/per person at a time. Even if you were the only person sitting at the table, you can only order one drink at a time. You can’t stockpile pre-end of happy hour. Really?

Cocktail-wise we opted for some asian beer and a pear drink. That thing was pretty good.

They had some seasonal food on the menu and a Christmas roll came to the table.

I ordered the squid salad…very good (sorry for the bad light in the picture).

For main indulgence we got the Chirashi Dinner of 13 pcs sashimi (chef’s choice) over seasoned rice. So good with several varieties of fish. Every piece of that got finished!

Overall good food. Service was slow, happy hour had good prices. Worth checking out if you’re in the area.

Poke Tuna

Posted on September 3, 2015 by melsmosaic

I love tuna, I love sashimi, but then was told about Poke Tuna — new one to me. Hmmm…time to check this stuff out. Of course had to google this term and millions of things came up. How to narrow this down? Was tough to pick one, but it did have to happen.

Ingredients

1 pound Ahi tuna loin cut into 1/2 inch dice — used the frozen stuff from TJ’s after some recommendations because it’s flash frozen
1/4 cup minced maui onion
1 teaspoon grated ginger
3 tablespoons scallions thinly sliced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Juice of half lime

Whisk together all ingredients except for tuna. When ready to serve combine dressing with tuna and squeeze a half lime over top.

So good, so easy…and tough not to keep eating and eating! Great for summer (though, yes, I know it’s about over), since it’s a no-cook meal. Have some this weekend as we head into Labor Day and the hot temps are still around.

Sashimi-me

Posted on August 2, 2015 by melsmosaic

Hot days mean cool dinners. When Bon Appetit arrives at my door it means reading the index of recipes first to see what needs to be made! The recent issue has so much good stuff it was/is hard to pick. But with the recent temps of 90+, little cooking is ideal. So the recipe of Snapper Sashimi with Seaweed and Fennel could not be turned down (the hardest part, honestly, was going to the grocery store after sitting at the pool for awhile).

Ingredients (oh the fun…)

-2 teaspoons dried cut wakame seaweed (I went to Whole Foods. You can either buy a bag of these things for about $8. Or, after talking to one of the guys who works there, we decided that I could try using one of the little seaweed snack pieces, that look like green stained glass, that cost $1.99 cost the entire box…hmmm…
-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 teaspoon finely grated peeled horseradish (I can’t eat the stuff so can’t tell you what it tastes like with this, but I am sure it add tons of great taste)
-1 teaspoon soy sauce
-1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
-Small pinch of sugar
-Kosher salt
-¼ small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced on a mandoline (just random, there were no regular size fennel bulbs, just these tiny guys, maybe the size of 2 or 3 grape tomatoes, pretty cute, then they have tons or fronds. I saved those, heck yeah!)
-2 small radishes, trimmed, very thinly sliced on a mandoline
-½ pound skinless, boneless red snapper fillet, sliced ¼ inch thick (Let’s talk about Whole Foods and fish. The recipe also says “The type of fish you use is less important than its quality. Black bass, striped bass, and fluke all translate well.” They didn’t have any of those on a Friday evening. It’s ‘rush hour’ — I didn’t know what to do, not did the guy working. He deduced that I could try Cobia. I just still just a bit taken aback that Whole Foods didn’t have any of the prime seafood it called for)
-½ cup chervil leaves (Another problem, Whole Foods had no chevril leaves, ok, I live walking distance from it and did not want to drive to get anything. The produce guy said the best substitute would be flat leaf parsley)
-1 teaspoon fennel pollen (optional)
-Flaky sea salt

Getting all this together was pretty easily, definitely fun.

Directions:

-Soak wakame in 1 Tbsp. cold water in a small bowl to rehydrate, 5–8 minutes; drain. Ok, it was sort of slimy afterwards — very cool.

(Don’t forget to take those radishes and that fennel to the mandoline).

Combine lime juice, oil, horseradish, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and sugar in a medium bowl; season with kosher salt. Add fennel, radishes, and seaweed to dressing; toss to combine.

Arrange snapper (or fish at hand) on a platter. Spoon dressing and vegetables over and top with chervil and fennel pollen, if using; season with sea salt. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.

WOW! The Asian-flair of flavors all came together to hit the palate and gave an amazing taste. I also happened to serve this on a platter I bought in Japan so of course it made it taste even better! So good. Will definitely try it with bass, too.

Daikaya

Posted on December 7, 2014 by melsmosaic

Checked out a new restaurant in DC the other night after various suggestions and trying not to go for the tried and true that I’ve had. So, I have now check Daikaya in Gallery Place-Chinatown off my list.

I was told that it has two levels and be sure to go upstairs. I naturally picked the wrong place to go at first. Their lower level is a noodles restaurant for quick, easy meals. It’s perfect to grab before a game (this place is right next to the Verizon Center, so ideal for Caps or Wizards game night) or at lunch. So, I had to ask where to go. An obvious common question based on the quick answer. Immediately next to the bright-light was a hidden black door with the Daikaya name on it. Upstairs we go.

This non-ramen portion of the restaurant is based on how “the cuisine is freestyle and adaptive in nature and each izakaya in Japan puts its own touch to their menu items. In this spirit, we also like to put our twist on our dishes and drinks and embrace our role as an izakaya in DC, with international and American influences as we feel inspired.”

It’s very similar to a tapas restaurant. Everything on the menu was small plates and you might need 3-4 per person, if not more. They also had quite the drink menu, from beer to sake.

For the drink, I opted for a red beer, in a bottle — Echigo Red Ale. It was hilarious because they bring you a glass that is the size of a juice glass at breakfast. I guess it makes you feel like you’re drinking a lot from the 12oz bottle. Very unique and nice beer.

For food, opted for a few different tastes. There were so many choices on the menu, it was honestly hard to pick!

-fried garlic
-grilled avocado
-tuna poke
-cold steamed chicken breast

This picture doesn’t do the food any justice. The flavors were incredible! I wish I had room for more food to taste for options from the menu. Will definitely have to go back again. If you live in DC or are visiting, definitely add it to your list!

Sushi’s a Wrap

Posted on November 20, 2014 by melsmosaic

The final night in NOLA some of us decided to head to a sushi place – Sake Café Uptown.

Huge menu. After reading and reading, I noticed some grilled squid. I love it when I can find that, because I don’t enjoy the (fried) calamari. So I opted for it. Ok, that could be a meal. It came out on a fajita-like platter and it was amazing. It might have been the simplest thing but I could eat that stuff all the time. I need to figure out where I can get that stuff in DC.

Then at the table next to us, I ask this woman what she ordered because I was just trying to get one other thing (this was before the squid came out). She told us about this edamame that’s not on the menu – garlic edamame. They do the ‘normal’ edamame then do something with some form or garlic – I don’t know if it’s roasted or something else but this stuff just makes you melt. This is another one that I need to find out who in the DC area has. Way too good.

So glad we checked this place out and it’s another place to check out if you’re in New Orleans.

Zentan

Posted on February 10, 2014 by melsmosaic

Was treated to a very nice lunch the other day at an Asian restaurant near Thomas Circle in DC. The venue, Zentan. Per their own description, they are a modern Asian restaurant featuring award-winning cuisine, focusing on Japanese-inspired small and shareable plates.

The restaurant is very ‘sharp’ — that’s the best way I can think to describe it. Lunch was at 1 on a Thursday, so it wasn’t packed but busy enough. Nice decor, cool tables, overall good atmosphere. We get the menu. What to order? Too many choices! (sorry for the shadow on the picture, odd light in the restaurant)

I finally opted for the Rainbow Don Bento Box — tuna, salmon and whitefish sashimi, cooked shrimp sashimi (I can’t quite get why it’s sashimi if it’s cooked), sushi rice and seaweed salad.

I don’t really like seaweed and this salad was a knockout! Wow, so good. The whitefish was unreal. The waiter said what it was and I can’t totally remember the Asian name he mentioned. Melt in your mouth. Absolutely amazing lunch. Will totally have to check this place out for dinner, too. Add it to your list if you’re looking for a new restaurant to try in DC.