Sushi!

Having eaten overpriced sushi in London this evening (at Harrods - where I also happened to meet Nantie Hawyard of all people!), I'm reminded to start this topic. I'm going through a mega sushi phase, I absolutely love the stuff.

It's a clean meal, it doesn't fill you up with an associated sauce. The neatly packed cuboids ooze with japanese reticence. And it's more dignified than a curry! (not an attack on pak/ind food - i love it too). Probably a little too dignified for its own good, making me feel slightly barbaric when eating it.

The novelty must also be an attraction - it's quite some distance from our usual dining - raw fish, rice cubes, nori seaweed, wasabi, soy sauce, pickled ginger, chopsticks.



I'm trying to sample as many sushi bars as possible and have tried quite a few already, most recently around England.

From the perspective of appetite and satisfaction - i prefer sushi bars with conveyor belts such as Yo! Sushi in Birmingham and London. The price tends to be a little better and you can sample more tastes.

Now i'm not a man ((permission to quote only this first excerpt of the sentence: DENIED)) who necessarily equates priciest with best, far from it, but my favourite sushi so far was at one of the restaurants at the Jumeirah beach hotel (can't remember which one) in dubai. The size and texture of their fillets is absolutely awesome. As is more common with the more expensive places, the drawback was that the restaurant didn't have a sushi conveyor belt. My favourite sushi bar with a conveyor belt is in kuala lumpur (at the top of the KLCC - those massive twin towers to the unmalaysianated), the strength here being the range.

My sushi at Harrods today was also delicious - high quality fillets (to my amateur judgement anyway (which then i guess means they could also have been terrible fillets)). Surprisingly they didn't have the usual sushi accompaniment of pickled ginger - perhaps Harrods considers pickled ginger unbecoming of them (but why?!)




Do you like sushi? Hate it? Where are your favourite sushi bars? Do you mix your wasabi into soy sauce or have you pioneered your own technique?

And to anyone who hasn't yet delved into the culinary Hemingway that is sushi, wherever you are in the world you will have a sushi bar somewhere - try it out!

sushi is nasty...

Now I am a man and I hate sushi! Where every prospect pleases and only fish is vile. Can't stand the taste, if there is one, ofcourse.
Just had one today and still hate it, even though the conveyor belt was there.

P.s being the pathological liar that I am, i would however admit, eel is the only thing i can stand.

Wasabi - Ah! that nectar of mephistopheles. THe first time I saw it, i didn't know it was a delayed explosion in a harmless peaceful color. So, what did I do? I took a spoonful, in front of my friends, thinking its sweet and good and chugged it into my mouth. a few seconds later, boom! as a reflex action, i gulped it all, thinking that would solve the issue, second Boom! there were literally tears in my eyes and to this day i remember that explosive feeling. Wow!

you
such dreadful, dreadful predictability


Come on.... where's the sushi love? I forgot to mention - it's an acquired taste. Schill, Sneek - keep going ;)

predictability is the essence of humor! But I am a man!!

trotsky, i will be damned if i ever say anytihng good about that fraud of a meal. i can see why people may like it, even you, I mean its small, it has no taste, it has the aura of simplicity but let us not forget what it is, a poor caveman's food!

I have been trying to acquire it but the asking price is too high. However, it does allow for a good date, ask a girl to sushi dinner and she will think you are ucltured and what not.

Sushi, had it once and threw up right away...What A vile thing that is....I still curse at the people who invented it

What I have never been able to determine is, do people like sushi cause its the cultured thing to do or do they really care about the taste?

I beleive it's a bit of both, but more so as a taste for the white people who's cuisine is pretty bland.....

Ah, good sub-topic:

Wasabi burns - how much does it affect you?


It doesn't seem to be universal. For example, my friend can handle more wasabi than myself and I suspected he just had a naturally higher tolerance to it because he simply couldn't be eating such chunks if he was suffering what i was suffering!

So I asked him where the wasabi burns were felt. He pointed to the middle of his nose. That confirmed that he was going through a different experience, for whatever reason. I don't care if it lacks logic, i just simply cannot accept that he can handle more wasabi than me.

When i eat a chunk of the nectar of mephistopheles, the naked flames start in my throat and rise, from the front, up my head, into my brain and right around the top and then back of my head and make me cry man-tears.


And exactly your story Schill, the first time i tried it i thought it was a sweet dip and, predictably, I put too much in my mouth and thought my brain was haemorrhaging.


To those who haven't tried wasabi and don't know what i'm talking about - you won't know what i'm talking about - it's a unique experience, highly recommended.

heard sushi was really good ...if you are 20+ and single

In fact it's probably similar to the feeling Afridi experiences when a bowler is running up

Even worse DM the first time I had Wasabi, like an idiot, I put too much in my mouth.....

Completely agreed that people should try it, in a large dose if they can, its almost masochistically good.

It burnt, nay exploded. I mean for the first few seconds, nothing happens and then God save the queen, it hits you in the center of your throat or chest and rushes to the head, I had no idea what to do to make it go away once it had exploded. Nothing like it, to this day I make sure I get wasabi for that feeling alone. Even eat wasabi icecream, like that stuff along with red bean icecream

I actually think its a barbaric food DM, what is not cooked is barbaric

Never tried sushi and never will - all seafood is just nasty!

I am curious to know of Pakistanis on this forum who like Sushi,

True, we all have to go through the wasabi batptism!





And you've really hit the nail on the head, it's so masochistically good. When I first experience the brain burn, it was uncomfortable, yet I inexplicably had to find and buy a tube of it that same day.

Wouldn't touch sushi with a stick if I can help it but wasabi, bring it on anyday!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1309091.stm

Comma, you should eat more sushi.

My reponse, Lung Cancer, here i come!

Spoken like a true samurai

I agree even if I don't smoke.....

Kinto kaanti! yeeehaw!! (don't know what the hell kinto kaanti is)

and i don't even know why i mentioned samurai - vague associations of suicide and japan

"the culinary Hemingway that is sushi"

what an OP that particular bit was brilliant waisay DM.

as for the topic at hand, well i go to a univ where there are so many oriental folk that they have spoons, forks and chop sticks in the cafeteria. in fact, there is a sushi bar in our campus and it stinks up the entire building because they make it right there each morning!!!

never really had teh urge to buy it, because the way i see it, i'd rather get a nice, big lunch for $5 rather than a 6-pack of sushi that'll keep me full for no longer than 1 hour. a friend brought some the other day and i tried it. it was ok, the sauce (soy sauce i think) was pretty crap but the sushi was like eating rice cakes - no real taste, just a lot of noise. plus i was struggling with the chop sticks so i gave up.

veggie sushi was interesting, but that's probably because i was really hungry at the time i ate it.

never tried sushi, and to be completely honest it doesn't look very appealing

btw, DM, i usually wouldn't mention this to most ppers, but be aware that some sushi places put alcohol in their soy sauces. i was told this piece of info by a very reliable arab brother (with a chinese convert wife!).

I don't want to turn this thread into a debate on whether alcohol in cooking is okay in Islam or not but alcohol is only used for flavor in cooking and it actually burns off when you cook it.

Had it once with the same chinese dude that I beat in ping pong infact we went right after the game. To tell you the truth I think he was trying to get back at me for beating him.

I already have a very strong aversion to fish and other seafoods and the idea of raw fish just sounds disgusting to me. I was once offered 50 bucks by my cousins to eat a plate of sushi but refused.

I am cool with fishes and they are cool with me (or so I have heard). But I can't eat raw anything except for some fruits.

Sushi, ahhh, love it. I used to it a lot in Australia. I love all seafood...mmm crab, lobster, oyster, prawn...divine.

Ok, you lot stop retching.

Sushi is just

I have been wanting to try sushi for a while now but depending on who I ask either folks love it or simply hate it. Though I am looking forward to trying it very soon I hope it is not bad as people make it out to be..

Never ate Sushi but just the sight and thought of it puts me off. How can anyone eat meat which is raw?

Maybe if they grilled, steamed or fried it with some herbs and spices I might consider.

DM, I was in KLCC last month...did not have enough time to go beyond the 2nd floor.

Someone should tell the Japanese : "Man Discover Fire..Fire Good, Fire Make food nice"

Sushi is just lazy..get thee into a kitchen and cook the damn fish

Imagine if this was a desi dish....westerners would just simply laugh at our 'stone age' tactics calling it food for the poor who dont have the resources to cook. A dish from the 3rd world countries....

Further imagine eating with sticks...

I have never had it, but sounds disgusting from what people has said on here bar DM and a few others.

...trying to eat it whilst running round in circles. Could get dizzy.

is sushi halal?

never had it, an glad..i think

what is sushi

I was expecting a question like this.

fish is halal...............................

not all types of fish are halal...

The question is..are chopsticks halal?

obviously, shark's are not

uncooked? raw? just curious if its halal

any sea food is HALAL , full stop !

raw, cooked dont matter !

crustaceans

obviously that not included in Halal

was just checking jiggy wiggy there ;)

from what ive heard... only scaled fish(including shrimps) is halal...

tried sushi the other day, wasn't impressed much. wasabi is a whole different planet. looks so harmless and then it hits. with sushi, its either you like it or dont.