Twice I've been here, and twice, may I say, have I come to appreciate, and enjoy the food, although, (sheepishly) I must also admit that both times I've been here, both times I've been hangry, and I'm not a patient person when that mood happens to me.
See, if there's one piece of advice that I'll give to anyone who wants to come have dinner here, it'd be- Don't Come Hungry.
Legit- DO NOT come hungry.
It is an hour's wait (at least) to get in no matter what time you come, no joke, and it's either you wait standing there with the eateries around you, or you get a queue number and walk around with all the eateries of Funan enticing you.
There are people who come as early as 4pm for a 530pm opening.
There are also people who come at 5pm and wait an hour whilst wandering around with the Thai food place, the Korean food place, the American sandwich place, the coffee place, and McDonalds all working their colors and menu around their tummy.
First time we came, we were the latter.
Second time we came, we were also the latter.
And I was hangry both times.
Lesson learned, I shall not turn up at Sushi Zushi with a hungry stomach ever.
But, and I say this with genuine thumbs up conviction, the food here is worth the wait.
It might not be the place that you'd think of when it comes to sushi delicately prepared by master chefs at your tableside.
But it is.
It's like a very casual omakase with a bit of teppanyaki vibe.
This is the kind of place where your sushi is made fresh in front of you and you can literally watch it being made whilst you sit at your table sipping a cup of ocha.
You don't get to choose seats here.
The staff guide them to you, no questions asked.
That doesn't mean it's not kid-friendly, oh no.
It just means that everyone and anyone can come, and anyone and everyone can order what they like to see it made in front of you.
First time we were there a family of four were next to us and I thought it so cute that the little girl's eyes never left the chef's hands as he shaped the sushi rice, wrapped a piece of seaweed around it, scattered a generous spoonful of corn all over the top, and squeezed in the mayo for her Corn Mayo Gunkan.
What I do find interesting is that the chefs work fast here.
They talk, yes, as sushi chefs will do, but their hands are always busy and they go on and on and on making the sushi customers have ordered.
It doesn't take longer than fifteen minutes after placing your order that the chef nearest to you starts making it and no sooner than later you have it on your plate.
One of the very first plates we ordered this evening was a Salmon Ikura Handroll.
From the picture it might not look like much, but trust me, it was good.
Nowhere in this handroll was the seaweed soft and damp and mushy.
Nowhere too was the salmon not fresh or cut too thin or not cold. There was a bit of boing on the salmon itself, the ikura was perfect with its distinctive burst of flavor, and the rice was soft and smooth and moist with a tiny little hint of what I think is oil.
Made for a cheery start to the meal, this handroll did, and we got ready for the next dish of Salmon Aburi, which, by the way, was in reality brighter and more orangey than what we see here.
I don't know what happened.
Either it is that I didn't adjust the light settings, or something, but definitely the salmon didn't look this color, definitely not like the color of a Uni (sea urchin)...
Besides the somewhat orangey color, the one thing I liked about the Salmon Aburi was watching the chef flambe (is that the correct word) the salmon right in front of me. It was interesting, seeing him skillfully work the flame over the salmon as it gradually turned from a bright pink to a light, more pinkish, cooked one.
Needless to say the salmon was soft, like the rice, which was perfectly shaped, moist, and slightly warm from the oils of the salmon dripping down inside.
So good was this sushi that we decided to order another, but spicy this time.
As it turned out, it wasn't as spicy as I thought it would be.
Afterwards we had a plate of what I think was either a Chutoro, or an Otoro.
All I remember about this fish is that it is a fatty tuna.
That's it.
Don't ask me what it is, whether it is an Otoro or a Chutoro.
I don't know.
Chances are, I can tell you, it is an Otoro- the fattiest part of the tuna- the belly- and also the most desirable part that's got a melt-in-the-mouth texture, is remarkably hard to find, and is soft and tender and simply disappears once inside.
I'm glad we had a chance to try the Otoro.
Not merely because it's rare, but because the taste of raw tuna is still something I'm trying to get used to, but fatty tuna belly- the softest part- makes the appreciation a whole lot easier.
There're a lot of new sushi fish that one gets to try here at Sushi Zushi.
Amongst the Hamachi and the Teriyaki Saba, amongst the Ika Sugata and the Shima Aji, there was too the Engawa Japanese flounder, and for this, we tried varieties of two.
First we had the Engawa Handroll that came with, of course, a huge piece of seaweed, plus, I think, a little bit of black cod roe.
And then after that, there was the Engawa Aburi which, once again, I had the joy of watching the chef flambe it a little so that the surface turned a lovely grill of lightly burnt brown.
One might be wondering just what it is of this flounder fish that my friend recommended and said we had to try.
Well, let's just say that it is tender, it's got a slight hint of chewiness, it has a clean taste, is slightly sweet, and yet, is smooth and fatty all at the same time.
Best of all, flounder fish is not readily available everywhere, and can sometimes be a bit difficult to find.
