Mashikos Review

[col klink]

I'd thought I'd give a review of the last time I went to Mashiko's (last Friday).  Here's their info:

4725 California Ave SW

Seattle, WA 98116

(206) 935-4339

This is a cute little place nestled in West Seattle.  We hoped to arrive after the rush, but as any decent sushi recent in Seattle, Mashiko's was packed to the hilt.  Luckily we only had to wait a half-hour for a seat at the bar and they were so apologetic they gave us a coupon for a free roll next time we go.  The bar seats seven and there's tables enough for probably 20 to 25.  Mashiko's is one of the only sushi restaurants with a female chef behind the counter (the only one I know of).  Music ranged from Soul Coughing, to Cake and Fatboy Slim.  The atmosphere is bright and vibrant and doesn't have an air like some of the swanky Belltown eateries.  I consider Mashiko's to be the most enjoyable and entertaining sushi restaurant in Seattle.

As always when I'm at Mashiko's, omakase, or chef's choice is the way to go.  If there is anything you don't like (e.g. natto, *shudder*) just mention it in passing as you ask for omakase.  I should mention that I've never seen natto on Mashiko's menu and I've never heard anyone order it there.  I feel the need to mention that they're serving real wasabi at the moment.  The real thing is much more vibrant and complex than the stuff we all know and love.  Turns out that most wasabi is mustard powder and food coloring.  It will be tuff to go back to the old stuff.

First we ordered a seaweed salad and it came with sprinkled with baby octopi, cooked and lightly marinated.  I have to admit, the first time I saw one of those, I was kind of freaked out, especially when I first brought one up to my mouth.  It's one thing to eat a small portion of a tentacle, but to see the whole animal with its tentacles intact looking like s/he was happy in the ocean is quite different.  That is until AFTER you eat it, now if I don't get any, I'm almost depressed.  Luckily sushi is one of my happy foods so I'm not down for long.

Next on the list were broiled salmon ribs, DRIPPING with juicy salmon fat.  Very messy, although I had to fight every urge to drop my face in them and I can only dream of having a swimming pool somewhere filled with rendered salmon fat.  Pork fat look out!

Since it was crowded, our chef didn't feel that he was giving us adequate attention and made us a special and innovative roll where he cut a cucumber lengthwise by sort of "peeling" it with his knife and then filled the center with salmon.  It was presented with a delicate mustard and wasabi sauce that worked quite well.  I highly appreciated the textural difference.

Then we presented with flash fried maguro sashimi (fried for less than a second) on a bed of onions.  The onions were marinated in vinegar for a week, taking the bite out and very tasty.  But then again I'm freak for vinegar.

After the sashimi was Mashiko's patented albacore nigiri which I've found to be the best in the city.  They serve large portions simply on rice (no wasabi) with a little dab of spiced daikon and green onions, a definite must for any visit.

Now becoming one of my favorites is uni, or sea urchin.  I'm going to cry when they're no longer in season.  When it's fresh, it has a spectacular briney, fresh from the ocean taste and it will disintegrate as soon as it hits your tongue.  This uni was presented in a cup made of a rice base and with a soy wrap holding sliced squid upon which the uni was placed.  It garnished with flying fish roe.  This was the highlight piece of the evening.

However not far behind the uni was a "hamburger" as our dedicated and vigilant chef called it.  A small slice of monkfish liver pate (I believe it's called ankima) in the middle of a succulent scallop and garnished with flying fish roe.  I LOVE scallops and the ankima added a creaminess to it.

As evening wound to a close, we finished with an order sweet shrimp and a roll similar to a spider roll.  I never order shrimp, because most places it's the same cooked shrimp you would get in a shrimp coctail.  Sweet shrimp on the other hand is typically kept live behind the bar, or they picked it up at the fishmonger that morning and it should NEVER be frozen.  They serve the tail raw, which is slightly sweet and has a plump yet submissive texture.  The head is deep-fried and eaten as quickly as possible with a squeeze of lemon.  Just be careful about the legs and antennae as they can be pointy if you chew too quickly.  The roll had carrot and cucumber tempura in the center topped with broiled anago, or sea eel.  It was a nice finish.

All in all, this wasn't my most adventurous Mashiko meal, but boy-howdy, was it good and innovative.  I've never left Mashiko's hungary or anything less than sated and elated.

[col klink]

By the way, I'm driving up to Vancouver this weekend and tonight I'll be dining at Tojo's.  I did some scrounging on the web and they're generally considered to be one of if not the best sushi restaurant in the city.  I'll post a review on Monday or Tuesday.

Here's their website:  www.tojos.com

Apparently they're quite proud of their Omakase, so I'm excited.  I don't thank heaven for 7-11, I thank heaven for sushi!

[mamster]

Thanks for the wonderful post, klink--you ate all kinds of thing that I've never tried, and now I want to.  Please let us know how you like Tojo's.  See you on Monday, right?

[Blue Heron]

col klink, thank you for that mouthwatering review.   I can see that I'm going to have to get to Mashiko before sea urchin season is over, and also try some other new to me things, too.   Have a great time in Vancouver and looking forward to meeting you on Monday.

[col klink]

Hah! One of my first posts!

To celebrate Batgrrrl's return, we went to Mashiko's on Friday of last week (yeah! for too many reasons to list here). We had yet ANOTHER singular meal at Mashiko's. It seems that at least every other time I go to Mashiko's it's a singular event, thus necessitating the use of a different word, but that's what happens when you go to the best sushi restaurant in the Northwest.

The first thing I noticed is that on their list of specials was sawagani. I asked if that was true and immediately the order went in. For those of you who don't know what sawagani are and haven’t heard me rave about them before, they're small fresh water crabs about the size of a 50-cent piece, including legs. They're found on the shores of streams and rivers and if they're not cooked, can be very deadly as Hajime pointed out. He told us that as a child he would pick them up and always wanted to eat them live but his overbearing parents never let him. I would like to give his parents a big round of applause. Sawagani are thrown in the fryer and eaten whole, including the shell. These were the best sawagani I've ever had. Somehow they were juicier and had more flavor. Damn, I love those little guys. However, that was not the first course, we had the seaweed salad (sans baby octopi) while we waited for the kitchen to return its bounty.

Hajime even remembered us, mentioning “aren’t you here early” when we came in and our first course of omakase (I can’t stress this enough people, always order the omakase) was the albacore nigiri which we always order and consequently give high accolades. I don’t care where you’ve tried albacore before, if you haven’t had Hajime’s, you don’t even know what it is.

Our next course was skipjack tuna. The preferred method of serving it at Mashiko’s is sashimi style, on a bed of marinated cucumbers and pickled onions, topped with tobiko, spicy daikon and his soy-based (I believe) vinaigrette and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. Skipjack tuna is also called bonito and it’s similar to maguro in texture, but has better flavor.

After the skipjack and the albacore came a series of nigiri plates. First, and a first of mine at Mashiko’s, was a soy wrapped toro, the scrumdidlyumptious fatty tuna. Does anyone know the name of this style? It’s a thin bed of rice, with a soy (or nori) wrapper making a cylinder cup holding the main item. The next was a boring salmon. It’s funny, salmon doesn’t do anything for me unless smoked, but it was of nice quality. The inari wasn’t actually a nigiri piece, but it was the same size. It’s a deep-fried tofu pouch. It’s semi sweet and ours was filled with rice and topped with marinated bamboo.

I just loved the next course, hamachi sashimi slices wrapped around each other, topped with tobiko resting in a sweet sauce of reduced plum wine. Garnished on the side with a cucumber peel (better than it sounds, it looked good though not eaten) and two long strips of clam with knife perforations to tenderize every ¼ inch.

Of course we couldn’t leave without ordering a spider roll, one of Batgrrrl’s favorites. It’s a standard sushi roll wrapped around tempura’d soft shell crab. Very pretty and of course the textural and temperature variances are what makes the roll so interesting.

For the next course, Hajime overheard Batgrrrl and I reminiscing about the "ankima hamburger” (see first post) but mentioned that although ankima is usually in season right now, alas the season hasn’t started but he did ask us for any requests. I asked for “anything with scallops.” Remembering we like the hamburger, he made us a new one, though this time with crabmeat (real) and his spicy mayo topped with tobiko and curry powder. I’m continually amazed at how creative Hajime can be. I should mention that he takes special care with his large scallops in that he doesn’t get the water infused, cheaper scallops, but gets the scallops that are basically just shucked, to give the customer the best scallop s/he/herm can get.

One more albacore for desert, then after that, we decided to actually order desert! We were so excited about the last time we were at Mashiko’s and mistakenly ordering desert, we couldn’t resist ordering it for real. We mentioned the last one, light (in flavor, not in a low-calorie sense) strawberry ice cream, mint sprigs, tempura’d pineapple slices in a sea of plum wine and the kitchen made the same dish but with plum sorbet instead of the ice cream. It was very, VERY tasty.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Batgrrrl and I were the first to arrive and lasted over two hours at the bar, outlasting at least three other parties. It was fun listening about Hajime’s childhood and even better when he offered us an albacore “mistake.” Not only that, before we left he gave us and the couple seated to our right some free premo sake! I can’t remember the name (I had enough of a time remembering most of the courses) but the style started with an “I.” It was cloudy and very smooth. One could get mightily drunk in a hurry if said one had an ample enough supply.

I’d be even more remiss if I didn’t mention that Hajime’s prized garlic sauce, which I’m trying to facsimile myself, will be available to public in small quantities in December. Also on December 7th, there will be a store party with lots of sake to celebrate my birthday. Actually it’s a coincidence that that is my birthday, but there’s a party nonetheless.

If you’ve ever tried sushi and liked it, you owe it to yourself and your children and children’s children to go to Mashiko’s. Not only is it the best sushi in town, but also it’s affordable and can’t be beat at any price. Our sushi, with two large house sake’s totaled $67 before tip. Can you put a price on a meal that will last you the rest of your life? I don’t think so.

[Blue Heron]

Klink, fabulous review.... and welcome back batgrrrl!

Did you find out the story on why they are no longer open for lunch?

I've never sat at the bar for dinner, only lunch, so I don't know who Hajime is. During lunch at the bar it was always a female (the one who is always there).

I wonder where they get their fresh water mini crabs? Have you seen them at Uwajimaya? I've seen lots of sea water mini ones at the shore but have never thought of eating them. I wonder what is the difference?

[southern girl]

Next time I'm in Seattle...forget the Herbfarm...the sushi sounds great!

[col klink]

Klink, fabulous review.... and welcome back batgrrrl!

Thanks!

Did you find out the story on why they are no longer open for lunch?

I have a theory on why they're no longer open for lunch, but it's only a theory and it might not put Mashiko's in a good light but I'll try to explain the situation as I see it. It seems that three or four months ago the health inspector came around and forced Hajime and anyone else preparing food to wear plastic gloves. This was a disaster and I personally witnessed a long rant. For sushi chefs, they need their bare hands to tell if a fish is still fresh, if their cutting boards needs to be wiped, if they need a new towel, etc. Hajime was concerned there would be problems if he had to wear gloves. Well guess what? Most health inspectors work 9-5. Now, Hajime is only open from 5-10.

I've never sat at the bar for dinner, only lunch, so I don't know who Hajime is.  During lunch at the bar it was always a female (the one who is always there).

Hajime is the owner of Mashiko's and the primary sushi chef. Back in the day, I used to see him about half of the time at lunch. I believe there are two females who work there, Kirsten his wife of a year and 4 months and another blond who was working last Friday night. As far as I know, Mashiko's is the only sushi bar in Seattle with women sushi chefs under it's employ.

I wonder where they get their fresh water mini crabs?  Have you seen them at Uwajimaya?  I've seen lots of sea water mini ones at the shore but have never thought of eating them.  I wonder what is the difference?

Hajime actually mentioned the company that he purchases his sawagani and explained why he didn't have any for so long. Apparently there was a big tiff with their supplier over religious matters and big supplier stopped doing business with Hajime's supplier. I haven't seen any place that sells the mini crabs, fresh or salt water. If you do, let me know!

I'm curious as well as to the difference between fresh and salt water crabs. If you get a chance, catch a couple! Just throw them in a deep fryer before you eat them. That is only if there isn't a red tide or anything. I suppose if it's safe to go claming, it's safe to go crabing eh? Can anyone chime in on this?

[Batgrrrl]

I've never sat at the bar for dinner, only lunch, so I don't know who Hajime is.  During lunch at the bar it was always a female (the one who is always there).

Hajime's the very cute, somewhat skinnier Japanese guy, in his mid or late 30s I'd say--there's also a younger, slightly chunkier guy, also very cute. Both tend to work the right side of the bar (from the customer's perspective). Maybe we should ditch our respective misters and go some night when we can flirt with the chef!

Sorry, Klink--when your sushi is as good as Hajime's, I'll come back!

B-gal

[col klink]

Sorry, Klink--when your sushi is as good as Hajime's, I'll come back!  

Traitor!!!

[Blue Heron]

Hajime's the very cute, somewhat skinnier Japanese guy, in his mid or late 30s I'd say--there's also a younger, slightly chunkier guy, also very cute.  Both tend to work the right side of the bar (from the customer's perspective).  Maybe we should ditch our respective misters and go some night when we can flirt with the chef!

Won't be difficult to leave hubby at home, since he's not keen on sushi anyway!

I wonder how the other sushi places get around the glove rule? I don't recall seeing gloves used at many restaurants at all come to think of it.

[MsRamsey]

Hey, that's what happens at Saito's! There always seems to be a big group of giggly Japanese girls sitting at the sushi bar, eating reeeaallly slowly. One of the chefs is HOT.

And agreeing with Blue, I don't remember ever seeing a sushi chef wear gloves. It seems like a really unreasonable demand.

[Schielke]

At Izumi, one of the chefs does wear gloves the whole time. I can't remember if the other one does or not.

Hot sushi chefs eh? Something about a man that can work it with raw fish...damn!

Are the female sushi chefs at Mashikos hot? The boys may have to go check them out!

heh heh heh

Ben

[col klink]

Are the female sushi chefs at Mashikos hot?  The boys may have to go check them out! 

For the life of me, I can't remember. Guess we'll have to go and refresh my memory.

[col klink]

What can I say? It's been a good week. Batgrrrl and I went back to Mashiko's last night because my buddy's girlfriend is in town from Colorado for the weekend and she can't get anything decent out there. Like we needed an excuse to go Mashiko’s.

We were very smart and arrived a few minutes past 5 to be sure that we would be seated at the bar. But some numbnut and his family beat us to it. They brought their kids!! :angry:

I think it's fantastic that they were broadening the horizons of these 5 and 6 year olds, But c'mon! If the kids weren't there, our party could've sat at the bar and the kids would've enjoyed the experience just the same at a table. What was cool about seeing the kids though is they gave them special aids for their chopsticks, a cute childish thing like a Hello Kitty pivot point and a couple of rubber bands to make it easier for them to hold it. Ever since George Carlin jokingly asked how do they teach children to use chopsticks in China (what, do they give 'em toothpicks? I never really thought it was funny, but it did come to mind.), I've wondered how myself. They were adorable. They were even adorable when they adorably took our adorable seats at the adorable bar.

Anyway, we sat next to the really cool fish tank at the front and we had a spectacular meal. It was Kirsten's night to run the place and that means very interesting sushi. It was her who first introduced me to baby octopi, which means a lot to me so Batgrrrl and I were very excited. Kirsten asked how much we'd like to spend and we went for 7 courses and a total of $100. Oh yeah, it wasn't that much of a detriment to sit at a table, we really enjoyed ourselves and Kirsten made sure to come over to our table on numerous occasions and made us all feel special which is what I like about sitting at the bar. Sitting at a table also allowed us to talk to each other more easily, which is often times difficult with larger parties at the bar.

1st course:

Seaweed salad with baby octopi. Since this was the first time for my buddy's girlfriend, Jo, to try them it was a little exciting for all of us. I picked an especially smart octopi, and its brains were creamy. This little guy had a HUGE head! And there was definitely a different texture up there compared to the smaller headed guys. I hate to think what that s/he/herm could've become if I hadn't eaten it.

2nd course:

Kanpachi sashimi platter with a ponzu sauce. Kanpachi is related to Hamachi but has a more delicate flavor and is almost like a whitefish in texture. The flesh was tender and delicate but the star is their ponzu sauce and is my next sauce to try and duplicate.

3rd course:

We just started talking about sawagani and miraculously, a whole plate of them showed up. There were only five so we let Jo get the extra one since this was another first for her too.

4th course:

Saute'd maguro in sesame oil, pineapple and another garnish I couldn't put my finger on. The 4th and 5th courses actually came at the same time but since this was a hot dish, we pretty much ate this one first. In the larger cuts, the tuna was rare but the ends had more flavor (from the sauce) despite being fully cooked. This would've been a more enjoyable course if it hadn't been sitting to course 5.

5th course:

Albacore toro roll. This is the first time I ever tried albacore toro and I will be forever changed, it is the most decadent sushi I've ever had and I'm in love for life. This was the only course during which NOBODY talked. As you know, toro is the fatty belly meat from tuna and is more tender than the other cuts. Well guess what? Toro from the albacore is even softer and more luxurious than regular albacore. The toro was wrapped with their garlic sauce (which I've come really close to making myself), green onions and tobiko and wrapped in a white soy wrapper. Oh yeah, the cut pieces were topped with more toro, a little bit of green onions and a little more tobiko. As Kirsten mentioned, the toro roll is somewhat rich, so she also provided a palette-cleansing roll of shiso and cucumber. The cleanser roll did its job beautifully and made each new slice of the toro roll even more memorable. Fuck. I apologize for using such vulgar language, but somehow I feel that my prose for this course doesn’t convey how incredibly fucking good this roll was. Whilst eating it I believe my exact words were (and I apologize for these too): “Jesus living fuck.”

6th course:

A nigiri platter of maguro, surf clam topped with spicy scallops, hamachi and one of their specials, saba, a type of mackerel. The maguro was good, but not very flavorful, but it's pretty difficult to impress me with maguro. I thought the 4th course of saute'd maguro was more interesting. Now the surf clam was very impressive, it was one of the more tender clams I've tried and the spicy scallops gave a lot of flavor. What was ironic about this piece is that my buddy and I were talking about the fact that I had never seen any spicy scallops at Mashiko's before, I had only seen it at Azuma's before. The hamachi was the best I've ever had, it was so tender -- how tender was it? -- it was so tender, that Batgrrrl thought it was albacore! I almost believed her (after four bottles of sake) but then realized though it was garnished with green onion, there was no garlic sauce and as tender as it was, this tuna gave up the *slightest* more fight for the tongue to chew on. I know I've been gushing about the nigiri so far, but the star of the platter was the saba, there was a small shiso leaf between the rice and the saba and it cut through the oil you'd normally get with the fish and resulted in a wonderfully balanced piece. Almost as memorable at the toro roll.

7th course:

At this point Kirsten came to our table again and asked us if there was any favorites or anything she hadn't touched on that we'd like for the last course. I responded with: "well, I'm still beside myself in joy right now and I can't think of anything that could top that toro roll. Would you mind surprising us?" Though the 7th course didn't top the toro roll, it was still good and provided us with a lot of ideas on how to prepare fish for ourselves that isn't served raw. The plate was salmon cooked in a coconut and fig sauce garnished with Anaheim peppers (those are the plain green peppers right? That's what they looked and tasted like). The coconut sauce was more interesting than the salmon. To me the only interesting salmon is smoked, cooked or not, but unless it's my own salmon, I like it uncooked. To say the least (which I know I haven't), the plate was cleaned of all sauce. I liked taking the skin and dipping it in the sauce the best.

Now we only asked for 7 courses and we were at the limit of what we asked for, but we went ahead anyways and ordered another albacore toro roll, desert and a special course of sake since this was a special occasion as we don't see much of Jo these days. Of course the toro roll was out of this world. I will remember this roll to my dying day and make sure my future children know of it and spread it's gospel. Until they try it themselves, they will despise me for it.

The desert was pretty damn good too. Around three scoops of red bean ice cream that was mildly sweet, were tempura'd apple slices and small slivers of banana saute'd in butter and probably some sugar too. Oh yeah, it was garnished with a sprig of mint. It didn't take us very long to finish it because not one of us used a spoon - we all used our chopsticks!

The special sake came after we had just finished the desert for which Kirsten apologized. Of course we said no problem and we were actually glad she was a little late with it because the desert cleared our palette of the 5 bottles of house sakes we had (Gekkeikan). I can't remember the name of the special sake, but the brewer had to work under the traditional strict rules of Japanese sake meaning you can only use water, yeast and rice to make the sake. Not only that, this is the 55th generation that the brewer has been making sake, going back to the 11th or 12th century. I wouldn't call this an everyday, every meal sake, but damn it was good. It was sweet without being too sweet and had strong fruity flavors, most notable of them being plum. How they are able to get a plum flavor from rice I have no idea, but they did it and Kirsten was just as astonished as we were. What made the sake even better is that she threw it in for free!

The total bill came was $100 for the omakase, $15 for the extra toro roll and desert and $30 for the 5 large house sakes. With tax the total came to $158.49 for four people. We all thought that they undercharged us -- and still do -- so we tipped over 20%. I have never left Mashiko's unhappy.

Before we left I made a special request, I went up to the bar and asked for some garlic sauce to go! Because of how fucking phenomenal the toro roll was, I completely forgot to ask for albacore nigiri to compare my garlic sauce to theirs! This was my first time EVER at Mashiko's where I didn't get the albacore nigiri. I consider that to be their signature piece and now I don't know what to think. Anyways, Kirsten mentioned that they’ve been having fun working on the bottled version. There are much tougher regulations they have to follow if they want to put it on shelves, for instance they have to use a certified kitchen, of which there’s one in West Seattle. They are still planning on a December release. When I got home, I tasted it and I was very surprised to find out that my first stab at recreating it was almost on the mark. Unconsciously I purchased some ginger when I was planning on making it and added it to my sauce, a nuance that I hadn’t before noticed. Luckily for me, there’s some in the actual sauce. When I get the sauce right, I’ll let y’all know.

[Blue Heron]

Klink, this was another amazing and pleasurable to read review!

The only thing that didn't whet my appetite was your description of the creamy (big) baby octopus brains. Ack! But everything else sounds to die for. Infact, I think I could eat an order of sawagani all by myself.

I can't quite understand the presentation of the albacore toro roll. Is it one roll cut into 4 pieces for all of you? (I've never ordered a roll before).

I'm impressed with the family that took their small children there to introduce them to sushi. I remember sfroth mentioning he also takes his children out for sushi.

Also, the price for your excellent dinner for 4 sounds very reasonable!

[col klink]

Yeah, I was impressed too with the family. When I have children that age, I too will bring them for sushi, I don't blame the parents in the least. And the price, it was worth 50% more. Batgrrrl mentioned the time where we went out to Shiro's for my birthday last year and spent $60/head and we were not nearly as impressed as we were with the last three meals (or any for that matter) that we had together at Mashiko's.

As for the toro roll, I believe there were two rolls, cut into 6 pieces each, leaving 3 a piece for each of us. Mmmmmm, albacore toro. The roll was so good that I don't know if I'd want to try another. It could be one of those: "remember that time when we had the albacore toro? Shit, that was the shit." This is definitely one of those sushi excursions that I'll be remembering for the rest of my life. But isn't that what I said the last time I was there?

[torakris]

I have become addicted to this thread!!

I have read the reviews over about 5 times each and now need one of those suction thingies dentists use to get all drool out of my keyboard. Why can't I get food like this in Japan? Here, one of the meals described would cost close to $500 (for only 2 people). That is just a little too much for the average Jo.

I really think the most innovative Japanese chefs leave this country and go elsewhere.

Guess I have to keep looking!

Please keep us posted on your future trips to this incredible restaurant!

[Blue Heron]

I have become addicted to this thread!!

I have read the reviews over about 5 times each and now need one of those suction thingies dentists use to get all drool out of my keyboard. Why can't I get food like this in Japan?  Here, one of the meals described would cost close to $500 (for only 2 people). That is just a little too much for the average Jo.

I really think the most innovative Japanese chefs leave this country and go elsewhere.

Guess I have to keep looking!

Please keep us posted on your future trips to this incredible restaurant!

torakris, it's great to have you here and to read the perspective of someone in Japan!

I have a question about the size of sushi in Japan? Would you say it is normally bite size (as in 1 bite), or is it ever in a larger portion like Mashiko serves, which to me is 2 bites (or one verrrry large bite)? I haven't had sushi often enough to know the normal, but Mashiko's seems to me on the larger side (which I agree is scrumpdelicious, but maybe larger than normal, and am curious how it compares to the size in Japan?)

[Schielke]

So that Omakase menu you just described was $158 total? Good Effing Lord.

I really really need to go.

So do you just ask the sushi chef for an omakase at a certain price point? Will that generally include things such as the little crabs or do you have to ask for it?

I am getting a sushi hankering.

Ben

[torakris]

I have a question about the size of sushi in Japan?  Would you say it is normally bite size (as in 1 bite), or is it ever in a larger portion like Mashiko serves, which to me is 2 bites (or one verrrry large bite)?  I haven't had sushi often enough to know the normal, but Mashiko's seems to me on the larger side (which I agree is scrumpdelicious, but maybe larger than normal, and am curious how it compares to the size in Japan?)

I guess it depends on the size of your mouth!!

Just kidding!

There is what I believe to be an average size which can be put into your mouth all at once depending on the topping. The thin white fishes, squid, scallops and amaebi can all fit in pretty easy. Others like the tuna varieties, salmon, regular shrimp, ikura and uni can be eaten in one bite but I usually have to keep my hand in front of my mouth for the first couple bites so nothing pops out. Definite two biters for me are the egg, unagi and kazunoko.

Nowadays most of my sushi tends to come from either supermarkets or home delivery shops. There is more sushi delivery than pizza here.

There is a trend at restaurants though to make the sushi topping very long. Tuna seems to be the most popular for this and can be more than twice the length of the rice, this of course is impossible to eat in one bite.

I have never noticed that the size of the sushi seemed bigger in the US, I think it depends more on the specialty rolls at the restaurant.

[torakris]

My 6 year old daughter begs us to go to sushi restaurants. She usually just gets a plate of ikura and ootoro, though I can usually convince her that chutoro is just fine.

My 4 year old and 1 year old also have no problem finding something to eat. Ikura is the favorite of all 3.

All sushi shops here have a children's plate and they always consist of cucumber maki, egg nigiri, shrimp nigiri, tuna, ikura and sometimes something else like unagi or inarizushi. They also come with a drink and a toy as well.

As for using chopsticks, my 6 and 4 year old use them daily at school and usually at home (depending on what we are eating), they both picked it up around three. No special devices were used, just regular children's sized chopsticks. I have seen kids as young as 1 1/2 using chopsticks here! I have to admit my 22 month old son really tries, he ends up mostly spearing the food though.

[nightscotsman]

All sushi shops here have a children's plate and they always consist of cucumber maki, egg nigiri, shrimp nigiri, tuna, ikura and sometimes something else like unagi or inarizushi. They also come with a drink and a toy as well.

Now that's a happy meal!

[tsquare]

All sushi shops here have a children's plate and they always consist of cucumber maki, egg nigiri, shrimp nigiri, tuna, ikura and sometimes something else like unagi or inarizushi. They also come with a drink and a toy as well.

Now that's a happy meal!

Sounds like a typical American Sushi place's pre-set assorted sushi plate, except for the toy. A "safe" choice.

[col klink]

All sushi shops here have a children's plate and they always consist of cucumber maki, egg nigiri, shrimp nigiri, tuna, ikura and sometimes something else like unagi or inarizushi. They also come with a drink and a toy as well.

That's beautiful.