We ate twice at Dr. Feldman's favorite Utsunomiya sushi restaurant, sushi-hana-tei! The sushi here is so delicious; sorry USA, sushi back home can't stand up to sushi in Japan. This is the first conveyor-belt sushi restaurant I've been to; it was great fun watching and picking out dishes as they pass-by. Seats next to the conveyor-belt had the following items ready for the customer: jar full of pickled ginger, small jar with powdered green tea, tea cups, hot water spout for the tea, and chopsticks.
At first we thought the fish tank in the middle of the restaurant was for decoration, we were wrong. The couple sitting next to us ordered a fresh, live fish. The sushi chef caught the fish, gutted it, sliced it, and served it. The presentation was very interesting... the remains of the fish (i.e., head, bones in the middle, and tail) were skewered on a wooden stick and placed on the plate, still twitching, with the sashimi (raw seafood). After eating the sashimi, the couple sent the fish remains back to the chef, who then gave the fish back, tempura style (battered and deep fried).
When we returned for the second time, it was later in the evening and there wasn't many items on the conveyor-belt; our favorite sushi chef (above) motioned for us to order directly from him. The nigiri-zushi (hand-formed sushi) he made for us was twice as thick as normal and very long; you couldn't see the rice underneath! He was very generous with o-toro, YUM.
I didn't know that tuna (toro) comes in so many different grades, depending on the fat content. It turns out I really, really, really like o-toro, the fattiest portion of the tuna. It melts in your mouth and costs a fortune; well not a fortune, but it is on the high end for sushi. The o-toro we ate is in the photograph above.
Satisfied customers, bellies full of sushi!
Each morning in Utsunomiya we had donuts and American coffee at Mister Donut. Yes, American coffee... when we ordered our coffee we specified that we wanted "American coffee". Later, I inquired and the firm explained that American coffee was light colored coffee, LOL.
Green donuts! I haven't tried one yet, but there is a Mister Donut nearby, maybe Ken and I will try one together. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment