Yule S.
Yelp
If you were asked, "What are the two best things in Japanese cuisine?" how would you answer? Japanese food is incredibly good--miso soup, pickled ginger, Chinese seaweed, tempura, even the California roll (which you can't find in Japan), and ramen (which Japanese people consider a Chinese dish). Everything is delicious; I can't even name a single dish that isn't good. But what are the two best? In my opinion, they must be sea urchin and bluefin tuna toro.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy sea urchin or quality bluefin tuna toro during my New Year's Eve dinner at Here Fishy Fishy. First, they didn't have sea urchin that night. Second, while they did serve bluefin tuna, it wasn't toro. In fact, none of their dishes contained bluefin tuna toro, even though some items were labeled as "toro" they clearly weren't bluefin.
I have to say, the food was worth the price for the AYCE at $54.99. They offered some items exclusive to the $54.99 AYCE, but these could only be ordered once. Naturally, we tried a round of everything from the exclusive items, though there was no sea urchin that day. Let's take a closer look.
SCREAMING ORGASM 3/5
Seared Fatty Bluefin Tuna Sashimi with Screaming Sauce
Too fatty. It was seared but served cold, which made the food even fattier. The taste was strange, though the flavor was okay. By the way, why is it called Screaming Sauce? I don't get it; the sauce was so flat and mild.
ORANGE SALMON 2/5
Salmon Sashimi with Orange Ponzu Sauce
The flavor diminished the freshness of the salmon. It was acceptable but not surprising.
BLUEFIN TUNA POKE 4/5
Red Onion, Seaweed Salad, and Furikake, Sesame Oil
It tasted good. The tuna dices paired well with the Chinese seaweed, and the seasoning was well-balanced.
DOUBLE TROUBLE 0/5
Minced Toro Sushi with Black Truffle Salt and Kizami Wasabi
The texture was horrible--it made me think it was sous vide beef. Later, I checked the menu and realized it was supposed to be toro, some fish's toro. Why ruin fish like this?
SPIDER MAN 5+/5
Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab with Carrot Purée
Excellent, one of the best soft shell crabs I've ever had. The carrot purée didn't taste like carrot, but it didn't matter. The frying technique was exceptional, and the sauce was delicious.
AWABI 5/5
Butter Seared Abalone Sashimi with Kizami Wasabi
Very good. The abalone was incredibly tender, which is not easy to achieve.
IKURA 5/5
Salmon Roe Sushi
Very good. The seaweed wrap was crispy--a must for gunkan sushi. The salmon roe was also very fresh.
AMA EBI 5/5
Sweet Shrimp with Smelt Eggs * No Rice
Good. It tasted sweet.
HARASU 3/5
Salmon Belly Sushi with Kizami Wasabi
It was okay, but I've had better.
TORO 2/5
Tuna Belly Sushi with Kizami Wasabi
Okay, you might trick someone into thinking it's tuna toro, but it's obviously not bluefin tuna toro. Even the color was noticeably different from bluefin tuna toro.
HOTATE 5/5
Jumbo Scallop Sashimi with Kizami Wasabi and Smelt Eggs
Very good-fresh, soft, juicy, and tender.
HIRAME 3/5
Halibut Sushi with Yuzu Kosho Paste
In the past, fresh halibut was hard to come by, but nowadays it's easy. However, live farmed halibut is different from wild-caught halibut.
The items above are part of the $54.99 AYCE specials. Now, let's take a look at the regular menu items.
SUSHI TACO (SALMON/SHRIMP/TUNA) 4/5
This was an interesting dish. We thought it would use large seaweed as the tortilla, but it didn't. Instead, it was a mini-sized fried tortilla, making it a hard-shell taco stuffed with minced salmon. Very interesting, worth trying.
AGEDASHI TOFU 5/5
The flavor and texture were excellent. Strongly recommended.
BULGOGI 3/5
This was stir-fried, marinated sweet beef slices. It was good, but I rated it 3 because the Spicy Pork Bulgogi was better.
SHRIMP TEMPURA 4/5
The frying technique was very good-light and crispy. A solid dish.
SPICY PORK BULGOGI 4/5
Very tasty. It was clearly marinated with gochujang and sugar, then stir-fried. Good flavor and tender texture.
CALAMARI TEMPURA 3/5
It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't recommend it. There are better options available.
VEGETABLE TEMPURA
I didn't try this, but I would guess it is good.
TAKOYAKI 2/5
The sauce was too salty, the texture was strange, and there was very little octopus. Not recommended.
JALAPENO BOMB 4/5
Recommended. It had a good taste and was not the usual fare.
EEL SUSHI 4/5
Very good, if you still have room to enjoy it.
OTHER GOOD THINGS 999+/5
The rice in all the sushi was served in small portions, which is rare for AYCE sushi. Most AYCE sushi relies on rice to fill you up, but not here. Trust me, it's worth the price, even though there were areas for improvement. For example, they served the wrong items several times. Once, they even served us something incorrectly, took it back, and then served it to another table.
Anyway, the food tasted good, and the price was excellent. I will definitely be back.
By the way, it wasn't crowded even on New Year's Eve. I don't think