| Have you ever tasted rainbow sushi or Japanese-style grilled cheese sandwiches? Well, these are but a few of the innovative, must-try dishes at the new Japanese bistro Sushi Sen.
Hailing from Hong Kong and Tokyo, respectively, owners Mei Kwong and Yosuke Mizusaki, who is also the chef, have converted a former retail space in Bromley Square (1004 - First St. S.W., phone 234-8489) into a minimalist, Zen design. And from the hip sushi restaurants in Japan, Mizusaki has brought over some of the trendiest dishes to hit this side of the Pacific.
The lunch menu features mostly traditional dishes. There are sushi combos, ranging from $8.50 to $16.50 for lunch for two, which arrive in those cute sushi boats. If you’d like to order individual pieces of sushi and sashimi, reach for the sushi list on the clipboard hanging off the end of your table. Uni (sea urchin), uzura (quail egg) and a giant western roll (ham, cheese and shrimp) are some of the more exotic items. Sushi Sen takes pride in using the best quality sushi rice, although most of us probably won’t know the difference.
There are also teriyaki dishes, donburi, udon – to which you can add a strong Japanese pepper spice, yuzu, for $1 – seaweed salad and several appetizers such as seafood salad rolls ($4.50). Here, a delicious filling of cucumbers, crab, scallops and roe is wrapped into a crisp, lightly tempura-battered rice paper and then drizzled with a spicy teriyaki sauce.
However, the dinner menu is where the chef’s creativity and artistry really wows. One of the most delectable and impressive-looking items is hanpen-cheese ($7.50), consisting of hot slices of fish cake – cod and white fish that’s flown in every few days from Japan – filled with seaweed, with mozzarella melted on the outside and drizzled with a curry mayo. Splashes of hot sauce adorn the plate for an extra kick. While it resembles a grilled cheese sandwich in appearance, that is where the similarities end.
Another example of the chef’s food-is-art philosophy is the tazuna sushi ($9.50) – rolls filled with crab, cucumber, shrimp salad, tuna, red snapper and shrimp tempura and dressed on the outside with salmon, avocado and a most festive-looking green roe. It’s a bright rainbow illuminated with rays of sunshine (mustard drizzles).
My friend and I also shared the ika-yaki ($8), a whole squid, imported from Japan, which is grilled, thinly sliced and topped with a ginger soy sauce. I wasn’t a huge fan of this dish, finding it a little too squid-y for my liking. Warning: the accompanying ground ginger is potent.
Not to worry, however, as there are many more exciting dishes. And that’s the sign of a good dining experience – when you’re delighted with the current meal and already excited about the next one. My list of future dishes to order includes: aburi-sushi ($18) – six kinds of fish, shellfish and sea urchin, lightly fried on top, which is the latest style of sushi in Japan; maguro-tataki ($8.50), a Hawaiian red tuna lightly grilled on the outside and rare on the inside with ponz sauce – a mandarin orange and soy sauce vinaigrette –and ika-inrouzume ($9.50), which is grilled squid stuffed with ginger and green onion sushi rolls.
For dessert, I ordered the rich sesame pudding ($4) in sweet black molasses with mint leaves, and my friend chose the refreshing, very tea-tasting, green tea ice cream ($3).
Sushi Sen is a soothing, intimate space with mini rock-garden beds and artwork mounted on bamboo mats. You can also watch Japan’s popular K-1 martial arts competition on the main floor’s TV (the owners are huge fans). Reservations are recommended, especially if you’d like to dine in one of the four booths on the upper floor or in the 10-person private room behind the noren. The restaurant is closed on Sundays.
Just as Towa Sushi surprised us with its grande sushi and deliciously unusual sushi combinations, Sushi Sen has taken Japanese cuisine in Calgary to yet another level. |
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