Now! That is what I call a Dining experience!!
Recently made our first visit and I will attempt to allow you to see and experience what we did during this visit. Saturday had been a long day cutting fire wood and finding the house air leaks to seal before the real cold arrives. I had read several reveiws and thought it was time for us to get the real experience of the new eating place in town so we got on our clean shirts and recently rag wiped shoes and off we went.
We got there 6:30PM and was met at the door by 3 very pretty ladies dressed in very colorful Japanese(Geisha) attire. We were immediately seated and menus along with a sushi list placed before us to review. At that time, they still did not have their license to serve beer or wine so Hot Tea and Sweet Tea was our drinks for the night.
The first thing you are going to notice is the decor is very colorful and pleasant to the eyes.It is apparent the color combination was very well thought out as it had the same warm colors you would want in your home to soothe your nerves after a hard day at work. Instead of real bright lights and unacoustic walls echoing the patron chatter back in your ears as most noisy food places, you hear nothing but a soft sound of tradional japanese instruments and the soft gurgle of the water fountain.
E, ordered the Avocado salad with ginger dressing, the Teriyaki Beef with broccoli. I ordered the Salad with Ginger Dressing, Miso soup and then turned to the Sushi List. Since I travel quite abit, I do get to experience some of the sushi dishes put out by some very well trained Sushi chefs. I was anxious to see if they were going to be the normal run of the mill Sushi places that I have experience in many places including here in the Shoals. The first thing you will notice is the list is quite extensive and it is apparent the New York Experience and years working at some of the best Sushi places there and Huntsville, Alabama has allowed this Sushi Chef to put together a list that will compliment the taste of most Sushi enthusiast.In fact, I found the list exceeds what has in the past been available here, with the prices adjusted to meet the local economy. I ordered different pieces of tuna, salmon, white tuna,then a tuna roll and a dragon roll.
As we were waiting for our dishes to be prepared, the salads were brought to the table. E's, Avocado Salad was huge with a large avocado freshly sliced laying in a neat pattern on top of very fresh crisp lettuce. The Ginger dressing is brought out in a small container so you can adjust just how much ginger dressing you want on the salad ingredients. Now! for those of you who don't now what is a ginger dressing I will take the time to give you some of the ingredients, so you can relate to the blend of the taste, as it marries so well in a fresh crisp salad.
There are many different versions of ginger salads, but the basics of most are : salad oil or peanut oil, rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar, optional orange juice, soy sauce, honey, sugar, freshly ground ginger root, garlic, tomato paste, a little lemon juice, then salt and pepper to taste. Everyone of these ingredients compliment the other in this dressing.
Depending on the cook's syle dictates which ingredients they employ, but this will give you a basic understanding.
Now! to continue, my Salad was a very colorful bowl filled with cold, crisp lettuce served with a side order of Ginger Dressing.The amount was not overflowing but most definitely enough to get your taste buds cleaned and ready to experience the main dishes once they arrive.
The Salads were outstanding in color, presentation, and when the Ginger Dressing was added there was no talking as the lite, slight hint of spiciness spread throughout your mouth and made you want to chew slowly so you could experience the taste as long as your could.
I was just about finished with the Ginger Salad when they set the medium size bowl of hot MISO SOUP on the table.
Miso Soup is a traditional soup served in a lot of Japanese eating places. The ingredients of this is the just about the same everywhere with tofu( A bean curd which is made by coagulating soy milk and cutting it into blocks.It is soft and white in color and absorbs flavors very readily.) Dashi is what forms the soup base for the Miso Soup. (Its made by boiling Kombu or Edible Kelp and Kezunkatsua shaving . The broth is then strained. Most either use a paste or granulated versions of this base. There are many different flavors of the base so each Miso Soup will have a different taste depending on the flavor of Dashi they use.)But where did the soup get its name? It comes from the MISO which is a Japanese Seasoning produced by fermenting rice,barley or soybeans.Salt and Kojikin (fungi) is added and the result is a thick paste.It is loaded with vitamins, minerals and protein. But what does it taste like you ask?
Well! It has a slight salty, earthy taste that blends well with the kelp, Tofu and sometimes scallions added to the soup. These ingredients are not always the same depending on the cook's style.
As for me I like the earthy liquid with the floating ingredients and it is a wonderful opening to the main dishes. Lets just say if you like mushrooms, you will probably like this soup.
The last ceramic spoon full of soup had just disappeared when our main courses were brought out. (I think they were watching to see just about when we were finished with one dish, and delivered the other right on time)
The Teriyaki Beef was slice and layed like ribbons of juicy tenderloin across the broccoli and other ingredients. The meat was tender and not over cooked with the flavors of the brown sugar, honey, garlic, soy sauce complimenting the beef without over powering the natural flavor of the meat. It came with a bowl of fried rice and wok cooked vegetables mixed in it. This dish is a winner and we highly recommend you give it a try.
The Sushi arrived with a display of so many colors characterizing the different species of fresh fish layered across the rolls. The display was superb with the rolls larger than a lot of places I have gotten the same rolls. The flavor of the fish was indeed very fresh as you could tell by the texiture, color and smell of the rolls. If you are a Sushi Lover, then you really need to give this place a try, as I believe it may just be your place of choice the next time you want to meet the Japanese Coccaine desire of fresh Sushi.
We were both full, but we had one more dish we wanted to try and that was the "Green Tea Tempura Ice Cream" This is Green Tea flavored Ice Cream dipped in a batter and then fried to a light golden brown. When it was brought out, the first impression is this thing looks like it just came out of the Gourmet Magazine. The Large piece of Tempura Ice Cream was covered with drizzled strawberry and chocolate sauce. When you bite into this, you get the slight mild taste of green tea with the sweetness of the ice cream, layered with the crunch of the tempura batter and then topped with the mixture of Chocolate and strawberry flavors that say this is a 5 star dish.
The Service of this place far exceeds any eating establishment around here, which you will only see in very upscale restaurants. Make no mistake about it, this is a dining experience with a eating out price. If don't like Japanese they also do THAI (this is the only place in this area you can get those type of dishes) and CHINESE.
This place in our book is a keeper for regular vist.