Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Restaurant: East Japanese Restaurant


By the name alone this restaurant sounds like your run of the mill sushi joint in Murray Hell frequented by people who like sushi, but don't strive for something different. Take a closer look, however, and the restaurant itself is a fun, different and entertaining experience. The sushi itself is good, nothing beyond your slightly above average spot in Manhattan, but it comes via a conveyor belt. Apparently this is considered "fast food" in Japan, but compared to our fast food, well I think we have a lot to learn. While you can get a seat at a booth, or at the fancy upstairs where you take your shoes off, the real fun is getting a seat at the sushi bar where plates of 2-5 pieces of sushi go by you freshly made for you to choose from. The plates are different colors and looking on the menu you can see they represent different prices, ranging from white (the cheapest) to black with gold and silver (of course the most expensive). Half the fun is trying to figure out what each sushi is, and trying new ones that look interesting, all the while stacking up your plates and deciding what to grab next before it gets by you. If you don't see what you want the chefs at the bar will happily make it for you, and waiters come often to see if you need anything off the menu or more drinks. The sushi ranges from your standard California roll and brown rice spicy tuna to anaconda/typhoon rolls, spider rolls and even a kobe beef sashimi ($10). Even desserts like lemon custard and some weird squishy balls come around with non-sushi appetizers like seaweed and other small salads.

Take a date or take a group, but either way, they will instantly love the idea of grabbing food as it comes by, and before you know it you'll have more plates stacked up than you thought.

Favorite Plate: Spicy Tuna roll - no mayo, just hot pepper flakes in the rice
2ND Favorite Plate: tie between Philadelphia Roll & Spider Roll

Sushi on a Conveyor Belt!!!!

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