Somewhere mid December I went to this all you can eat sushi restaurant called Sakana to celebrate the birthday of my friend Fhant. I sometimes see restaurant impressions done by other participants of Weekend Cooking and I always enjoy those very much because it isn't very likely that I will visit those far away places. So I thought I would return the favour and post an impression myself.
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| Salmon Handroll |
Sakana is a Japanese all you can eat sushi and grill restaurant in a city called Den Bosch. I have no idea how the sushi restaurants in Japan work but this restaurant works with an all you can eat concept. You order in rounds and each round you can order 5 items of food maximum. This can be hot or cold food. What I love about this all you can eat concept is that they don't like it if you waste items so you have to pay extra if you not finish what you order. Of course when you are with a group there are always a few garbage cans that can stuff some more away ;) But I think it is a good concept that makes you think before you order.
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| Some flamed fish nigiri |
I don't eat fish very often as I eat mostly vegetarian but I do make an exception when I eat out in a sushi restaurant. I just can't resist and mostly the vegetarian sushi offer is very limited. However if I make sushi at home I often do opt for vegetarian also because Zeronic doesn't like to eat fish. What I liked best in this restaurant were the flamed nigiri's. I am not sure I ever had these before. They serve the nigiri with warm fish instead of raw and they are marinated in some sauce and flamed. I found these very unique and I find them a nice addition to the more traditional nigiri.
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| Dragonballs - Picture by my friend Belsammael |
Another thing I tried were these sweet sesame balls. They are called dragon balls and I think they had red bean paste in them. All though a bit odd I liked them but I find it more of a snack or dessert item, not really for a main meal. Come to think of it, I think I did eat only sushi apart from these dragon balls. No hot items except for some mushrooms. I guess I just love sushi too much and because I can only eat fairly small portions, I take what I like best.
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| Some nigiri and inside out maki |
I do realize that I only took pictures of the food and not of the restaurant itself. This is mainly because I only made the pictures to share on twitter in between orders and I only thought up later that I wanted to write this post. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this impression regardless.
I am curious now though how Japanese restaurants function in other countries. Do they have the same concept or do they have another concept entirely?
This post is part of
Weekend Cooking. Please check out the other posts as well, because you never know where the idea for your next meal will come from! :)
The sushi looks wonderful. I love dragon balls! But yes they are more of a dessert rather than part of the meal (at least for me). On the other hand, they might be good with a really hot dish.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to a restaurant that makes you pay extra if you don't eat it. But that sure would encourage me to order carefully.
We cannot get good Japanese food in my town, but I used to eat sushi often when I lived in Hawaii.
It looks really nice (although a picture of the restaurant would have been good...). I've never been in a Japanese restaurant - I'd love to go sometime. Must get some friends together as my family is "Pizza or die!" (with the odd Chinese outing).
ReplyDeleteI have been to a number of Japanese restaurants over the years, but never to one that had an all you can eat theme.
ReplyDeleteI think its very smart, and responsible, on the restaurants part to include the caveat of paying for what you don't finish.
I love sushi too, and eat it as often as I can whenever I travel. Sadly I've never found an all you can eat sushi restaurant! The food looks very similar to what I've had before. Except I've never seen dragon balls. The Chinese do a fried ball with red bean paste in the middle and sesame seeds on the outside but I've never found a Japanese version. They look great though.
ReplyDeleteI must say, after recently reading an article about parasites in fish, I am totally off raw sushi. But while I have eaten sushi in various setting I have never been to an actual sushi restaurant.
ReplyDeleteThe sushi look really nice! S. and me used to go more often, but then I started eating more strictly vegetarian and it became less fun. This is the one we usually go to: http://moshirotterdam.nl/index.php?id=48 S. loves their banana roll and cheese roll (aside of the fishy ones of course). I adore the grilled shiitake and the seaweed/avocado ones.
ReplyDelete@Caite: parasites in fish does sound nasty, however I guess I will choose not to be bothered by it since I eat fish not very often. And I am already avoiding all the bad stuff that is going on with meat by not eating that. And you can't avoid everything :)
ReplyDelete@Chinoiseries: It sounds like they offer a whole lot more vegetarian options though! :) Must check it out if I am every in Rotterdam :)
The sushi looks delicious. I've never been to an all you can eat sushi place, but love the fact that they try to make sure people don't waste.
ReplyDeleteThe dragon balls look so interesting -- sounds like a great restaurant find!
ReplyDeleteI also love to read about restaurant experiences, even if I know I won't be able to go there. Your sushi photos are excellent. I'm not a fan of sushi but I did visit a sushi restaurant recently and managed to eat a few items. I should post about that.
ReplyDeleteThat salmon handroll is beautiful. Sushi here is often ordered with a kind of grid-like form. You make a tic mark for each piece that you want. They charge you by the piece.
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We do have some all you can eat sushi places but I haven't tried any of them. I've heard there are also places where you basically sit in front of a conveyor belt that rotates sushi before all the tables. Ha! Usually we just order a few things--hubby is allergic to the fresh ingredients in sushi rolls so we're pretty limited in what we order.
ReplyDeleteMmmm, you've made me hungry! ;)
I enjoy restaurant posts, too!
ReplyDeleteYour sushi looks excellent--it's making my mouth water and I recently ate dinner! : )
I actually admire this restaurant's policy about making customers pay extra for what they don't eat. I guess they don't want people to take home their leftovers? Of course, this would never be a problem with my bill--my husband takes care of making sure nothing is wasted. ; )
I have had dragon balls in a Chinese restaurant. I love them!
Well taking leftovers in restaurants isn't that common here as in the states. There are some restaurants where you can, but those are a la carte restaurants. All you can eat only goes for at the restaurant itself, or else they would lose profit over it. While when you eat a la carte, you will pay for the menu item regardless if you take the leftovers home or that they toss it out.
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