Have you ever heard of 寿司ケーキ (sushi cake)?
It was unarguably one of my vivid food memories from my childhood.
If I google it now, my eyes are treated with beautifully adorned sushi cakes which imitate round layered cakes with lots of decorations.
Well, the one in my childhood memory was not as elaborate nor beautiful as them. It was just a pile of sushi rolls being sliced & stuck up as pyramid, displaying dark 海苔 (seaweed paper) on the side. The filling of tuna & cucumber alternated in tiers. And on top, a single candle was placed while a row of parsley surrounded the base of the cake.
I am jiggling my memory now but can’t remember if we had one for my
birthday. Or was it for my dad who was not at all keen on sugary
treats? Anyway, I felt rather cheated and indignant when my mom
suggested it as an alternative to a conventional celebratory cake. Did
I dare expressing my disapproval to her? Again, I am not sure.
Since she was not a kind of mother to be messed with, I probably kept
my mouth shut.
The point I wanted (but daren’t) to make it to her was that sushi was
a dinner not a dessert.
No matter how much I liked sushi, I didn’t
like the idea of “2 in 1”. I also resented the stupid sushi chef who invented this sad sushi cake…
Nowadays, I prefer 巻き物 (maki) to 握り(nigiri) when it comes to sushi. I
am sure that those sushi connoisseurs must be shaking their heads in
disapproval. They would denounce these rolls, like of California roll
& Spider roll, as heretic concoctions, I can imagine. However I am not a food fascist and love
those reinvented sushi rolls from the States so much I order them whenever any
opportunity arises.
Last weekend, Hubbie and I decided to have dinner at LIFE on Old Street.
We pay an homage to this restaurant whenever we fancy Japanese food
since they are the nearest one in our neighbourhood.
As for starters, we shared Tofu crouquetto with onion soy sauce…
The deep-fried croquettos were served piping hot. The breadcrumb was crispy and made a perfect contrast with soft tofu filling.
Another starter was Shrimp paste stuffed deep-fried wonton with shiso sauce…
I really loved their Japanese style onion dressing on salad.
It was a full of onion & ginger flavour with a hint of soy sauce. The salad became even more moreish.
About the wonton, it was on a tad bland side. It could have benefited from more tweaking?…
Some of you may agree with me but I am always slightly annoyed by the way some of the foods are served in Oriental eateries. Don’t you think that they should come in even numbers? Any food which may be shared amongst diners, such as dim sum especially, it should not be given in odd numbers as those left overs only cause a needless dilemma. I had to give up the last crouquetto as well as the last wonton for Hubbie and was rather annoyed by that…
Anyway, the starters were followed by sushi rolls…
They were just a part of the sushi rolls we ordered.
I had a bowl of miso soup as well. In the end we were too stuffed to enjoy their famed Matcha tea brulee with vanilla ice cream.
Oh, by just looking at the photos, I crave for another sushi rolls!
