I was looking up food on the net. The focus was on good delivery places in the neighbourhood. That was when I chanced upon a place called Sushiya. It had an outlet in Laxmi Nagar (phone number: 9312444086) and the menu was interesting. It had sushi, teriyaki and sashimi. The menu had a few Korean grills as well. The prices were reasonable, too. So, I planned out our dinner and called up Swiggy.
The food arrived almost before I had hung up. I had asked for a smoked salmon maki (₹ 225 for four pieces), tori gyoza dumplings (₹250 for 10 pieces), chicken bulgogi (₹375) and prawn and crab teriyaki served with sticky rice (₹ 440). The food came packed in neat containers. And there were sauces on the side, wasabi and gari (ginger) and sticky rice to go with.
The food was not bad at all. The maki – a basic sushi – was a piece of smoked salmon with sticky rice and seaweed wrapped around it. It had all the right flavours and textures – crunchy one moment, soft the other. The salmon apparently is sourced from Norway. I enjoyed the teriyaki – crispy golden brown prawn and crabmeat sticks served with greens.
The chicken bulgogi – a Korean dish, usually cooked with other kinds of meat – was char-grilled chicken in a nice meld of sweet and tangy flavours, which had mixed well with the sticky rice that it came with. The chicken dumplings – steamed and pan-fried served with tangy soy – were, however, nothing much to write home about. I suppose dimsums have to be eaten right off the steamer. Otherwise, they lose their appeal.
But this is a place worth a dekko. I, for one, plan to order again, and try out its crab sticks and cucumber topped with grilled bacon (₹ 275) and chicken katsu yaki soba (₹ 345) – pan-fried noodles with veggies and chicken.
When friends come over, I may order their special sushi boxes. The 12-piece Sakura box (₹ 895) consists of four fresh salmon nigiri, four salmon dragon rolls, two fresh salmon maki and two spicy salmon rolls. The exotica box (₹ 1550) has additional rolls such as red tuna nigiri, California roll and prawn nigiri. There is even a 50-piece box called Midori party pack (vegetarian rolls) and a 42-piece Umami non-vegetarian box.
Sushiya has seven outlets in Delhi, and two in Mumbai. The outlets are all delivery outfits, barring its branch in Saket’s Select Citywalk Mall, which is a takeaway.
Food like literature is a bit classist. I have always bemoaned the fact that there are very few good bookstores in my part of town. I similarly used to complain about not getting Japanese or Korean food in east Delhi (both books and Asian food are available in Noida, of course, but that’s not really east Delhi). It’s good to know that I can order sushi and Korean grills from my neck of the woods. Now, for a bookstore.
