I didn't like sushi. WHAT?! I know..... that's crazy! Often times, whether you like certain food depends highly on your first encounter, and my first sushi experience.... not so great. It was at some random cheap sushi place..... so you can imagine..... For sushi, you are basically eating raw fish, and there's not too much seasoning that you can use to hide the flavors. You can definitely tell between high quality fresh fish and some so so stuff.....
How do I fall in love with sushi? The boyfriend really likes sushi, so we went to another good sushi place called Sugarfish. I wasn't gonna eat anything, but he kept telling me that I was missing out and encouraged me to give it a try, so I did. OMG! Life-changing experience! Raw fish actually can taste good! I guess I was just picky the whole time! I ended up eating half of his food (he probably regretted telling me to try it lol)
Now that I love sushi, it is hard to find good sushi places even in LA, and this one is definitely one of the best. The fish is imported from all over the oceans, and they are just so fresh. They also have a lot of live items! THEY ARE STILL MOVING ON THE PLATE! The boyfriend thinks it's cruel (which is kinda true), but nothing tastes better than live raw seafood!
The name of the restaurant is called Kanpai, meaning "cheers". So, we started our dinner with a beer and a glass of plum wine. They also have over 20 premium sakes that are imported from Japan if you are into sake!
Sushi can be expensive, so some filler items! Ramen! This is spicy shio yuzu ramen. This is pretty good ramen! Yuzu is a kind of citrus, and gave the broth a little acidity, which is surprisingly good. The chashu was so good! Seasoned so well, and fatty but not greasy.
Another yummy filler item, seafood tempura! All the seafood came with 2 pieces (scallop, shrimp and fish). I like the scallop the best, and it is a pretty big scallop. It was good. The tempura was crispy, but not greasy. The breading was just right, and the sauce was good with minced radish.
Tada! Finally the sushi! From left to right, Meji Maguro (baby bluefin tuna), live octopus, seared sorbet tuna (we actually ordered buri, which is wild Japanese yellowtail, but they are out). Everything was already seasoned, so it is recommended not to add extra soy sauce. Just look at the bluefin tuna, just look at it..... the pattern..... OMG.... it was so good.... the live octopus, one of the best ones I have ever had (another instance would be in Tsukiji market in Tokyo). The seared tuna..... I don't know what the buri would have tasted like, but this is definitely worth ordering. It is hard to describe how good these are. Orgasm in my mouth.
On the left is ika (squid), which is also exceptional. Below is one of the highlights for tonight! Live sweet shrimp sushi! No exaggeration. The shrimp heads were still moving on the plate! For the shrimp heads, you can ask them to deep fried it or put it in soup, and we chose to deep fried them. Honestly, with shrimp this fresh, doesn't matter how you cook it, it is going to taste delicious. So, the white boyfriend goes like "Are we supposed to eat the head? The eyes and everything?" What a cute question. After being deep fried, the shells just become crispy, and there's so much calcium in those shells that it is actually good for you. There is still some meat in the neck area of the shrimp, but the whole shrimp is just so tasty that we ended up finishing the whole head (besides the eyeballs)! Now he gets shrimp head! LOL
One other highlight tonight, king crab w/ summer black truffle. The lady next to us was asking us how was it, because she said she wouldn't have thought black truffle can be on sushi. You know what, this is a bomb! Such a match in heaven! When the black truffle touches your tongue, it slowly releases the aroma. Then, you bite on the crab meat, and the sweetness of the crab merges with the black truffle. Um..... this is just sooooooo delicious. I mean, you've got to try it, then you will understand what I am talking about.
Dessert time! I wasn't going to order dessert because usually the desserts in sushi places aren't that appealing. But their menu caught my eyes! I do have a sweet tooth, and when I saw this menu...... I was like.... okay, let's give it a try! I was debating between the green tea parfait and the tempura ice cream, and I picked tempura green tea ice cream.
It was a little disappointing. The breading is a little thick, and tempura ice cream is supposed to give you this hot/cold sensation, but it wasn't hot at all.... I only ordered one dessert, so other desserts might be better?
Anyways, it might not be a perfect ending, but the sushi here was definitely 5 stars! There are not too many good sushi places in LA (I might be a little pickier than others), and this is one of those that has good quality stuff and still affordable. Restaurant.com has a coupon for this place, it's $40 for $100 gift certificate with minimum $200 order. So, it's like $140 for $200 dinner. A pretty good deal! Next time when I come back, I definitely need to try their uni and live octopus carpaccio (suction in your mouth would be interesting)!