Belated Merry Christmas, guys! Hope you all ate, drank and were very merry! As much as I wish that Bombay resembled some kind of winter wonderland and carried a festive air, my Christmas weekend ended up being fab. While Christmas in London for me tends to mean a turkey lunch with all the trimmings, I had a sushi Christmas this year..and I couldn’t have been more thrilled! In fact I have 2 sushi places to share about, especially for my friends in Bombay.
First up is Sushi Koi, a home-delivery sushi joint based in Bandra. As a few friends and I decided to spend Christmas Eve at home, take-out sushi seemed like the best option. And of course we cracked open a couple of bottles of white wine to make it somewhat of a ‘White Christmas’ ;)! We tried 4 different rolls, all of which were brown rice-based:
- Teriyaki Shiitake: Teriyaki shiitake mushroom with Philadelphia cream cheese, pokchoy, spring onions, cucumber with tempura flakes
- Avocado Asparagus: Avocado & asparagus with sesame soy
- California Roll: Crabstick, cucumber, avocado, lettuce & wasabi mayo
- Spicy Tuna: Yellowtail tuna in chilli aioli with chives, jalapeño, cucumber & lettuce
Although I usually consider vegetarian sushi to be rather tragic, the shittake roll was actually my favorite – such a meaty texture! Aside from the fact that we finally have a decent take-out sushi option in Mumbai, I am thrilled that this place also offers a quinoa sushi- definitely trying that next!
Next up was the Japanese fine dining restaurant Saizen which I tried out with a couple of friends for dinner. Even though it’s been around for a while now, I never thought to try it as I’d heard mixed reviews. Although it would have been nice to see the restaurant a bit busier on a Friday night, the food tasted exceptionally good. After warming up with some edamame, we dug into the good stuff:
- Salmon Sashimi
- Avocado Dragon Roll: Cucumber, cream cheese & spring onion topped with avocado & drizzled with sweet sauce & wasabi mayo
- Hatsukoi (First Love) Roll: Salmon & avocado roll topped with tuna & garnished with caviar
- Unpictured Chicken Gyoza
- Zucchini Carpaccio
- Unpictured Wakame Salad
- Grilled Salmon with Crispy Baby Spinach
- Unpictured Sticky Rice
- Miso Aubergine
I was blown away by each dish, both in terms of taste and presentation. Each bite was maki-ng miso happy;)! For the record, I was not asked to post about Sushi Koi or Saizen– I just really liked both. The Hatsukoi Roll pretty much sums up my sentiments towards sushi ;)!
Hope you guys have some fun planned over the next few days to ensure you end 2014 with a bang! When this post goes up, I’ll probably be boarding my flight to Dubai for a last minute trip. I’ll be back to regular posting when I’m back next week, so until then: HAPPY 2015 & see ya next year!
What’s the best thing you ate over Christmas?
What’s your favourite Japanese dish?
Wow as much as I do love the traditional turkey, I think a sushi Christmas would be amazing! Especially if it looked like this…
Weirdly, my favourite thing over the holidays has been roasted chestnuts and sprouts – simple but so good!
The simple stuff is always the best! Roasted chestnuts always takes me back to walking on Oxford Street during the winter 🙂
Safe travels, Khushboo! We didn’t end up having a traditional turkey dinner this year either, but that’s mostly because no one was in the mood for turkey. And is it horrible of me to say that my favourite dish was actually dessert? Because my mom made this amazing chocolate cake that was out.of.this.WORLD.
Psshh let’s be honest girl- is mentioning dessert EVER horrible ;)!
Sushi on Christmas sounds like an amazing idea. I would definitely be willing to give up turkey for sushi. 😉
The best thing I ate this Christmas was Smitten Kitchen’s sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It was seriously to die for!
Oh dayumn- that dessert sounds amazing! I have a weakness for sticky toffee pudding- yum!
I’d go for sushi on Christmas! Or pretty much any other day of the year, really…
As for best thing I ate over Christmas: Chef-friend sent me homemade chocolate truffles and those are pretty fabulous! 😉
I need friends who send me homemade chocolates ;)!
Oh yum- So true about Shittaki mushrooms- Such a meaty texture. I had dumplings on Christmas day with some friends (couldn’t fly home) and I lost a bet and had to drink the chilli oil.
….It was awesome.
Be honest Arman- did you intentionally lose that bet ;)?
Do you know I’ve never had a traditional turkey Christmas? In Australia, no one does it (it’s too darn hot!) and then I’ve been out of the country or by myself on Christmas Day in London, so I’ve never bothered. Sushi sounds much better – although I would need at least five rolls just to myself haha
Not going to lie- kinda jealous of those roasts you’ve been having lately…love Yorkshire puddings!
Holy cow, the presentation on these is stunning. Talk about eat pretty. Da-yum.
Safe travels my friend.
Almost too pretty to eat…almost ;)!
The avocado dragon roll looks really good! It’s got me craving vegan sushi when I get back to LA!!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you too, P!
WOA – that quinoa sushi has me totally intrigued!!! The presentation on these dishes ARE AH-MAZING indeed!!! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas Khusboo and Happy happy new year! xxs
Thanks Shashi- hope you had a wonderful holiday period too :)!
Sushi for Christmas sounds wonderful! It all looks so tasty and the presentation is beautiful! Japanese is my favorite cuisine with sushi ranking as my favorite.
Looks like we have a lot in common, Alexis 🙂