Sushi Hachi- Saba Battera is Amazing!

December 14, 2011January 21, 2016 admin 3 Comments

A few weeks ago, I met up with Janice (GoodEat) and Steph (KrispyBites) for dinner at Sushi Hachi. Sushi Hachi is known for their sashimi
and authentic Japanese eats. The whole restaurant is operated by a couple. The
husband (I assume) is the chef and the wife does everything else (serving,
taking orders, refilling tea). They are only open three hours a day (6-9pm)
from Tuesday to Saturday. Crazy right?!

The chef seemed like he knew the customers really well
because he was chatting with the couple in front of him throughout their dinner
in Japanese.

The menu is simple. They have sushi by piece and sushi rolls
on one side, and…

Sashimi, pressed sushi, rice bowls, dessert, and some cooked
items on the other side.

First came the Saba
Battera ($14.50) and Chopped Scallop
Roll ($3.50). The saba battera was quite expensive for six pieces, but well
worth the splurge on occasion. It was absolutely delicious! I normally dislike raw Saba because I find it fishy, but there was none of that here. I particularly
loved the basil (or mint?) that was pressed into the middle of the sushi rice.
It was subtle, but it made all the difference. The chopped scallop roll was ok
but nothing special. There weren’t many scallops in the roll as you can see
from the piece at the end.

The BBQ Sea Snails
($4.50) were next and it came on two skewers. I really loved it! The snails
were perfectly cooked and it had a good char from the BBQ on it.

I didn’t find the BBQ Marinated Kanpachi ($5.00) spectacular
or anything but it was nicely cooked and seasoned. I wouldn’t get this again
though if I were to return.

I heard the BBQ
Salmon Skin Salad ($4.50) was good so I suggested this item. The salad came
with pieces of barbequed salmon skin, small pieces of cucumber, green onions,
tobiko, and some other ingredients I can’t remember. I really liked this dish
but that is because I have a thing for crunchy fish skin. The ingredients
worked really well together and I liked how the skin still had a little bit of
salmon meat on them.

We ordered this after our “first round” because none of us
were full after the first five items. Heck, we weren’t even full after
finishing the whole meal! But I’ll talk about that later. We ordered a Spicy Salmon Roll ($3.50), two pieces
of Sockeye Salmon Nigiri ($1.50 ea), three
pieces of Amaebi Nigiri ($3.50 ea), and
a Toro Nigiri ($2.50).

The sockeye salmon nigiri were super small! I normally
cannot eat a nigiri in one bite (cause of my small mouth =.=) but I had room to
spare with this one! It tasted great but I don’t think I can properly say it
was any better than the salmon sashimi I’ve had at Oyama
or any other good Japanese restaurants.

The spicy salmon roll was good, but again it had too little
filling.

Amaebi is raw shrimp and I suggested we order this because I
have never tried it before. Steph warned us beforehand though that it will be slimy
and gosh, she was totally right. But you know what, it was a good kind of
slimy, like Ika (raw squid). I like! If you come here, be adventurous and try
it out!

Our total damage was about $20 per person and none of us
were that full. I personally wouldn’t come back very often because I find the
sushi too expensive. However, the food was great and the sashimi was undeniably
fresh. So if you are more baller than me and have a soft spot for superior
quality sashimi, this place is for you. 😀

Based on these reasons: