My Rating: [rating=4]

After a tiring work week, we dined at Tempura Japanese Grill, TriNoma branch last Friday. I wasn’t in a good mood when we entered the restaurant. Good thing they served us warm tea to relax and calm my nerves. My hubby got himself seafood soup and mixed sushi while I ordered two varieties of maki ’cause their sukiyaki wasn’t available.

Our first order – Ebi Salad Maki. Rolled maki with mango and asparagus topped with shrimp salad lightly rolled in ebiko, nori flakes and sesame seeds. I like how the sweetness of the mayo blends with the asparagus and the shrimp. An excellent alternative to your typical salad!

Uncle Sam’s Maki is rolled maki with shrimp, Philadelphia cream cheese, cucumber strips and mango topped with bacon and mayo. I found the sour mayo is way too overwhelming that’s there’s little room for other taste buds to work in my mouth. I say, to better appreciate the Philadelphia cream cheese – which should be the highlight of this dish – they should cut the mayo in half.

Temari Sushi – Ika, maguro, sake, ebi and kani balls stuffed with crunchy salmon bits. The term “temari” means “hand ball” in Japanese.

Nothing is more adorable than these mixed sushi in balls. I assumed my husband knows that pregnant women must avoid raw meat. And I also assumed that he well knows that my comfort food is tuna sashimi. I’m pregnant and I haven’t eaten any sashimi for 6 months. It was too late to resist – I chowed down the kani and the maguro balls! The crunchy salmon bits inside surprised me. 

Japanese food terms FYI:

• Tempura – a dish made by deep-frying vegetables, seafood, or other foods in a light batter
• Maki – rolled sushi; which includes sashimi, rice, and nori among other ingredients
• Ebi – shrimp; cooked prawn
• Ebiko – shrimp eggs
• Nori – a type of dried seaweed used to wrap sushi
• Ika – squid
• Maguro – tuna
• Sake – salmon (as referred to in this blog post; other definition is Japanese rice wine)
• Kani – crab meat

Tempura Japanese Grill
Trinoma Mall, North Ave cor Mindanao Ave., Quezon City
facebook.com/tempuragrill

Published: 2009-09-15 23:23:00