Sherman's Food Adventures: Hong Sushi

Hong Sushi

Generally, I'm not a huge fan of getting food to go. Hey, it's nothing against take-out. Especially with kiddies sometimes, it is the best way to eat. However, pictures just don't look too sexy in Styrofoam. Hence, I often take a picture of the food and then get it to go afterwards. Often, this elicits strange looks from the restaurant staff; but do I have much shame left? Well, Mijune does ask complete strangers for samples of their food... That is truly shameless. Anyways, there are times where I really have no choice. Take Hong Sushi for instance. Not only are they predominantly a takeout joint, they do not have actual cutlery and plates. Rather, everything is made of plastic. Sure, they have 2 tables; but it is not a place you would necessarily sit down to eat. With that in mind, it was the perfect place for me to pick up some dinner after a tough day at work.

For the first time, I placed my order over the internet via YummyWeb. It seemed to work out pretty well, especially when I really didn't want to name every piece of nigiri in my order. Approximately 5 minutes after my internet order, I get a call from the restaurant informing me that everything is ready for pickup in 15 minutes. Of course, after I picked up the stuff and brought it home, I did my best to be a food stylist. I know, I know. Don't give up my day job. At least I tried. Better than being scrunched up in a Styrofoam container! So the first thing we ate was the Black Dragon Roll. Consisting of spicy salmon, cucumber and ebi tempura on the inside and salmon and avocado on the outside, this appeared to be a well-constructed roll. However, I found the rice to be fairly dry and hard. It did have a nice vinegar taste though. The rest of the roll wasn't too bad. For me, other than the maki sushi, the sashimi is a must when I eat Japanese food. I got an order of the Assorted Sashimi which included salmon, tuna, tai, amebi, chopped scallop, tako, hokkigai and saba. The pieces were very generous in size and pretty decent in quality. The salmon and tuna were okay; but we found the tai to be very chewy. Also, the tako was cut quite haphazardly. However, I'm not even going to begin comparing with "better" Japanese sushi bars here. It is acceptable for the price.

Of course, I always get Nigiri as well since I always seem to order it. I got one piece each of the tai, salmon, tuna, unagi, chopped scallop and inari. Pretty much the same as the sashimi - big pieces and did the job. Once again, the tai wasn't so good. At least it was consistent. For the kiddies we ordered a Chicken Yakisoba. Wow, this was very oily. They had placed a paper towel underneath to soak up the oil and that didn't even do much to help. The noodles had a nice chewy texture while the veggies were crispy and vibrant. The chicken was okay too. But the whole thing needed quite a bit more flavour. It was oily and bland. Not a good combo. Lastly, we got an order of the Prawn Tempura. There was way too much batter on them, especially on one side. A clear indication that they sitting at the bottom of the frying basket where the dough collected. Didn't do it for me. It was not a particularly memorable Japanese meal for us; yet at the same time, it was convenient, inexpensive and good value for the money. So, take it for what it is. A neighbourhood Japanese restaurant that doesn't do any more or any less.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Generous portions
- Convenient web ordering

The Bad:
- Food is so-so
- Take-out only (a few seats), if that matters to you

Hong Sushi on Urbanspoon

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