New Fuji

From the same group that has brought us great restaurants such as Kingyo, Suika and Raisu, we now have another in New Fuji on 1st Ave in Kits steps away from one of my favourite restaurants, AnnaLena.   The menu here is quite extensive with grilled meats, battera sushi, udon and desserts.  Jess and I decided to come here for lunch so we could take advantage of their Gozen menu.  These combos feature 4 items with an udon, battera sushi, salad and karaage from $30.00 and up.

As such, we got the Uni Kamameshi Gozen with the Uni Eel Kamameshi, Uni & Scallop Miso Cream Udon, Sashimi Salad and 2 kinds of Karaage (Chicken and Corn).  Originally, the rice had a lid on it and we were instructed to mix in the uni and ikura (and chopped shiso and wasabi stems) when the hourglass timer was up.  That we did and the results were fabulous.  The chewy and flavour-infused rice was mixed with generous amounts of buttery eel, king oyster mushrooms, bamboo shoots, uni kombu broth and kansai dashi.  There was a wealth of flavours and textures.  Truly a luxurious rice that was well-worth the price (this gozen was $50.00).  The udon was quite good too with a creamy and sweet broth with a considerable uni flavour.  Sashimi salad was fresh and full of fish while the karaage was solid.  The chicken was juicy with a crispy exterior.  It was well-seasoned too.  Corn was sweet with pops from the niblets.

We couldn't just have that right?  Staying with eel, we had the Fluffy "Rare" Unagi Omelette.  As you can see, there was still quite a bit of moisture in the bowl, but the result was buttery soft eggs blessed with the sweetness of unagi and unagi sauce.  This was a study about soft textures and no, it didn't need any textural contrasting component because the mouth-feel from the eggs was what this was all about.

Another textural-focused dish was the Cheese Tofu that was super creamy and of course cheesy.  This was topped with figs and syrup that made it taste more like a dessert (like a soft cheesecake).  This was spread onto crunchy crostinis and it was super addictive.  The sweetness of the syrup only helped enhance the cheesiness while the crunch from the crostinis added that textura contrast (yes, unlike the last dish).

I always like to order Ebi Mayo whenever I see it on a menu (even when I shouldn't).  Well, it was a good decision this time around as each ebi was quite large and also fried beautifully crispy.  The ebi itself was meaty with a bounce texture.  It was aggressively dressed with a ginger & scallion chili mayo that was creamy and a bit heavy.  However, the brightness from the ginger and scallion did balance that out to a degree.

The other Gozen lunch specials featured battera sushi, so we were having serious fomo and decided to order the full Bluefin Negitoro Battera and half each of the Aburi Salmon and Wagyu Yukhoe Battera.  I found the sushi rice to be chewy, but quite loose.  So when we picked each piece up, it was hard to keep its shape.  In terms of toppings, the bluefin was buttery soft and sweet.  The flavours in this was quite complex due to the addition of apples, shiso, kelp, shiso chimichurii, sweetened soy, scallion ginger sauce and fresh green onions.  Lots of sweetness, umaminess and brightness.  The aburi salmon was buttery soft too with some bright yuzu koshu mayo, sweetened soy, ikura and chives.  The wagyu was beefy and also soft with crispy rice cracker bits, onion, apples, shiso chimichurri, sweetened soy, crushed garlic chips and soy.  So there was texture and also sweetness and aromatics to go around.

We decided on two desserts being the Ichigo Cake Daifuku and Tiramisu Parfait alle Fragole.  For the daifuku, it was good with a fresh strawberry (amazingly during these months) atop a layer of sweet red bean and thin sponge cake.  Then the whole thing was topped with mascarpone sauce and wrapped in mochi.  This was about sweetness and the chewy texture of the mochi.  Quite good and not as heavy as it sounds.  For the tiramisu, it featured a base of cocoa cookie crumbles topped with tart strawberry sauce and sliced strawberries.  From there, it was more traditional tiramisu with sweet mascarpone cream and cocoa powder.  I quite liked this as it was a lot lighter than having espresso-soaked ladyfingers.  Very refreshing, lightly sweet and full of texture due to the cookie crumbles.  In the end, we really enjoyed our meal at New Fuji. It is obvious there has been plenty of thought put into each dish with some sporting many components to create both flavours and textures.  Sure, it a bit pricey, but worth it in my opinion.

The Good:

- Lots of textures and flavours from a multitude of components

- Things are fresh

- Attentive service

The Bad:

- On the pricier side