Sushitei Hondoriten

Walking around the Hiroshima Hondori, we were debating where to eat for lunch.  We briefly considered one of the lineups for Okonomiyaki but we didn't have that much time.  Ichiran was another option, but been there, done that.  Finally, we settled on a local chain in Sushitei Hondoriten.  Sure, it isn't the most premier sushi in town, but with limited time, we were not being too picky.  After walking upstairs, we were quickly seated and after perusing the menu, it was pretty simple with a few sushi combos available. 

My daughter decided to go for her usual in the Seafood Chirashi.  This was fully-loaded with tamago, unagi, hamachi, salmon, shima aji, hotate, akami, snow crab, ebi, tako and ikura.  Yes, this was filling and plenty satisfying.  As you can see from the picture, things were fresh with a nice sheen.  Indeed it was as the flavours were clean and sweet.   Tamago on the lighter side and not as layered as we would've liked though.

My son ended up with the Ikura Kobore while I had the Variety Set.  Both were somewhat similar except for a few minor differences.  They both had unagi, ebi, mirugai, tamago, akami, shima aji, chutoro, ika, uni and ikura.  The difference was that the Variety Set had hamachi and salmon while the Ikura Kobore had more ikura.  Again, nicely constructed nigiri featuring clean flavours and textures.

For Viv, she had the Sushi & Tempura Set which included a Clam Red Miso Soup.  This was a rather large bowl and in fact, we all had one.  Nice rich and fermented flavours with plenty of umami without actually being salty.  Didn't get a lot of brininess, but the clams themselves were buttery.  As for the Tempura, the batter was super light and crispy.  Things were cooked just right.

For her sushi plate, she had tamago, ebi, salmon, ikura, unagi, ika, akami and hamachi.   What has said about the nigiri has already been said, but I thought this set was a good value consider it included the soup, tempura and sushi.  Overall, we were satisfied with the sushi we had at Sushitei and it was well-priced too.  Service was a bit hit and miss as we had a hard time getting more tea and water.  Otherwise, this is a good option for those who aren't too picky about their sushi restaurants.

The Good:

- Fresh

- Not expensive

- Easy to get a table

The Bad:

- Service was a bit hit and miss

Mister Donut

When we were in Kochi, we had noticed a lineup at Mister Donut.  If we had a bit more time, we would've gotten into that line for sure.  However, we needed to get back to the cruise ship.  Now on our stop in Hiroshima, we were passing by a Mister Donut location on our way to lunch.  Well, that was as good as anytime to get in line for some donuts!  The line moved fast and we ended up with 6 donuts.

To get a baseline for their mochi donuts, we had the Glazed Mochi Donut.  This was lightly coated, so it wasn't super sweet, yet at the same time, it was not flavourless either.  I found the donut itself to be aromatic and the texture was lightly chewy.  We got the Chocolate Glazed as well and since it was only partially coated, it wasn't very sweet and it allowed for the fried mochi donut essence to be more prominent. 

Their strawberry glazed donuts were pretty dominant in the display case.  We got the Mochi Strawberry Glazed as well as the Strawberry Glazed Yeast Donut.  In terms of the glaze, it was actually not as "Pocky"-tasting as I thought it would be.  Sure, it was sweet, but it also genuinely had some strawberry flavour to it, albeit on the creamier side.  The yeast donut was light but still had structure.

Yet, the best of them all was the Strawberry Cruller.  Due to the egginess, it was light with a crispy exterior.  With only half of the donut dipped in the glaze, it was also balanced in terms of sweetness.  Our last donut was the Chocolate with coconut.  This cake donut was fluffy and fairly light.  It was only mildly sweet and had the aromatics of coconut on the outside.  I would've liked toasted coconut, but it was still tasty with natural sweetness.  Overall, the donuts at Mister Donut weren't mind-blowing, but they did the trick and were not expensive.  Try at least one of their strawberry donuts.

The Good:

- Inexpensive

- Solid

- Just sweet enough

The Bad:

- Nothing mind-blowing

- Sometimes a lineup