Hunan Gourmet Restaurant & Lounge by Monica

Located in a strip mall on Route 9 Manalapan, Hunan Gourmet was easy to find. The atmosphere was very nice and they have a small, but trendy and cozy looking bar/lounge area. They have half price rolls Sunday through Thursday ALL DAY and| Friday & Saturday from 8:30PM to close. I forgot to write it down but I believe I had the futo maki roll and the rock and roll...roll, which was shrimp tempura, caviar, cucumber and avocado.

The rolls both tasted good and the fish was fresh. They were definitely on the small side but this might have been the most inexpensive half price menu I've seen so it's understandable. Next time I would just order 3 rolls.

P.S. Jen and I have obviously been slacking off. We'll just have to force ourselves to eat more sushi and remind ourselves to post!

Hunan Gourmet
Ste 23, 357 US Highway 9
Englishtown, NJ 07726-5125
(732) 972-3500
www.hunanon9.com

Sushi Yoshi *Vermont*

I know it's not in NJ but it's sushi and it was good, so here it goes.

Sushi Yoshi

February I was up in Killington, VT for an annual group skiing and snowboarding trip. Our last night in town on Saturday night, we chose Sushi Yoshi for a group dinner. They have table service for sushi, a separate hibachi section (that was booked until midnight!) and a small but lively bar area.  I ordered the Yellowtail with scallions Roll (of course) and a Rainbow Roll. As described by their menu, a Rainbow Roll was a California Roll wrapped in 6 slices of fresh fish which in my case was tuna, salmon and what I believe to be white fish.

The husband ordered tuna sashimi and we both agreed our tuna looked funny…but not color wise. It was more like extremely pressed looking but its smelled fine and the color was great so we felt safe eating it.  I’m glad I did because the Rainbow Roll was fantastic. Fish tasted fresh and the size of it was definitely a generous portion (and for $16.95 it should be).  Yellowtail with scallions Roll did not disappoint either.  So while this restaurant was pricey, it was a tourist locale so it was expected. Considering it might be the only sushi place in town, I had no problem spending a few extra $.

Sushi-O by Monica

Well that was an interesting dinner. Jen, my sister and I went to Sushi-O located in Edison on Route 1 south in a small shopping mall. The inside was decorated beautifully and being on a diet, saying I was starving is an understatement. We sat down in a cozy booth (yea!) and checked out the menu. Great menu. It had colorful pictures of the special rolls and perfect descriptions of each one in English. I ordered the 

 

White Dragon: Shrimp,crabstick,lettuce & crunchy inside topped with white tuna & avocado for 10.95 and the 

Samurai Roll: Crab, avocado & crunchy inside topped with tuna & salmon also for 10.95.

First bite was fantastic, tons of flavor in every bite. Jen and sis tried the White Dragon and agreed it was great. Huge portions, these two rolls were more than enough and I was stuffed. Only problem was by the last bite I didn't feel so great. I gave some more of the White Dragon away and on my last bite of the Samurai Roll...well I thought I wasn't going to keep it down. I was fine but needless to say the sushi rolls left me feeling slightly ill the rest of the night. I don't want to blame the sushi but I don't think I'll be going back their either.

So to recap:

• Great decor
• Medium pricing (special rolls $10.95-$13.95) 
• Bad music (clubby/house music the whole time)
• Good service (very attentive)
• Excellent descriptions on the menu
  
• Taste was great at first but the enjoyment diminished as the meal went on though.

Hon Sushi

3349 Brunswick Pike
Princeton, NJ 08648
609-269-5800

Monica and I went to Hon Sushi Thursday night and LOVED it!!! The decor was so nice! Very modern, cozy & clean. They had round private booths with sheer curtains that would be perfect for a romantic dinner, birthday celebration or any other special occasion. We just sat their commenting on the little details..the soy sauce was in a little teapot and the light above our table was so unique! I couldn't wait to try the food!! I got the sweet potato roll (fried with avocado & cucumber) and the Sumo Roll (in:deep fried soft shell crab, scallion, masago, spicy tuna; out: tuna, salmon). I really liked both of them. We also shared a spicy scallop roll which definitely was on the spicier side. Monica got the Hamachi Roll (yellowtail, scallion) and the Garden Roll (avocado, masago, crab meat, cooked salmon w/chef's sauce). Everything tasted very fresh and really was delicious. The menu even had all the descriptions of the rolls which was refreshing. A lot of them did seem to either be deep fried or contain something that was, but could be avoided. Definitely highly recommend this place and I can't wait to go back!

Sultan Wok- Take Out

Friday is typically sushi day at work and we couldn't find the menu for Koie so instead ordered from the Sultan Wok. Apparently there are several, we ordered from the Englishtown area one. Pretty much it was just eh. I ordered two simple rolls, tuna roll and the yellowtail roll. Both were lacking scallions that they were supposed to have so essentially I had sashimi with seaweed! The yellowtail was better than the tuna I thought. The tuna was just kinda lacking flavor over all :( I also had a piece of someone's Spider Roll which was good but still nothing impressive. Spider Roll consists of Soft shell crab (tempura), avocado, tobiko and cucumber. I'm sure we'll be back to Koie next week!

*Menu can be found on the website from the link above.

Sakura

Tonight Monica and I ventured to Sakura in Fords, NJ. I was a little leary since I had read mixed reviews online. When we got there, it was empty. We were literally the only 2 people in the restaurant. But the atmosphere was pretty cool so I wasn't too worried. It was modern and cozy (and had nice placemats!). People eventually started trickling in. We ordered 5 rolls: Alaska Roll, Four Seasons (shrimp tempura, mango w/spicy salmon on top), Spicy Tuna Roll, California Sunshine (California roll topped with tuna, salmon & baby sprouts) and Ahi Crunch Salmon (Salmon, crab stick & avocado wrapped in seaweed and deep fried). All I can say was that everything was SO DEEEElicious!!!! I could probably have done without the Alaska roll which I didn't think was anything special, but still good! I think the 2 favorites were definitely the Four Seasons (amazing!) and the Ahi Crunchy Salmon Roll. The rolls were a pretty decent size too. We had leftovers which is usually never the case when we go out for sushi. The waiter was very attentive and friendly as well. OH AND the best part was that all the sushi was half off!!! Can't beat that!! This is definitely at the top of my list and I look forward to going back!!

website: http://www.sushi50percentoff.com/

Yummy Sushi - Ewing

Still waiting for Jen to accept the post invitation... we'll see how long that takes ;)
My husband and I ordered from Yummy Sushi in Ewing, NJ. This post is very important because this restaurant has no menu online and seems to have no intentions of creating one. The kind woman there gave me a menu and the updated list of Special Rolls along with their ingredients! Jack Pot! I'm uploading them so the Ewing/West Trenton followers can check it out.


Back to business. We ordered the Sushi Trio which is Tuna, Yellowtail and Salmon sashimi. The fish is so fresh and flavorful, it really puts some other places to shame. Shrimp shumai is tasty but on the small side compared to most places. Shrimp Tempura roll was on par with what you would expect from a shrimp tempura roll. Lastly we had a Yummy roll which is shrimp and asparagus inside;spicy shrimp and yellowtail outside. This roll is excellent, the crunch is perfect, the spiciness is just right (I personally enjoy just a little kick when it comes to anything spicy) and the yellowtail just shines in this roll.

Hey Jen, maybe when I host a Paper Cuts meeting we can order from here and kill two birds with one stone!