Muse back!
July 22, 2008 / Tuesday
Russian Sushi
I was debating between picking up some food at the store and being a hermit or venturing out to a restaurant, and honestly, I have to say that I was leaning toward the former. But since I'm not going to be here forever, I figured I might as well go on as many (manageable) adventures as I can. Besides, I promised all of you that I'd find out about Russian Sushi and report back. That gave me the extra bump that I needed to get out there and try it.
I have found three sushi places within one block of my apartment. I passed on the trendy looking one; I don't like trendy places unless it's for a special occasion. (Think Santana Row. Gag!) That left the place I pass by on my way to and from the Metro, which I always see people in, and the place on the corner that I passed by this morning before it opened. I opted for the one I'd seen people eating in.
First, a Russian lesson. The word for sushi in Russian is суши. It's pronounced "sushi". :)
I grabbed my umbrella and Russian phrasebook and headed for the restaurant. I walked in, was greeted, and asked in Russian if they had an English menu. They did not. I paused, then asked if their menu had pictures. (фото?) Yes. Okay then, sushi me! I got the last table.
I spent a few minutes sounding out all the familiar looking fish on the menu. Whaddaya know, they serve sake, hamachi, maguro, ebi, saba, unagi, etc. here too, just written differently. Very differently. But in the end, no matter what language it's written in, the sounds come out about the same. Genmaicha was the same, too.
The server came, and I asked if he spoke English. No, not a word. No matter. I ordered some nigiri (you can get them in ones here, not pairs like we have to in the US), some tea, and some water. At the office today, I compared bottles of water and learned how they distinguish between carbonated and still: gaz, nye gaz. Easy enough.
I realized shortly after ordering that I had forgotten to tell them I didn't want wasabi on my sushi. Darn. I even knew how to say it. Fortunately, their norm is not to put wasabi in the nigiri. (As it should be; a lot of sushi places in the US get it totally wrong.) Phew.
I took tons of notes (for this post) while I waited for my food. I noticed that they have a website, and figured out from my placemat that they're a chain. Now, here's the screwy thing. There is an English version of the website available, but no English menus at the restaurant. How silly.
The music was interesting. They had on some Russian radio station that played what I thought were obscure American songs. Later, some British rap came on, so I guess it's a Russian radio station playing British songs. In any case, English songs in a place where there was not a lick of English to be found otherwise.
I was sitting cross-legged on my (Western style, not Japanese style) bench. I like to sit cross-legged, and do it at home, at the office, etc., so I wasn't doing it for the Japanese theme or anything. Still, I wonder if anyone there though I was doing it out of Japanese-ness. I definitely get some "Whoa, an Asian person," stares here.
When I ran out of notes to take, I opened my Russian phrasebook to learn how to ask for the check later. I took that opportunity to also learn how to say receipt and ice cream. I promptly forgot how to say all three after I got back to the apartment. Still, I love my little Lonely Planet Russian phrasebook. I'm sooo glad I stumbled upon it at Sports Basement. (I guess I should also be glad that I practically live at Sports Basement.) Not all the phrases are exactly what I hear, but I attribute that to colloquial usage. So far, it's been a big help.
My food came, and I found myself looking at a very familar setup: sushi, tea, water, soy sauce, and chopsticks. It was comforting, actually, especially the genmaicha.
When I started in on the food, however, I stopped feeling comforted. The hamachi tasted kind of hard and rubbery. What the heck? Was this even hamachi? It should be soft and creamy! At least the sake was soft, although it was a little *too* soft, and not very creamy. The unagi was softer than expected, too, but at least it had decent (though not great) flavor. The rice and seaweed salad were okay, although it's kind of hard to mess those up.
I suspect their fish is frozen at some point before it's served. Or maybe it's on par with chain restaurant quality. I wouldn't know; I don't go to sushi chain restaurants.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by all the good sushi in California. All I know is, I'm done with Russian sushi for the rest of this trip. I've got much more Russian things I need to hunt down and try. Blini and pelmeni, here I come!
July 22, 2008 10:27 AM | Food:St. Petersburg