Arigato Sushi & Grill: The Not So O-fish-al Seafood by: Mena Maurice
A Food Reviewer, a Food Model, a Mystery Shopper and Auditor, a member of the Egyptian and International Gourmet Association affiliated with the French Organisation.
1.Make sure you can see the bar’s glass fridge temperature as it shows how your food is kept and you can definitely tell how fresh the food you are about to eat is. 2.From my own experience and as a sushi expert, there is no such thing as fried sushi for God’s sake. Call it
Having a good sushi experience is all about the harmony of all its components inside your mouth. The taste of the salmon, with the avocado, the teriyaki sauce, the sesame, the seaweed, is like a symphony good to the ear; you can’t tell where the sound is coming from, is it the trumpet? The saxophone? All that matters is you are getting the perfect piece of music from a well-trained orchestra.
3.Sushi is a healthy meal. If you eat it, you benefit your body.
Being greeted in the restaurant you are visiting decides what direction your whole experience will go. It was good to find an Asian face welcoming me in a Japanese restaurant; it gives the customer reassurance and a feel of the place’s expertise. I was offered a variety of tables to sit on, which is important for any restaurant, to give more than one option and leave it to the customer. Check. It should not take more than a minute since you step into the restaurant till you are seated; it took me a few seconds to get to my table. Check.
6.You have to taste a culture to understand it. Eating sushi makes you familiar with a big part of Asian culture.
Arigato Sushi & Grill is a good place for dates, families, friends, reunions and big groups in general. The way this place is divided into partitions helps it receive the different types of get-togethers. First partition, equipped with tables for two, is designed for couples. Second partition is mostly for groups of four. Then comes the area made for bigger groups to reach 12 persons or more. This gives you the feel of privacy and cosiness so that you are not bothered by the great number of people. It was nice not to catch that fishy smell around Arigato, especially that it works with raw fish, so that’s a plus. The reason the air was pure is the balance between the room’s temperature and the fridge’s. This takes me to my next point; let me tell you some tips you can follow before digging into your sushi.
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4.When eating sushi, go to experienced, professional sushi places to get its right taste. Sushi bikes will mostly give you a wrong first impression about Japanese food. 5.Take time to read the components of each kind of sushi so that you order something you like.
I insisted on reviewing Arigato Sushi & Grill as it showed a drop in its performance as a restaurant a few years ago. It did not have experienced managers to take the position it deserves in the market. However, it made an extraordinary comeback that I now classify as the best sushi place in Egypt. I honestly have tremendous respect for those places that work on themselves to get over the hard times and establish a good name and reputation. Let’s be fair, there sure are other good sushi restaurants, but I consider this the top not only for their food. How do you know if you are eating good sushi? Its components should be fresh. You can know that from its taste, smell, and color. This applies to the protein in the piece (salmon, shrimp, caviar..), the vegetables and fruits (cucumber, mango, avocado, ..) How it is rolled. It should be contained and not stale. If the rice does not stick together, it probably has not absorbed a fair amount of vinegar. Its protein: either shrimp or whatever, it should be of its normal color. I have ordered almost all the sushi rolls this place serves, and I honestly have nothing to say about any of them. Let’s take the Philadelphia roll as an example, it consists of Philadelphia cheese, salmon, seaweed,
Opinionated
