Review : Sushi King

Malaysia’s largest conveyor belt sushi chain with more than 100 outlets around the country, Sushi King is commonly the local’s first encounter with sushi and for that, it bears the (unwilling) burden of ensuring that it gives a good first impression to one who is curious about this rice dish.

I arrive at the store early just before lunch ensuring that I try the first batch of sushi on the conveyor belt. The first batch of sushi on the conveyor belt just arrived as I took my seat.

Orders are placed on screen at each table.

I promptly ordered a set of 3 sushi (salmon nigiri, minced salmon gunkan and unagi) and a california temaki via the onscreen ordering system. While waiting for my order to arrive, I took one plate of sushi from the conveyor belt. It was a grilled salmon marinated in soy sauce nigiri. My guess is any excess salmon that couldn't make the cut to be served raw is then grilled to ensure maximum optimization of their supplies.

Reminiscing My Love For Sushi

Raw uncooked fish on rice;. That is my first impression of what actual sushi was and shared by millions around the world. My first encounter with sushi happened when I was 10. I was in a mall with my parents and we pass through a conveyor belt style sushi restaurant. The idea of being able to pick any food that I like off that fascinating moving belt amuses me. I promptly begged nudged my parents that we try this amusing looking restaurant. I tried the first sushi and I totally hated it, mainly because the wasabi burn is unpleasing and I thought it was an unnecessary to the sushi. The rice was bland but  I did acquire liking to raw fish (to the horror of my mother who insist I can only eat raw meat in a sushi restaurant)

Throughout my teenage years growing up in Malaysia my only exposure to sushi is via these conveyor belt sushi chain. The rice portion was huge and compact, you can bite the rice like it was toffee. This is also the period where I practice the (now sacrilege) art of mixing wasabi in the soy sauce mixture and subsequently dipping both the rice and fish into the soy/wasabi mixture. It made sense to me back then, as sushi by itself was just horrible; bland, tasteless, and uninspiring. It boggles me why someone would ever pay a high price for what seems to be a simple dish of placing a fish on a lump of rice.

How Safe Is Raw Fish?

We cook our meat mainly for two reasons, to break down the protein in the meat into amino acids for the flavor and more importantly, destroying any microorganism present in the meat. In the case of sushi and sashimi, raw fish presents a unique savory flavor from the fish oil which would otherwise be destroyed if subjected to high temperature. In order to maintain the flavor cooking of the fish is avoided. However in doing so it presents the other problem; the risk of infection on the meat.

Meat from a healthy animal is actually safe to consume. It is after all part of the animal.  What makes uncooked meat unhealthy is what happens after the slaughter. Without the antibodies when it was alive, the meat is now susceptible to infection. Bacteria will begin to invade the meat and fungus from the external environment may even begin to grow on the meat surface. Hence Japanese fishermen takes additional precaution to prevent these infections when fishing.

What Makes A Great Sushi

A simple Nigirizushi may consist of just rice and fish along with a drench of soy sauce and wasabi, but the ability of a sushi chef to make the best of these limited ingredients is what separates the master from the apprentice.

Let's look at the common ingredients of a sushi and how to determine the quality of the ingredients used:

Introduction to Common Types of Sushi

Synonymous with Japan and their stereotypical lust for anything under the sea, sushi is an international phenomenon and is considered to be one of the best food in the world by CNN. It even made into renowned chef, Anthony Bourdain's last meal wish. In a world where a fine meal is associated with a blend of complex ingredients and rocket science esque cooking method, sushi stands out for being a fine example in the phrase 'Beauty is Simplicity'.

Sushi refers to the cooked vinegered rice (sushi-meshi) and thus, makes the rice the lead actor of this dish. Fish and other seafood is the common associated ingredient but any ingredient served together with the sushi-meshi in any form or mixture is called sushi. Due to the broad definition of sushi, it is often sub-categorized into the following based on how the rice is served :