INTRODUCTION

Before you go any farther, get ready to explore some amazing sushi facts, sushi restaurants in Ottawa, human interest story of a man who chose to risk his business to go sustainable, two mouthwatering recipes, interesting history and... PICTURES!  Go ahead and scroll down to see what's waiting for you...

PHO THI FUSION

Pho Thi Fusion is an asian fusion restaurant with a warm feel atmosphere surrounded by nicely done walls and mirrors that gives trendy looks. The place seemed a little crowded when I first entered through two tiny doors, but the place still managed to have a bar with asian imported beers and wine, several tables and a very loud kitchen. I was served by a kind waitress who explained what was on the menu and answered all my questions politely. She was very informed with regards to the menu as she said menu is the first thing she was trained in the beginning. The menu she gave me was the longest menu I’ve seen in my life. It was divided into 9 different categories with about 7 different recipes in each sections. No wonder the trainees have to learn the menu first! Sushi, First Impression, Salads, From The Wok, From The Grill, From The Hot Pot, Comfort, From The Hot Pot, Comfort, and Flair were a mix of asian foods but the Beverages and Sweet Temptation were not part of asian heritage food at all. It was kind of dissapointing to see that there were no asian desserts but it all made up because there were so many dishes to choose from other categories. Serving of the food took a bit long, but the ingredients were fairly fresh. When I asked a question about the ingredients, my server told me that they import frozen fishes. In overall, I recommend going to that restaurant again, because I would like to try other foods from another category.

 A savoury dish I had in the restaurant was spicy salmon from Maki Rolls (top left) and ebiten shrimp tempura from Specialty Rolls (bottom right). As you can see in the picture, both dishes were presented on one plate neatly. Spicy salmon had bits of crunchiness chunks inside and for someone who loves spices, it wasn't spicy at all, but was enough to make the taste less dull. Ebiten shrimp tempura was my favourite out of the two: the look were amazing, shrimps were cooked well, and a mix of avocado along with shrimps made a beautiful combination. They tasted perfectly fine although I would highly recommend to go to sushi bouffe restaurant next door if you are craving for sushi, because they have more varieties.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any desserts that were asian heritage recipes, so I chose to try the most popular dessert from Pho Thi Fusion instead, which was called Turtle cheesecake. As you can see in the picture, this is a recipe that is believed to have originated in ancient Greece. It was a caramel cheesecake with chunks of chocolate in between, bottom layer made out of chocolate, and top layer covered with pecans, chocolate mousse, ganache, chocolat chunks, and a final touch with finely shaped strawberry. The food wasn’t too sweet or too rich, but it definitely wasn’t memorable, because it was a dish I could have tried in other restaurants.

TWO RECIPES

 

It's a popular sushi roll. California rolls are usually made inside-out, so they are easy to eat.

Ingredients (makes 4 rolls):

• 1 avocado
• 3/4 cups of imitation crab
• 2 Tbsp of mayonnaise
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 4 cups of sushi rice
• 4 sheets of nori (dried seaweed)
• white sesame seeds

Preparation:

1.Peel an avocado and cut it into strips or mash it.

2.Put imitation crab in a bowl and season with salt and mayonnaise.

3.Cover a bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Put a sheet of dried seaweed on top of the mat.

4.Spread about 1 cup of sushi rice on top of the seaweed and press firmly. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the sushi rice.

4.Turn the sushi layer over so that the seaweed is on top. 5.Place avocado and crab horizontally on the seaweed.

6.Roll the bamboo mat forward, pressing the ingredients inside the cylinder-shaped sushi.

7.Press firmly the bamboo mat with hands, then remove the rolled sushi.

8.Cut the sushi roll into bite-size pieces. Enjoy!



 Ever heard of  Coconut & Lime Cheesecake Dessert Sushi?

Ingredients:

6 ounces of cream cheese, softened

7 Tbsp of granulated sugar

Juice of one lime

2 cups of shredded coconut, toasted

2 Tbsp of butter

1/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

1 Tbsp of milk

1/4 Tsp of vanilla extract

1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/4 Tsp of salt

5 ounces of colorful fresh fruit, sliced into long strips

3 ounces of milk chocolate, melted

Preparation (makes 8 servings): 

1.Mix cream cheese, 4 tablespoons sugar, and lime juice in a medium bowl until smooth. Stir in coconut.2.Meanwhile, melt butter and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave for 1 minute on high.3.Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth; stir in flour and salt until a soft dough forms.4.Roll chocolate dough into a 13-inch log and place down the middle of a large sheet of waxed paper. 5.Place another piece of waxed paper on top of the log and use a rolling pin to roll the log into a 13×6-inch rectangle. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. 6.Spread coconut and lime cheesecake mixture on top of chocolate dough rectangle in a 13×5.5-inch rectangle, leaving a 1/4-inch border on both long sides of the rectangle. 7.Line up sliced fruit down the middle of the sushi roll and roll up dough into a cylinder like a “sushi roll” by lifting up waxed paper and sealing the ends of the dough together. 8.Roll the roll on the counter and press together firmly. 9.Remove waxed paper from the roll and carefully cut into 16 dessert sushi pieces with a sharp knife. 10.Place melted milk chocolate into small soy sauce containers. Serve dessert sushi with melted milk chocolate. 11. Eat with chopsticks!

SUSHI RESTAURANTS JOIN THE GREEN REVOLUTION

 

When I go to a sushi bouffe or any other sushi restaurants, there are always a popular dish in a menu. Which means these popular sushi items can be a risk to environment. Recently, many sushi restaurants have been going through struggles in decision making whether to stick to the Seafood Watch Guide or ignore it and serve what costumers want. While sourcing local and sustainable meats and produce is practically mandatory for restaurants these days, seafood and sushi, in particular has largely swum under the radar. Many restaurants believe choosing to go sustainable means less varieties and have to come up with new menus, because salmon, eel and yellowtail are red in Seafood Watch guide. Green – fishes that are abundant, well-managed, and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. Yello - good alternatives, and red - fishes to avoid. For many seafood and sushi restaurants, choosing to go sustainable is a gamble. If customers are willing to splurge on quality sushi, who’s to tell them they can’t have bluefin tuna because it’s endangered? Seattle chef Hajime Soto is one of the chefs who chose to go green with his long-stablished sushi restaurant, Mashiko. Although he lost up to 20 percent of his business, he believed this was the right thing to do as a sushi chef. With many acts carried on from chefs and farmers whom shared the same idea as chef Hajime Soto, in the past two years, sustainable fishes have tripled and many companies have started to pay an attention. Chef Hajime Soto stated, "If this continues, an endangered species will no longer be in danger of becoming extinct and that means more fresh fishes, more happy costumers." From now, everytime I go to a sushi restaurant, I will try to go to local sushi restaurants over other restaurants with variety menus because just like chef Hajime Soto, I want to help sustain and eat fresh food.

SUSHI FUN FACTS

Believe it or not, sushi has been around for a surprisingly long period of time, although it was not in its present shapes and form back then. Sushi dates back to at least the second century A.D., beginning as a method of preserving fish in China. The whole purpose of making sushi was to perserve fish in rice as it allowed to ferment and keep the fish edible for some time. In today's culture, we would eat the rice along with the fish, but back then, the rice was thrown away and the fish was eaten separately! This fascinating method spread throughout China and had made its way to Japan by 17^th  century. The Japanese, however, decided to make some changes to the sushi method. Matsumoto Yoshiichi of Edo (now Tokyo) started seasoning the rice with rice wine vinegar, allowing the dish to be eaten immediately instead of waiting for months to prepare the sushi. In the early 19^th century, sushi slowly evolved into a kind of instant snack, but it became too popular to be a quick bite. After World War Two, the sushi stalls were shut down and moved indoors, to more sanitary conditions. Years later, sushi changed from fast food to a true dining experience, served in a more formal restaurants. Sushi, which has been just a perserving method to perserve fish has now evolved to another level beyond the traditional Japanese methods, attracting attention from all over the world! Now, western influences have given rise to new styles of sushi, such as California rolls and many elaborate fusions. Isn't it great that for something that started so small has taken the world by storm?