Japasia: Asian Fusion Cuisine

We decided to try out this restaurant for lunch on July 4th. Perusing the menu for its fusion selections, I started wondering whether there were some hidden or missing pages. I couldn't seem to find where the "fusion" was. It was pretty standard Japanese fare and then some Chinese entrees, but no fusion nor other "Asian" in the mix. They should have called it Chinese cuisine with a sushi bar as many other restaurants do these days. In that sense, I was thoroughly unimpressed. Even in the Japanese part of the menu, it was a paltry selection. It comprised of very typical rolls and teriyaki bento boxes. There wasn't even sushi or sashimi on the lunch menu. We had to special order it off the dinner menu. The decor was not bad but way over the top for its ratty location on this stretch of highway.

We ordered up some sashimi and rolls to see how they compared to our favorite Japanese establishments. Well...I won't be going back. The presentation was nice but the taste did not fare so well. Their sashimi was sliced into very thick hunks; maybe too thick for my taste. While my favorite fatty fishes were nicely fatty, I did not find them enjoyable. After some thought, I may have been turned off by what I can only guess to be the taste of frozen fish. I honestly don't know if that's true but elsewhere, the fish tastes of freshness. Eating here conjured feelings of cold, icy waters barren of taste but with the texture of fish flesh. The huge slices did not help in the matter as it felt as if I were chomping down on a whole fish. None of the delicate, melt-in-your-mouth ecstasy I usually experience. I cringed with eat bite. I *wanted*, no *needed* rice to accompany the fish. Truth be told, what I really wanted was to leave.

In the rolls department, we got something called 'Eel Cake'. It was ok, but I found the sauce too sweet. The disappointment continued with the other rolls (yellowtail, salmon and the like). The seaweed was cheap stuff-too thick and chewy, and it overpowered the other ingredients.

For dessert, we got fried ice cream as I'd been hankering for some ever since eating a delightful version at a Mexican hole-in-the-wall. When it arrived, I became a bit worried. There was one dollop of ice cream deep fried in batter, and what looked like half a banana executed in the same manner. Unfortunately, it was not destined to be the highlight of the meal. It became just another supporting player in a humdrum performance. The fried ice cream was the strangest thing. It tasted like it had been wrapped in a Twinkie and then deep fried with a thin batter for crunchiness. Upon closer inspection, there was indeed a layer of cake around the ice cream and then a thin outer layer of fried batter. I assume this was prefabbed stuff to protect the ice cream and to make it easier to fry up. It was such a far cry from the Mexican place whose batter was thick and crispy all the way through without any oilyness. Not only that, the cold ice cream contrasted wonderfully with the hot outer batter. Mmmm!! Great memories! Back to the present, at least the banana was decent but it's hard to go wrong with that...well...except the batter which wasn't all that crispy. Well, this place was definitely consistent...everything was disappointing.