Traditional seafood often
emphasizes the freshness of the daily catch, along with vegetables readily
available from the store. The Japanese know this very well, being seafaring
island based people for centuries.
Japanese cuisine is the perfect
example of seafood in its most pure form. It places an emphasis on the balance
between the land and the water, tying in staple food crops such as rice and
root vegetables and bringing in delicacies from the Pacific such as seaweed and
freshly caught tuna.
Here are some of the ways to
ensure you have the best sushi experience possible while going to a Japanese
restaurant.
Make sure
all ingredients are fresh
In this instance, that means
nothing has been overly processed. Freezing and thawing, freshly caught fish
does not change their designation, since it serves a vital health role in
preventing diseases and parasites from harming restaurant goers.
A good example is to see if the
restaurant uses fresh rice, or reconstituted instant rice.
Check with
the local health authority before going
A clean restaurant will serve
higher quality food than one that is barely passing its health inspections. All
major cities have well-staffed health departments whose goal is to insure that
visitors and locals alike do not become ill.
If in doubt, ask your waiter when
the last time an inspection was carried out, and what the results were. If they
do not know, head somewhere else.
Check for
online reviews
People talk about everything
under the sun. When visiting a city for the first time, go to local messaging
boards and see what the locals recommend. You may find that the perfect sushi
bar may be located not in a tourist trap, but a sleepy suburb ten minutes out
of town.
