1/2 Off Sushi
August 21, 2008 § 1 Comment
Where I live is just your average suburb. Average + countless places for ethnic cuisine. There was even an article about Edison’s ethnic restaurants in the New York Times a while back. Iselin, also known as Little India by many (even people from out of state know this town) has a slew of different eateries particularly along Oak Tree Road. And there’s also a bunch of Korean and Chinese restaurants scattered all over Westfield, North and South Edison that keep the strong Asian population here very very VERY happy.
But, by the far the best perk of living in this area is the 1/2 off sushi. No, that was not a typo. I guess it’s because there’s so many established sushi places in Woodbridge, Westfield, and Edison, that to stay competitive, many had to adopt this plan to keep the customers coming in the door. Example: At Westfield’s Fujiyama Mama, my favorite 1/2 off sushi place, lunch is 1/2 off on certain rolls Monday through Saturday and dinner is 1/2 off on Mondays and Tuesdays. So…where three rolls would normally cost you about 20 dollars, you’re only spending 10 on those specific days. It’s a wonderful thing.
So as a going-back-to-school get-together, a bunch of close friends trekked to Westfield for lunch and ordered a bunch of rolls including: funky monkey (eel and banana), volcano (fried calamari with spicy mayo sauce and cucumber), dragon, crunchy spicy salmon (spicy salmon with tempura flakes), and others.
Maybe it was because I’d had a craving for Fujiyama all summer yet never got around to it or maybe it was the company, but that was damn good sushi, better even than the stuff I had in New York while working. I guess whatever’s most familiar sometimes tastes the best to us.
The fish is fresh and the presentation is much better than a Benihana or competitor U-Yee’s in Woodbridge plus the service is usually pretty efficient and patient. And…the thing I just found out today, you can draw on the tables using soy sauce! If you dip your chopstick in soy sauce and then write your name or initials on the table and leave it there, after a couple minutes, when you dab it off, your name is left in a bright pink! I probably shouldn’t be telling you all this, but if you get the corner table in the first room on your left, you’ll see my name! I always like to leave a mark. =)
Fujiyama Mama
341 South Avenue East
Westfield, NJ 07090
908.232.6598
U-Yee Sushi
675 US Highway 1 South near Gill Road
Woodbridge, NJ 08830
(732) 283-7888
Father’s Day & Mom’s Birthday brunch at 1-9.
June 15, 2008 § 1 Comment
In Edison, there’s only one dimsum place that my family goes to – 1-9 Seafood. Their food is consistently good, service is decent, and if you get there early enough, the wait isn’t too long.
Today though, since it was Father’s Day, every seemed to have the same idea about brunch and when we got to the restaurant it was a 45 minute wait, longer than we’ve ever had before. My sisters and I amused ourselves by watching the Japanese-style reality show on the large-screen tvs, where poor contestants had to climb rolling piles of logs and vault their way over giant ponds. As each one of them smashed their faces into the ground or fell into the water, the entire restaurant would break out into fits of laughter and forgot about their food. I guess that’s why management changed the channel to CNN shortly afterwards.
Food-wise, there were new items that I’d never seen before at 1 and 9 – most of them lightly fried like soft shell crabs and baby squid. They tasted almost exactly the same as the fried frog legs they serve during dinner but were still quite delicious. It’s pretty hard to make anything deep-fried in flour, salt, and pepper taste bad.
Fried soft-shell crab
Fried calamari
Old favorites like shrimp in rice rolls, shrimp-stuffed eggplant (or is it the other way around? I’m too full to really care), and tripe with radishes were also present and met expectations but disappointments, however were the spring rolls, which had barely any filling at all and just oozed grease the minute I bit into one of them and the not-so-fresh-or-hot shumai dumplings that I ate anyway.
Stewed honeycomb tripe with radishes
This isn’t a dimsum item but I highly recommend it anyway: lobster pan-fried noodles. Yes, it’s hard to eat but that wonderful sound when you crack into the crispy noodles and smother them in the lobster sauce is simply music to a food-lover’s ears. A lot of restaurants have something similar, more likely with all different kinds of seafood like scallops, squid, octopus, etc. Try it next time if you see it on the menu!
Lobster pan-fried noodles
Dim sum spread
Notes on Food 