SIMPLY SUSHI!

As the sushi culture in the capital continues to mature, we being mere novices entered Sakura to get past our basic knowledge of Japanese food and try and decode what it is apart from being "raw". Sakura, situated at the first floor of Metropolitan Hotel & Spa, at the heart of the city, Connaught Place, is famous for its expertise in serving bona fide Japanese cuisine to its patrons for almost a decade now.

Upon being seated by a courteous staff, Sandeep, our thoughtful server, took over smoothly understanding our apprehensive faces full of confusion. We were walked through the extensive menu, highlighting some new variants that had been recently added and recommended to try.

The offerings from the kitchen are classic Japanese dishes like Shake Carpaccio – thin sliced torched Salmon with spring onion and citrus soy sauce as well as innovative ones like Kaisen Okonomiyaki, a Japanese style pizza with squid, prawns, salmon and egg noodles topped with mayonnaise and dry fish flakes. The assorted platter of sushi, sashimi, onigiri and tempura was the star dish that was beautifully laid out and presented fabulously. Prawns, salmon, tuna, eel, carrot, horsera dish and mushrooms, all featured on that plate accompanied with some ginger spirals, wasabi paste and soy sauce. It gave us the perfect and authentic taste of Japanese food. At that point we comprehended what the bite and crunch of raw food is, not to forget the subtle art in making those delicately rolled Sushis and perfectly battered tempura. What took us, true carnivores, by surprise was our love for this vegetarian appetizer, making its debut on the menu – Hourenso Butter Shimeji Itame, a portion of boiled spinach with mushroom in a sauce infused with butter and soy – was a gem of a dish.

The diners can enjoy a variety of meat, fish and veggie items and with their server's assistance, they can try various combinations. The expansive menu perfectly harmonizes aesthetics and flavours skillfully incorporate the usual cooked fleshes like chicken and pork, making it more flavorful and hearty.

Innovative in their finales too, the Japanese Matcha Ice Cream (green tea) and Kuro Goma (black sesame) Ice cream, with their light touch on the palette, would beget the perfect ending to the culinary journey.