UMAMI RESTAURANT & SUSHI BAR

May 28, 2017 by Dennis Chu

ADDRESS: 3042 West New Haven Avenue, West Melbourne, FL 32904

Ever since moving down to Florida back in December, I had been on the hunt to find some good sushi. That search initially brought me to Seito Sushi up in Orlando, where it was unfortunately a bit of a disappointment. After that, I decided to turn my search closer to home and stick within the Melbourne area to see what I could find. Umami Restaurant and Sushi Bar popped up on the radar, with some relatively good reviews and nice looking pictures of sushi rolls (some of which were identical to the ones from my visit to Seito). My friend Shyam said he wanted to take a break from eating pizza for 4 consecutive days, so we headed over to give Umami a shot.

Located inside the Metro West shopping plaza, Umami is a few storefronts down from the Subway (I actually drove right by it the first time searching the plaza for the place). The dining area is relatively smaller, probably able to accommodate 25 – 30 people total. There’s the option to either sit at tables or at the sushi bar, located all the way at the back of the restaurant. The feel of the dining area still stayed relatively on the casual side, although the lighting was dimmed down a little bit and added a slightly intimate vibe to the atmosphere. Darkened front windows helped to filter out any bright lights from the exterior as well, preserving that atmosphere throughout the restaurant. For a Saturday evening, the crowd was pretty light, with only a handful of tables occupied when we got there. The hostess led us over to a table and gave us the menus, where we began to ponder over the sushi roll selection.

Like I mentioned above, I was certainly surprised to find a couple of identical sushi rolls at Umami that I had seen up at Seito Sushi in Orlando: the Distinguished Gentleman and Corona were two that jumped out on the list. I’m not sure if those rolls are a regional specialty, since I hadn’t heard of either until coming out to this area. Shyam and I wanted to give several different rolls a try, so we each ordered two apiece. I went with the Distinguished Gentleman and Boba Fett, while he went with the Bang Dang and Corona.

It probably helped that there was a light number of people in the restaurant eating at the time, because the sushi chefs were pretty efficient about getting our food out to us fast. Shyam had gotten an order of edamame to help tide over his hunger, and it was just as we were finishing off the last few pieces when both plates of sushi came. Shyam’s plate had a more elegant look, with the Corona Roll arranged diagonally across the whole plate and the Bang Dang Roll split up on each side. On my plate, the Boba Fett Roll was the more interesting plating arrangement of the two: all pieces were placed in a circular pattern, with a large mound of crab salad dropped right on top and garnished with some scallions.

The Distinguished Gentleman Roll was one I had tried at Seito Sushi and, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really that impressed. It was my hope that Umami could redeem my impression of the roll, and I think that it was successful in that regard. In almost a mini-interpretation of a “surf-and-turf,” the Distinguished Gentleman features a combination of Maine lobster and seared rare beef, complimented by avocado, masago, and scallions, finished with jalapeño slices, truffle salt, and wasabi aioli on top. The flavors of the jalapeño and wasabi combined well to contrast with some of the more subtle flavors from the other ingredients. I do think, however, that the wasabi aioli might have been too overpowering that it drowned out the more subtle flavor of the lobster.

As for the other roll that I ordered, the Boba Fett, I think that I preferred that one over the Distinguished Gentleman. At the base, it was a California Roll wrapped in avocado, topped with crab salad, baked scallop chunks, masago, and finished with some eel sauce and scallions. What I liked about it though, was that the spicy and savory flavors of the crab salad accentuated the California Roll (avocado and crab stick) really well, with the eel sauce adding some sharper contrast from the other flavors. The sushi chefs were pretty generous with the crab salad when they were plating the roll, which definitely helped me to load it up when I was constructing each bite.

In the search for quality sushi in the Melbourne area, I was able to find a winner in Umami Restaurant and Sushi Bar. With a wide selection of signature rolls, eclectic flavor combinations, and reasonable prices, Umami checked all the boxes for what I was looking for when I set out on my sushi restaurant quest. Even though the restaurant might be tucked away in a sea of other storefronts in the shopping plaza, be sure not to miss it. I know I’m already looking forward to the next opportunity to stop by and try some more sushi rolls.

Let’s now take a look at the Umami Restaurant & Sushi Bar Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.

** The Distinguished Gentleman — pictured left **
Maine lobster and avocado on the inside, layered with seared rare beef and jalapeño slices on top, finished with masago, truffle salt, and wasabi aioli

** The Boba Fett — pictured right **
California Roll wrapped with avocado and topped with crab salad, baked scallops, masago, and eel sauce

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** The Bang Dang — pictured left and right **
Tempura coconut shrimp, mango, and cream cheese on the inside, topped with tuna, blue crab salad, and eel sauce

The Corona — pictured middle
Grilled shrimp, tempura asparagus, and cucumber inside, wrapped with avocado and topped with blue crab, pico de gallo, and cilantro

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The Atkins
Tuna, salmon, white fish, yellowtail, and avocado, all wrapped with cucumber and served in a ponzu sauce

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** The Godfather — pictured top and bottom **
Fried lobster tail with cream cheese and asparagus on the inside, topped with salmon, tuna, masago, and garnished with eel sauce

** The Trinity — pictured middle **
Salmon, tuna, and yellowtail on the inside, topped with avocado and sliced lemon, garnished with puffed rice cracker, cilantro, and yuzu tobiko

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** The Cajun Salmon **
Spicy blue crab salad, avocado, and asparagus on the inside, topped with torched salmon, lemon dill aioli, and tobiko

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And finally, here are my rankings for Umami Restaurant & Sushi Bar:

Food: 5 / 5

Diversity in flavors is key here, as there are quite a few signature rolls to choose from. Each roll I tried brought a different flavor combination to the table, while still maintaining a fresh taste from all the ingredients.

Atmosphere: 4.25 / 5

Our waitress was pleasant and checked back with us frequently during the course of the meal. The sushi chefs didn’t keep us waiting too long either, with all four rolls arriving expeditiously.

Service: 4.25 / 5

With the smaller seating capacity and dimmed lighting, the dining area does seem to give off a semi-intimate feel. Black dining furniture tie in well with the light-colored walls and decorations.

Price: 4.5 / 5

I thought the price points for the various rolls was pretty reasonable, especially given some of the more premium ingredients used. For the quality of the rolls that I got, I’d certainly pay those prices again.

Overall:
18 / 20
(90%)

SEITO SUSHI

February 11, 2017 by Dennis Chu

ADDRESS: 8031 Turkey Lake Road, Suite #700, Orlando, FL 32819

It’s hard to imagine that it’s already been half a year since the last time I made a post here. During that hiatus, I switched jobs and have now moved down to central Florida, where I can certainly say I’ve been enjoying the escape from the grips of winter up north. Come July timeframe, though, I’ll let you know how I’m enjoying that sweltering summer heat.

Two weekends ago, my parents and brother flew into Orlando so we could spend time together for Chinese New Year. We’d had some previous success during our Hawaii trip trying local restaurants during our vacation, so we decided to do the same during this trip too. We had already planned on eating American and Polynesian food, so we looked around the area for another cuisine my family loves to enjoy: Japanese.

Our search brought us to Seito Sushi, which had positive reviews online as well as photos of beautifully plated specialty rolls. The restaurant’s location was actually a great fit for our schedule that evening, since we were planning on attending a Blue Man Group show in Universal CityWalk later that evening. Located inside the same shopping plaza as Whole Foods and several other restaurants, Seito Sushi was only two quick turns from the Turkey Lake Road plaza entrance before we were parked in front of the place.

When we first walked in, I found myself really impressed with the décor. The primary color of choice was black, accentuated with just the right amount of glass and mirrors around different areas of the restaurant. The slightly dimmer lighting also helped to give the dining room that sleek, modern feel it was going for.

We got seated near the bar of the restaurant, with their backlit shelves displaying the wide variety of alcohol available. A table right next to the large window also meant that afforded us a nice view out the front of the restaurant. Our waitress came over to our table not too long after we were seated to take down our drink orders.

The menu encompassed a wide variety of Japanese fare, giving you plenty of choices depending on your mood. Nigiri, sashimi, and maki rolls dominated most of the selection, but if you aren’t into raw fish, there is also the noodles option as well: yakisoba, udon, or ramen. But I think that I was most impressed with the variety offered by their signature rolls, each description setting itself apart from the one above it. Reading that list had me trying to piece together the flavors in my head, sparking my culinary curiosity.

We decided to open the meal with an appetizer of the Korean Fried Chicken Wings, crispy jumbo wings that were tossed in a spicy chili sauce. The presentation was fantastic, with the wings neatly arranged at the center of the plate and garnished with black & white sesame seeds and chopped scallions. After taking a bite though, I thought the chicken was only okay. I’m not sure if it was that the wings weren’t fried enough or they used too much sauce to toss them in, but the end result was that the texture was a bit soggy. The chili sauce did, however, give the chicken some nice flavor complexion. It was my hope that the upcoming sushi rolls would make more of an impression than the wings did.

It wasn’t too long after the chicken wings that our main course arrived. All four rolls that we ordered were plated out on a large rectangular dish, arranged creatively with the garnishes on top. We all enthusiastically dug in, each person sampling a different roll. I started off with the Distinguished Gentleman, which promised a rich collection of flavors with lobster, masago, and steak tataki finished off with a wasabi aioli. Unfortunately, the wasabi flavor was very potent, overpowering almost everything else in the roll. I got a bit of the steak flavor and a hint of heat from the jalapeño, but didn’t taste the lobster or masago. From all the food pictures that I had looked through online, I was looking forward to the Distinguished Gentleman the most. Unfortunately, that roll missed the mark a little bit for me.

Some of the other rolls fared a little better, but not by much. The Beauty and the Beast (shrimp tempura with cream cheese and cucumber, topped with spicy tuna, avocado, and eel) had a good set of flavors, but just needed one more savory element to tie everything together. The Godzilla (shrimp tempura, soft shell crab, spicy crab, with asparagus tempura) had good texture and flavor with the inclusion of the honey-citrus sauce and was overall pretty good. The Calypso, however, was definitely an interesting and unexpected flavor combination for me.

I’m not really sure why I dislike an overly sweet or tangy flavor in my sushi. It’s for this reason that I don’t enjoy rolls that have mango in them; I’ve always just stuck with spicy or savory flavors. But the Calypso had that tropical relish garnish that I just couldn’t get past. For me, it just gave the roll a really strange sweet aftertaste that I didn’t find enjoyable. Replace that relish with a spicy mayo drizzle and I think that would have been a great combination.

Anticipation was high for the restaurant going into this meal. The photos of the food looked great and the reviews were solid. But while the overall experience wasn’t bad, it wasn’t as good as the food photos made it out to be either. Maybe reading the menu descriptions of the rolls set my expectations too high. Or maybe the roll selection that we got wasn’t the best combination to introduce us to what Seito Sushi had to offer. Either way, it was a meal that fulfilled our hunger, but not our hopes of finding a stellar sushi restaurant in the Orlando area.

Let’s now take a look at the Seito Sushi Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.

Korean Fried Chicken Wings
Crispy jumbo wings tossed in a Gochujang chili sauce.

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The Distinguished Gentleman — pictured left
Maine lobster meat with masago, scallions, and avocado, wrapped with Wagyu steak tataki and garnished with fresh jalapeño slices, wasabi aioli, and truffle salt.

The Calypso — pictured middle
Citrus-baked salmon with cucumber, masago, scallions, and togarashi, topped with avocado, steamed shrimp, and a tropical relish.

** The Beauty and the Beast — pictured right **
Shrimp tempura with cream cheese and cucumber, topped with eel, spicy tuna, and avocado, garnished with eel sauce and spicy mayo.

** The Godzilla — pictured top & bottom **
Shrimp tempura with soft shell crab, spicy crab, and asparagus tempura, garnished with tempura flakes and a honey-citrus sauce.

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And finally, here are my rankings for Seito Sushi:

Food: 3.5 / 5

I appreciated the creative effort into coming up with the variety of specialty rolls. Each one sounded like it would bring a different flavor profile than the next. The end result, however, fell just a little bit short.

Atmosphere: 4.75 / 5

I was a really big fan of the sleek, modern feel of the restaurant’s décor, with a dark color theme and dimmed lighting. A cool visual focal point in the dining area was the towering display of wine bottles, arranged in a “wine cellar” lattice rack style.

Service: 4 / 5

Our waitress was friendly and stopped by our table periodically during the meal to check how we were doing. The food also didn’t take very long before arriving at the table as well.

Price: 4.5 / 5

I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonable many of the prices on the menu were, especially the specialty rolls. Being outside a major tourist destination like Orlando, the restaurant could have jacked up prices a little bit. I can certainly respect them for not doing so.

Overall:
16.75 / 20
(84%)

MISO PHAT

May 15, 2016 by Dennis Chu

ADDRESS: 4310 Lower Honoapiilani Rd, Suite #111, Lahaina, HI 96761

It came time to move on to the island of Maui for my family’s vacation, and this also meant that it was time to try a restaurant I had been looking forward to since the trip started. I had initially stumbled across Miso Phat when looking on Yelp for some more Japanese restaurants to add to our itinerary; this one stuck out due to its humorous play on words. It also happened that the restaurant was extremely well rated and the photos of their dishes looked amazing. We then decided that it was definitely a lock for our first dinner on that island, and I’m extremely glad that we got to check out this phenomenal sushi spot.

I think that this restaurant could classify as a hole-in-the-wall, as it’s nestled away in the midst of a small office complex. Some of the reviews I had read mentioned to arrive at the restaurant early, with seating being very limited and it could get crowded real fast. Heeding this advice, we got there around 4:30 p.m. to grab an early dinner. Those reviews weren’t wrong about the capacity. Inside, there was only seating enough for about 20 people, and that’s already packing it in a little bit between the tables and sushi bar. Lucky for us, there was only one other table occupied when we got there, so we were able to sit down at a table immediately.

The gentleman that greeted us at the door seemed to wear many hats at the restaurant, since he also took our orders, gave us our food, refilled our drinks, rang us up, and cleared the tables. After he gave us our menus, he explained that the owner of the restaurant also had his own fishing boat (aptly named the “Shiso Phat”) and that almost all the fish served in the restaurant was caught in-house.

After looking over the menu a few times, it was still difficult to decide what to order. All of the sushi rolls sounded amazing just based on their description alone. Three of us had planned to order rolls anyway, so we decided just to get six rolls total to sample the menu, each person choosing two each. Out of all twelve specialty rolls available, we chose the Miso Phat Roll, TNT Roll, 69 Roll, Rockin Roll, TNA Roll, and Caterpillar Roll. Luckily, we had built up quite an appetite, because that turned out to be a massive amount of sushi to finish. All of us had fresh memory of a rather poor sushi showing from Monstera Noodles & Sushi the night before, so we were hoping this place could redeem our impression of sushi on Hawaii.

Presentation is a big part of the dining experience, and it’s commonly said that you eat with your eyes first. When our plate of sushi got dropped off at the table, I couldn’t help but say “wow” and marvel at the work of art before me.

It was a beautiful array of colors laid out on the plate, with each roll having its own look. Even now, looking back on the photos while I’m writing this post, I’m getting hungry all over again! The ingredients combined together were able to develop multiple layers of flavor; some of the combinations were different than anything I’ve tried and everything just tasted so fresh.

Out of all of them, however, I think that my favorite is going to have to be the TNT Roll. Shrimp tempura and crab wrapped with avocado and topped with fresh Ahi poke, served with a drizzle of unagi sauce and agave honey. It’s a properly named roll, because it’s an absolute explosion of flavor in your mouth. The Ahi poke had a deep sweet and soy sauce flavor from its marinade, with the shrimp tempura giving the roll a crunchy texture and mixing well with the slightly sweet crab. The unagi sauce and agave nectar also helped give the roll a nice sweet and savory aftertaste.

With each roll priced at $18+, things can get expensive real quick if you want to try a variety of rolls. After sampling what Miso Phat has to offer, however, that price point is something that I’m certainly willing to pay. For the quality of ingredients and refreshing flavor combinations, it probably ranks as some of the best sushi I’ve had to date. This place certainly exceeded my family’s initial expectations going in. If I can ever find a cheap flight back over to Maui (and I know that’s probably a long shot), I might just consider it just to have the chance to visit this place again.

Let’s now take a look at the Miso Phat Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.

** TNT Roll (Miso The Bomb) **
Shrimp tempura and crab roll wrapped with avocado and topped with Ahi poke, with a drizzle of unagi sauce and agave nectar.

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** 69 Roll (Miso Horny) — pictured front **
California roll topped with broiled unagi, and garnished with unagi sauce, tobiko, scallions, and sesame seeds.

** Miso Phat Roll — pictured back **
Spicy tuna roll wrapped with avocado and unagi, topped with unagi sauce, tobiko, and sesame seeds.

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** Rockin Roll (Miso Groupie) — pictured front **
California roll wrapped with Hamachi, topped with scallops, and then baked. Finished off with unagi sauce, tobiko, bonito flakes, scallions, and sesame seeds.

** Caterpillar Roll (Miso Butterfly) — pictured back **
Broiled unagi roll topped with avocado slices and garnished with unagi sauce and sesame seeds.

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** TNA Roll **
California roll wrapped with salmon and topped with scallops, spicy aioli, and then baked. Garnished with bonito flakes, unagi sauce, tobiko, furikake, and served with a lemon squeeze.

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And finally, here are my rankings for Miso Phat: