Sushi is an art. We doubt anyone, fan of the dish or otherwise, can ever deny it. And while most chefs think twice to experiment with sushi on a menu, sometimes, those that do take a chance — leave you pleasantly surprised. Cappuccino at Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park recently announced a sushi promotion called Japanese Fare to Remember and we were quick to head there for a tasting after they wowed us with their previous promotion, Le Dolce Vita, that celebrated pizzas galore!
Another brainchild of chef Gobu, in-house food maestro, who never ceases to stop innovating — this festival, as he says, is an attempt to give, “our guests an experience from special variations of Japanese food that many people here would not have previously tried.” This menu, indeed, would be a great place to start exploring sushi, especially for the uninitiated and curious at heart. “Guests can anticipate savouring fusion of traditional and contemporary food from Japan and we would be presenting sushi with ingredients like black quinoa, sweet potatoes and edamame,” the chef adds.
Our excitement is at its peak as we dig into several dishes from the menu, including Sweet Potato Tempura and Avocado Rolls — a perfect place to begin for any vegetarian; and California Rolls — a sushi that evolved outside Japan and features crab, cucumber, avocado and salmon. Both these sushi rolls were great places to start, especially as we were accompanied by a sushi virgin who needed to be slowly introduced into this wild yet subtle world of fresh flavours.
We then moved onto a Sushi Veg Bowl, which was very tasty but too creamy and high on the mayonnaise for our liking; and a King Urumaki, which was a traditional sushi from Alaska and would be a delight for any king crab lover. We also tried the incredibly interesting Black Quinoa & Bell Pepper Sushi, with Philadelphia cheese and finally wrapped up our tasting with a Teriyaki Chicken and Shiitake Sushi and a Philadelphia and Kappa Maki Sushi that were very uncommon but absolutely delicious combinations of flavours.
The menu features quite a few more options and kudos to chef Gobu for bringing sushi into a café setting, ensuring that the not-so-adventurous have a chance of trying a brand new cuisine. This festival is perfect for anyone who would like to give sushi a try, but is frightened of probably disliking it. Here is a curation that would work for any palate, refined or otherwise, and will probably encourage you to try out more forms of sushi in the future.
INR 750+ onwards. On till February 26. Lunch and dinner.
At Cappuccino, Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park.
romal@newindianexpress.com
@elromal