By: Bella Leuschner
Many students at Kingswood Oxford know the delicious Black Bamboo Restaurant that serves fantastic Chinese food. But what many don’t know is that right next door is an equally as appetizing Japanese restaurant called Tokyo Sushi. Tokyo Sushi is super close to campus and has speedy service, so if you are not in the mood for what is being served at lunch and you are allowed to leave campus, it is easy and accessible.
The prices aren’t super high or super low; they fit the price of the quality you get. For the three of us, we got two appetizers, one chicken fried rice, and three sushi rolls. The two appetizers we got were edamame and gyoza. The edamame was good, but a little overcooked for my taste. I don’t love it when there isn’t any pull in getting it out of the shell.
The other appetizer, which is called gyoza, is a Japanese style dumpling. It is a thinner layer of dough filled with meat and vegetables and pan fried. We got the pork, but there is also a vegetarian option. This is one of my favorite appetizers to get at any Japanese restaurant and I have to say I was a little disappointed.
It isn’t a very complicated dish and most taste the same, but the taste of the filling had more emphasis on the vegetables rather than the pork, which I prefer to be the other way around. Typically, there is an even ratio between the two, which did not happen to be the case with this appetizer.
Next, we had the chicken fried rice, which I do not recommend. It had a very bland taste and it was dry for fried rice. We added soy sauce to it hoping to add some flavor but it gave it an unpleasant taste. When I think of chicken fried rice, I think of warm delightful and well cooked rice with lots of flavor. Unfortunately that is not what I got and when I go back, I will not be ordering it. Thankfully, what made this “okay” meal better was the main aspect: the sushi. We ordered three rolls, a shrimp tempura roll, the Pink Lady Roll, and the Foxy Lady Roll. The shrimp tempura roll was a very basic and common roll that you can find at most sushi restaurants with very similar ingredients. However the flavor was not basic, as there was excellent execution. The tempura inside was cooked perfectly. Although it was basic, it had a lot of flavor and paired well with soy sauce and wasabi. The presentation was also very nice, as it came on a lean white plate so the different colors in the roll could stand out and be noticed. The next roll was the Pink Lady roll. This is under house rolls, so it has more to it such as special sauce and has a more inviting and exciting presentation.
It is made of spicy tuna and avocado inside with another piece of tuna on top along with a house sauce. The taste was pretty good, but I expected more flavor due to the presentation. I wish there had been more sauce to add the right amount of kick to the roll.
Finally, we got the best roll of the evening: The Foxy Lady roll. I would highly recommend this roll, especially if you like avocado and shrimp tempura. Inside is shrimp tempura, avocado, and spicy tuna, and it is also wrapped with soybean paper too so if you aren’t a big fan of the seaweed wrap, it is a nice alternative. It is topped tobiko which are small fish egg which don’t have a lot of taste and won’t ruin your roll if you don’t like it. Also, a piece of fresh tuna and more avocado, along with this heavenly sauce and they give you the right amount with this roll too.
The presentation was to die for, and my mouth dropped when it was placed in front of me. When I took my first bite, I could taste all the flavor. The roll came alive and danced across my taste buds. This was by far my favorite thing we ordered and I will definitely be ordering this the next time I return. The inside of the restaurant has lots of seating, is never super crowded, and isn’t loud, so you can have a conversation at your table. The exterior isn’t great; you would never know that there is a fabulous restaurant just through those doors. The parking in front is limited, but there is also parking on the side and behind the restaurant which is also easier to get to.
