Talk-A-Vino

What is the first association you get when you hear “Japanese restaurant” or “Japanese cuisine”? If you say “Sushi”, this, of course, would be a good answer, but keep in mind that if you will visit Japan, sushi will not be the first food option you will find – ramen, chicken, pork, or veggies would be more readily available (and cheaper).

I don’t know if you are contemplating a visit to Japan (you really should!), but even if you are, this post will not help you to get ready. Instead, I would like to tell you where you can experience Japanese cuisine well beyond sushi – how about Kashi Japanese restaurant, located in downtown Stamford, Connecticut?

Kashi means “fresh energy” in Japanese, and this is what you get at the restaurant. Beyond the eclectic decor, there is creative, off the beaten pass Japanese cuisine, offering literally the “tapas”-style dining with lots of unique dishes. As usual, we need to talk about drinks first before we will get to the food.

As expected in the Japanese restaurant, the wine list includes a good selection of sake. Truth be told, I’m not really a sake connoisseur, but one of my favorites is sparkling sake. The restaurant had a few to offer – Ozeki Hana Awaka Sparkling Sake, and Ozeki Hana Fuga Peach Sparkling Sake. Both were tasty, with my slight preference toward Ozeki Hana Awaka as it was more complex. I also had Cucumber Saketini, which was an ultra-dry cocktail, and then we shared Scorpion Bowl (Vodka, Gin, Rum, Fresh Fruit) – great presentation for sure, and most reminiscent of sangria taste-wise. The restaurant also offers a number of wines, but I decided to stay with the cocktails and sparkling sake for the rest of the evening.

I hope you are not ultra-hungry, as there is a lot of food coming. We had an opportunity to experience a wide range of dishes, many of them coming from the Seasonal Special Menu. We started with Grilled Fresh Octopus (seasonal vegetable, piquillo pepper in yuzu kosho pepper sauce), which was well cooked (always appreciated with the octopus) and very tasty. Kashi Tacos (Tacos with pork, cajun, shrimp, corn, onion, avocado, cilantro & wasabi sour cream) was a great play on a classic Mexican dish, offering a nice amount of heat. Bone Marrow (Teriyaki glazed roasted bone marrow, salt, garlic, shichimi powder, ikura teriyaki sauce) is not something you get to eat every day. The dish was definitely interesting and unusual. I like the way it was served with the toast. If you like roasted bone marrow, this one was expertly done.

We continued with the Double Wrap (Soy paper wrap with spicy lobster salad, shitake, salmon, mango chili; naruto cucumber wrap with spicy tuna, yuzu Squirt), a sushi-like dish without any rice – great texture, excellent dish, very nice kick of spices. This was followed by the Grilled Lobster (grilled seaweed, cheese lobster, chili sauce) – expertly cooked lobster, very creative dish, then Seared Yellowtail (seared yellowtail, cucumber, celery, tuiles, yuzu, kosho gel and yuzu dashi sauce), which was nicely done, and then a surprising Avocado Tempura (spicy tuna topping, yuzu dressing) – I know avocado is everywhere nowadays, and I love it, but this was my first experience with avocado tempura, definitely unusual.

Thai Basil Chicken (wok sauteed chicken, mushrooms, onion, carrot, fresh basil, chili paste, sweet basil sauce) was homey and tasty, a “comfort food” type. It was followed with two of the Kashi Signature Rolls – Volcano (tuna, salmon, yellowtail, cucumber, topped with tuna, salmon, served with sriracha & spicy kabayaki aioli) – nice and spicy, and Deep Blue Sea (Blue crab, avocado, shrimp, mango, topped with seared spicy tuna and spicy eel sauce) – delicious fresh fish undertones. To complete the sushi experience, we had Sushi and Sashimi for 1 (5 pcs sushi, 15 pcs sashimi 7 spicy tuna roll) – very good.

We finished our main course with Blue Crab Fried Rice, which was delicious (another comfort food), and Shrimp and Angus Steak Hibachi – who doesn’t like well-cooked hibachi offerings?

Not every Japanese restaurant offers a dessert menu, but Kashi does. We had an opportunity to taste Yuzu Cheesecake, which was an interesting rendition of the classic dish, as well as Green (Macha) Tiramisu, which was very well executed, with excellent texture and flavor combination.

Here you go, my friends – if you want to experience Japanese cuisine beyond sushi, Kashi might be just the place. And if you be visiting, drop me a line – I will be happy to join you. Cheers!